Just got MX 90D and love it. But so many problems on forum?

[Uncle Paul]

I call this effect Forum Induced Anxiety (FIA).

Common in most all forums, as people tend to post problems to gain attention, as few want to see 100 posts that their Tesla's are performing great.

There are also a ton of investors on the short side of the stock. It is not unusual for them to post false complaints, hoping to lower stock prices for their own personal gain (the brokes suspension saga)

Enjoy your Tesla. Take the negative forum posts with a grain of salt, but also to learn from.

 

[oktane]

I really love the new MX 90D. I didn't buy it for the autonomous features ( I am really really good at software - believe me - you don't want software to drive you for at least next 5 years and preferably next 10 years).

I bought it because I love how it drives. The handling is awesome. The acceleration is instant. The interface is simple and less distracting. Overheat protection and remote cooling are wonderful. For local driving, it's awesome to always wake up with a full charge. No need to deal with the ignition and the clunky start-stop button. 6 seats configuration is quirky but awesome!

My other car is a Mercedes and man I hate the Start-Stop functionality with the associated shudder. Feels like I am riding a farm vehicle.

So you get the point. I love this car in the traditional sense of loving a Driver's car.

However when I visit the forum it is so depressing. Everyone here is complaining about one thing or the other. Not many threads about how much people love their cars.

I ignore issues like Ghosting, panel gaps, third row getting stuck, leather issues etc. Tesla service is awesome. They stand behind their product and they will make things right.

However when I read about safety issues like suspension breaking while parking or motor damage while driving, I feel a bit more scared. When I got the car earlier this week, there was an alert for driver side seat belt even when I was wearing it. Air bags don't deploy if car detects no seat belt. What else could be wrong?

So I am wondering is the situation so bad. Or is it that there is a selection bias on the forum, where people post only when they have issues?

Wondering about the overall picture!

Of course there is negativity bias, that's normal. People won't usually post good reviews.

That being sad, the negative posts on this forum are mostly real, and largely inexcusable for many users including myself. These include the poor build quality, high cost of repairs, monopoly on body shops, autopilot scam, lack of basic safety features, unethical post-sale firmware restrictions, false advertising, failing suspension parts, poor headlights, mediocre crash ratings on certain models, etc.

 

[jlarmstr]

I call this effect Forum Induced Anxiety (FIA).

Common in most all forums, as people tend to post problems to gain attention, as few want to see 100 posts that their Tesla's are performing great.

There are also a ton of investors on the short side of the stock. It is not unusual for them to post false complaints, hoping to lower stock prices for their own personal gain (the brokes suspension saga)

Enjoy your Tesla. Take the negative forum posts with a grain of salt, but also to learn from.

Indeed, it is just human nature and the motivator of a negative experience that produces a stronger emotional response. What I mean by this is that people are more motivated to publicly announce an issue and generate discussion if they had a bad experience or something is wrong. They are motivated either by a desire to "warn" prospective buyers or owners and/or punish a company for a perceived wrong. I myself have felt this desire and have acted on it in cases I felt strong about my case.

That said, it is easy to look through forums and blogs and conclude, holy cow -- how does a single Tesla make it out of the factory without falling apart ???

It takes some self discipline to realize that what you read is not a statistical representation of the product's population and you can see this phenomena in many products not just Tesla or cars, but in phones, computers, etc. etc. That is not to write off people who have publicized problems, these are often helpful in seeing future issues, but it all should be weighed accordingly.

I have more or less stopped caring about restaurant reviews that get 2 or 3 stars, as I read through some commments -- "oh, the food was great but my waiter was 5 minutes late getting me a glass of water to I will give it one star, it really pisses me off"....

EDIT: I do want to point out though, many of the common complaints you see about MX are real though... for example, creaky falcon wing doors (FWD) is real, easy fix, but definitely a buggy design and quality issue, or door latches getting stuck. I still love the car, but it would be wrong to simply dismiss some of these common issues as anything other than Tesla needs to implement a few fixes to make the product better. Model S went through this as well but as it has been in production over 5 years now, most of the production bugs have been worked out. The nice thing about Tesla is they do honor all the warranty work, so little issues get fixed. For me, as an example, my driver's side door had a paint drip in the center of it, under the clear coat. The second row passenger side seat belt buckle did not function properly, and the seat adjust switch was non functional.... all was fixed promptly without charge. Another common issue with MX is the A/C, often develops leaks and needs to be fixed, sometimes at the most inopportune times.

 

[rush6410]

Hello Tesla MX family,

What I have to share I would classify it as more of a concern than in the complaint category.
This past week while driving back from Dodger Stadium with my family in the MX, there was a sudden loss of power and eventually the car slowly shutting down while going 65 on the 110 freeway North towards Pasadena.
I was pretty scared that someone would rear end me and the family.
I felt completely helpless but at the same time I didn't want my family member to be freaking out.
Eventually I got to a safe area and got off the freeway.
Multiple warning signs appeared and I was just scared and pissed off at the same time with what had happened.
The car is only 3 months old and I didn't start driving it until last month. It has less than 2k miles on it.
There was a moment where we almost got rear ended by a car that was going 70+.

