Couple of thoughts on Quality Control on new Teslas

[Elric2176]

Check out this final QC at Aston Martin, personally conducted by their CEO...

Blue with orange trim?? My eyes are bleeding!

 

[SocalMS]

I still have it! I'm at 60,000 miles and recently had it in service because of a bug in my tail light, noisy rear hatch struts, and whirring road noise coming from the tires. They replaced the infested tail light and hatch struts, my whirring tires were apparently due to "scalloping". Alignment was re-done but according to service none of the parameters that normally lead to odd tire wear were that far off. They did note that my castor had changed by an unusual amount, and corrected it. They seemed surprised by that, as was I because I know nothing about those things! lol

We have a Model 3 on order and hope that goes well. I won't be looking at a new Model S until it's properly redesigned. While Tesla has added a lot of things to it, it's still basically the same first generation design that it rolled out in 2012 with many of the same flaws and shortcomings. It needs a complete do-over.


I suspect and would hope that if you refuse delivery over QC issues, Tesla will offer to either build you a new car or refund your money.

I wish ... But they will NOT do that...

Tesla's service personnel have the "illusion" of being able to help you....

But at the end.. they just follow "policy". And in many cases, they are pretty clueless themselves...
(but they do try and do their best..)

I would try to build a relationship w/ the service manager.. he/she seems to have the most "pull".

Everyone else.. they're just role players.. and merely emotional sympathizers.

If you want to drive a Tesla.. that's a reality you have to be willing to accept.

 

[Gamma195]

I would agree with SocalMS. The Seattle SC is pretty good, and their Manager really knows his stuff and cares. But, Its been hit an miss with some of the general techs. They major issue is time delay for parts and long wait times to get an appointment.

 

[Shaggy]

Check out this final QC at Aston Martin, personally conducted by their CEO...

It is a $210k to start car that they only make 150 of... likely they can spend more time on each. Their 2016 sales were around 1600 total cars, so not quite a weeks run at Tesla. Perhaps the Roadsters got that kind of attention (watch Revenge of the Electric Car for Elon's scenes).

That said, there are things that should be caught no matter how many are made. I'm guessing Ford doesn't run all 200,000 Fusions through the rain room test, but alignment you'd think has to get noticed just driving it to the lot...

 

[seclinton]

Did you see these issues at T=0 delivery or on the first drive?

 

[Plug Life]

Check out this final QC at Aston Martin, personally conducted by their CEO...

I've heard Tesla hired some celebrities to do the QC job...

 

[182RG]

I agree.

The problem is that by the time you've stepped into their showroom to take delivery, you've already paid for the car (via loan doc, wire transfer etc..)

You have the option of bringing a check to the showroom to take delivery. I'd NEVER wire the money in advance, before I had a chance to inspect.

 

[SocalMS]

You have the option of bringing a check to the showroom to take delivery. I'd NEVER wire the money in advance, before I had a chance to inspect.

Not as simple as it sounds...

1. You have to make an initial deposit.. so now they have your money
2. If you're getting financing.. you have to settle this and sign the docs BEFORE you take delivery. So you're already on the hook.

Basically, they HAVE you... so now you're fighting in their arena..

Not that simple...

 

[Snerruc]

I ordered my S in July and it arrived in Sept. Tesla shipped it to Kaiwaihae harbor and flew in a delivery person to hand it over. Three days later I signed the papers with Alliant. This stuff seems to be all over the place with different reports, but I would never have signed the loan without seeing the car even if this caused me to have to fly to Ohau. The car was in acceptable condition at delivery and has had zero problems so far.

 

[MS16]

I have a 2017 S90D with 1000 Miles on it. Picked Up Feb 11th.

Several Issues so far. Very similar to others. Quality control is very poor. None of these first-day issues were present on our 2014 S85. In fact In over 20k miles on the S85 we have not once went to service.

1. Front Seats already showing very bad wrinkling. Black Perf Leather. New seat on order. Not fixed yet.
2. Driver side rear view mirror would not fold out. Fixed on 2nd service visit. Apparently replaced entirely.
3. Front Bumper Lower Intake trim was not aligned correctly, bowing and with gaps. Fixed on first service visit however service center broke my left/right ultrasonic sensor clips and did not reinstall the rubber boots properly. I had to show them on how to properly re-install the boots. They seem swamped and do not have the time to pay attention.
4. Sunroof does not always open in hot weather. Waiting to see this will resolve itself. We'll see.
5. Clunk sound from air suspension on rebound when going over speed bumps. This is not how our 2014 S85 sounds with air suspension.
6. Alignment was off and pulling to the left. Toe in was fixed on first service visit and now rides true.

All in all not major but collectively the time spent fixing a brand new car is unacceptable. I concur with those above who said the factory is explicitly off-loading their quality control to service centers. I can only imagine how slammed Tesla workers will be when Model 3 production begins.

Wow, yet another new Model S delivered out of alignment.