The car is currently at the Burbank SC and they are still trying to figure out what happened with the car. It's been 2 days.
As much as I like Tesla, with the way the MX was pushed and probably skipped a few steps including some safety protocols to bring the car to market, mistakes like what I've and others in my situation have experienced really forces me to reevaluate my support as an investor and a product owner. It's true about that saying, until it happens to you, you won't really do something about it.
I also own a MS and never had these type of problems.

I like technology but Musk needs to back off on his stupid deadlines and make sure the vehicle build and safety measures are first priorities because people's lives could be in danger. Skipping necessary safety protocols because you think it's "good enough" is reckless and should never happen. Never would have imagined something like this would happen to anyone.

Just be careful fam!

This is a good example of putting failures into perspective. At the same time you may have never had a failure to a ICE vehicle or EV doesn't mean they did not happen. I have had several ICE vehicles breakdown to the point of needing to be towed. I did not question the integrity of the ICE vehicle knowing that failures happen. They were fixed and I was back on the road. Claiming they are skipping quality or safety checks is out of line with out evidence. I toured the factory. I was very impressed with their manufacturing process. There were quality check points at every segmented process. That doesn't mean that a part will not fail. Or, a check missed by a human. I do know that they borrowed quality checks from some of the best manufacturers in the business along with designing their own. I had a Chevy Vega once several decades back that never broke down. It must have been the best vehicle ever. My point is as you made, just because you haven't experienced problems doesn't mean they do not happen. You just happened to be one of the very few unlucky owners.

 

[Maximilien]

No issue for me, at least for now.

Check out some Youtube Videos about Model X crash testing.

It is one of the durable and strong SUVs out there.

I love X so much that my S is not getting a lot of attention lately.

 

[ecarfan]

However when I visit the forum it is so depressing. Everyone here is complaining about one thing or the other. Not many threads about how much people love their cars.

Any online forum focused on a product that people buy, whether a garden tool purchased on Amazon or a car purchased from Ford, is going to show more complaints than praises. That is because people are more motivated to post complaints than praises. How many people who like their Tesla are going to take time out of their day to post "Well another wonderful day driving my Tesla!". Sure some will. But when someone has a problem with their Tesla they are more motivated to post about it because they want to learn from others who might have the same problem, try to solve their problem, or just vent about it to feel better.

Don't stress about the complaint level on TMC. Sure, Teslas aren't perfect and they have issues, as does every car ever made.

I currently own two Teslas, used to own a Model S which I loved, traded it in for an X, still have my Roadster, love the cars, have had some issues but on balance have had an overwhelmingly positive experience. Tesla is changing the world, glad you are a part of it.

 

[Merrill]

I love my Model S and Model X, if they made an electric pickup I would have that as well!

 

[rjdoc74]

I love my X, but after having many different brand luxury cars I do have to say service and reliability experience with MX is schizophrenic for a lack of a better term. My current SA is wonderful and my SC has been great. I have had service and repairs done at other 2 service centers where my experience was absolutely terrible- frank lying from SAs, ordering wrong parts, ICE only loaners, general "we don't give a s****t attitude", car returned from repairs dirty covered with oil stains, etc. Very suboptimal.

 

[bonnie]

You'll notice that most of the negative posts about the company come from the same group of people. I think everyone should be posting their opinion, but it gets tiresome when the same people bomb every thread with the same opinion, again and again. I think if we just looked at unique posters, it would be a very very small percentage complaining about the company on this forum.

I always find it helpful to look at a poster's profile page & look at how frequently they hand out 'disagrees' to others & what percentage of their posts receive a negative rating.

Occasionally some people have had real issues with their cars & unfortunately, I see them slammed by some forum members when it appears (to me) that they have a real problem. But if you look at those threads, you usually see a resolution post at some point along the lines of 'Tesla took care of me and I'm happy'. I know for a fact that Tesla is taking issues seriously and working hard to put permanent processes in place that resolve things going forward. And I also know for a fact that safety is a non-negotiable thing within the company. If it's a safety issue, it is addressed. Immediately. Again, non-negotiable.

I think the key point is that the majority of Tesla owners buy another Tesla at some point. Or two. Or three. So obviously they're doing something right.

In any case, welcome to the forum @Bijli123 - and enjoy your new X!

 

[Bonlaw]

Joined the forum 4+ years ago. Sadly it has evolved, in many instances, to a complaining board. Rather than looking in the manual or contacting Tesla when an issue is experienced, owners are coming to the board to complain, not to inform.
Initially we felt like a band of pioneers proud of what is being accomplished. We shared ideas and grew together into the new era of real usable EV transportation. This is not a luxury car, although it is indeed luxurious. It is car of the future -now. We were happy to be rid of dials and knobs and buttons. We didn't worry about misaligned panels or a drop of clear coat. We were just proud to be part of the process.
Just my opinion.

 

[violinist22]

After 1000 miles, I have no issues with my MX 100 (knock on wood) and really love driving it. I enjoy reading all the postings on the forum, but I do have to filter out some of them.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

You'll notice that most of the negative posts about the company come from the same group of people.

Sure. As do most of the positive posts come from another small group of people, one learns their aliases and views. Quite normal IMO that most active participants are a minority of some sort...

In the middle there are a lot of people who post quite a bit less. They come and go with whatever is on their mind: an issue, gushing over an order or delivery etc.

To OP, Model X has had a history of issues. Hence you'll find a lot of them here.

 

[robski]

Probably makes sense to check the dates on the threads as well. There were a lot of issues on early X's. At that time, my Sept. 2016 90D X is not the same as yours or newer ones coming off the line. Tesla is constantly modifying through production line and software updates.

 

[ModelX]

Love my X-I also love that my family is in the car, because I consider it so safe!

 

[tinc]

This is a good example of putting failures into perspective. At the same time you may have never had a failure to a ICE vehicle or EV doesn't mean they did not happen. I have had several ICE vehicles breakdown to the point of needing to be towed. I did not question the integrity of the ICE vehicle knowing that failures happen. They were fixed and I was back on the road. Claiming they are skipping quality or safety checks is out of line with out evidence. I toured the factory. I was very impressed with their manufacturing process. There were quality check points at every segmented process. That doesn't mean that a part will not fail. Or, a check missed by a human. I do know that they borrowed quality checks from some of the best manufacturers in the business along with designing their own. I had a Chevy Vega once several decades back that never broke down. It must have been the best vehicle ever. My point is as you made, just because you haven't experienced problems doesn't mean they do not happen. You just happened to be one of the very few unlucky owners.

I read a report by a reporter on a business app that reported that Tesla decided to scrap the last safety test out of the 3 that they had originally planned as to prevent further delay/ release of the MX. They felt that the first 2 safety tests were good enough that they deemed the last test was overkill, also it would have meant another couple of months costing Tesla time and money.

I get that you can't simulate real world situations and there will always be some kind of issue with any device, machine or vehicle. I'm just stating the fact that this happened to me and my family on a very unsafe freeway and passing along information that I had read. Whether the skipped 3rd test would have mattered, no one will ever know.

It's a known fact that Elon puts a tremendous amount of pressure on his company to meet certain deadlines and unrealistic timetables, and sometimes steps get skipped in order to get the cars released. Maybe a 3rd safety test might have revealed problems that the first two tests didn't find, we won't know for sure. So yes, based on Tesla's MO, they are known to have more issues than the ICE companies since they are still working out their issues/ refining their process. Yes parts can fail unexpectedly and I agree with that. When it's a common problem within the Tesla circle such as the A/C compressor issue or AP 2.0 or whatever else, you'd expect these problems to be fixed before release. I felt safe with the S, unfortunately I can't say the same with my X, until you almost get rear ended while other cars are speeding by you at 70-80 and to witness a car almost slamming behind you, this is how I feel about my X.

Are my expectations too high from a safety perspective? When my safety and the safety of my family is compromised, I will always say no that my expectations aren't too high, just like any of you in my situation would be feeling the same as I do.

I like the vehicles a lot, I put my money to support Tesla, I'm just wondering when these situations happen whether the company and staff are forced into compromising decisions that can jeopardize the safety of their customers. But like I said earlier Rush6410, I agree with you that parts can fail at any time and cause a shut down of the vehicle at any time, like a water pump in an ICE vehicle. But for whatever reason the MX has more common issues than a typical parts problem.

 

[larmor]

Yes, i have a complaint with my MX, after nearly 23k miles in under a year, the power usage for the car has gone done per mile. I can't believe this car would do this, i'm flabbergasted and what will i tell my fellow Electron First group, we have to make electrons great again. Using less power for the same drives, I can't understand how this car company and car will ever survive. So unfair for those electrons that can't get used to their fullest...

 

[BigMskiman]

The awesome MX handling saved me once, as this guy literally just cut straight into my lane like he owned the road. I maneuvered (dove) into the shoulder to avoid the collision in an instant, without squirrelly action. The only issue, was front door latch replacement in a year driving.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

There are plenty of "I love it" threads on TMC.

I would say there is a quite fair balance on customer satisfaction here. Issues are real, satisfied customers as well.

Not saying Internet forums in general don't have more complaints than compliments (the nature of the beast, problems get posted for hope of resolution etc.), but TMC is a bit different IMO. Tesla is like Apple, it has a very vocal fanbase and that shows in related forums in a higher than usual number of positive postings.

Model X forum has a lot of complaints because Model X has had (and still has) lot to complain about. Model S is distinctly different on this...