Hello Everyone!
I have a 2020 (June 27th 2020, USB-C refresh) Model 3 Performance, with FSD, that I got new. The first year of ownership was amazing, aside from the ordering and delivery experience, but that is not even worth mentioning. I fell in love with the car, even as a major petrol head. Although, the subsequent years after that (and now), I've been having ever increasing issues. Since the list of issues has grown, over time, they have now become a very dangerous combo... even for me, as pilot, who's used to flying broken airplanes.
Throughout the second half of 2021, all of 2022, and (continues to) now, I've had issues with the Screen/MCU/Cameras. It started with cameras lagging really bad, like 10-50 feet of lag. Wasn't ideal, but figured everyone was having these issues on that software version or MCU was still waking up or something. Then the screen started to get really dim at random times of the day/night, a weird clicking sound would start then get louder (almost like a CD was skipping) which would happen regardless if I was playing music or not. Then my seatbelt chime would keep chiming with just me in the car, with my seatbelt fastened, for around 5-8 minutes every time I got into the car. Car had 20k Miles on it, took it in, they told me it would "get fixed in the next software update," so my happy new-tech tesla owner self said okay and continued on my way.
Many software updates came and went, each time I was hoping the solution to my issues was inside them. To no ones surprise, it wasn't.
The next time I requested service, they required me to do only remote diagnostics/remote service. Which, again, they said to "wait for the next software update. Its a known software issue." So again, I waited, optimistically.
Frustrated in the early part of 2022, I demanded that they take a look at the car (in person visit), so they begrudgingly allowed me to drop it off. I dropped it off at 6pm, and they marked it as ready for pickup literally as soon as they opened the next morning. They did not look at my vehicle beyond tires (if even that). I said no no, we aren't doing this dance again and asked the service advisor if he made sure the issues weren't still happening. He assured me they weren't, I got in the car and low n behold, they were... literally right there in the service center parking lot. So I told him to get in the car, he got in the car. In a matter of 10 feet his eyes got so wide, like he couldn't believe what he just saw. He turned to me and said "I thought you were just another annoying customer, complaining about nothing, but I totally see what you're talking about now. Here's the key to the loaner, and ill call you when we have a status update."
So a week goes by, at the end of the week he tells me they are flying someone down from Fremont, to diagnose my car. Then another 12 days goes by and he tells me the car is ready for pickup. When I go down to pick it up, he tells me that they couldn't find the issue but it may be a software issue and that I would need to take some videos (with time stamps) in order for them to start replacing things. So I did, and unfortunately I moved to another city about 2 hours away so I would have to deal with them from there on out.
During this time, another issue started happening: My Screen would go completely blank and/or the battery level would go away, the map would stop moving, the car would disappear on the screen, everything. The whole screen fritzes out, and also wont let me restart it until it goes to sleep for a while. At the same time, some days the car would not turn on when I first got into it, for anywhere between 10-20 minutes. It made me late to a lot of things at first, until I started to plan my day around it. Annoying, but not inherently dangerous.
Fast forward to beginning of 2023, the car has 85% of these issues still, with the addition of: Every few moments my car will pull/jerk/tug to the right, unpredictably, but consistently.
This entire time Tesla has stonewalled me, even with the videos and verified timestamps, all they've replaced is my side repeaters and it did absolutely nothing to fix the issue. They say they are unable to replicate the issue (which is what the videos & timestamps are supposed to alleviate) and that the hardware is fine. "pLeAsE pIcK uP uR cAr"
I'm not only so extremely tired of these issues, but with the addition of the side repeaters (side cameras) as blind spot cameras (that really help when the sun is blasting the mirrors, etc.) and the jerking motion to the right, it has made for some very dangerous situations. The camera's show old images, between 1-5 seconds old, show nothing but a loading symbol the entire time, or just a black screen. I never know if what I'm seeing is something I can rely on and trust the data of.
I've had many loaner cars at this point, even including an identical car built in the same exact week that my car was built, and none of them have ever missed a beat. They all work absolutely perfectly, even with MANY more miles on them than my car has. Not only do I refuse to drive the car until its fixed, I have a year left on my factory warranty and will not allow Tesla to make me stuck with a defective vehicle that I paid ~$70k for. I would literally trade them for a Long Range with Acceleration Boost and more miles on it, I really don't care. I just want a safe vehicle.
They are attempting to give the car back to me yet again, without addressing any of my issues, what do I do?!
Please help
Thank you
I have a 2020 (June 27th 2020, USB-C refresh) Model 3 Performance, with FSD, that I got new. The first year of ownership was amazing, aside from the ordering and delivery experience, but that is not even worth mentioning. I fell in love with the car, even as a major petrol head. Although, the subsequent years after that (and now), I've been having ever increasing issues. Since the list of issues has grown, over time, they have now become a very dangerous combo... even for me, as pilot, who's used to flying broken airplanes.
Throughout the second half of 2021, all of 2022, and (continues to) now, I've had issues with the Screen/MCU/Cameras. It started with cameras lagging really bad, like 10-50 feet of lag. Wasn't ideal, but figured everyone was having these issues on that software version or MCU was still waking up or something. Then the screen started to get really dim at random times of the day/night, a weird clicking sound would start then get louder (almost like a CD was skipping) which would happen regardless if I was playing music or not. Then my seatbelt chime would keep chiming with just me in the car, with my seatbelt fastened, for around 5-8 minutes every time I got into the car. Car had 20k Miles on it, took it in, they told me it would "get fixed in the next software update," so my happy new-tech tesla owner self said okay and continued on my way.
Many software updates came and went, each time I was hoping the solution to my issues was inside them. To no ones surprise, it wasn't.
The next time I requested service, they required me to do only remote diagnostics/remote service. Which, again, they said to "wait for the next software update. Its a known software issue." So again, I waited, optimistically.
Frustrated in the early part of 2022, I demanded that they take a look at the car (in person visit), so they begrudgingly allowed me to drop it off. I dropped it off at 6pm, and they marked it as ready for pickup literally as soon as they opened the next morning. They did not look at my vehicle beyond tires (if even that). I said no no, we aren't doing this dance again and asked the service advisor if he made sure the issues weren't still happening. He assured me they weren't, I got in the car and low n behold, they were... literally right there in the service center parking lot. So I told him to get in the car, he got in the car. In a matter of 10 feet his eyes got so wide, like he couldn't believe what he just saw. He turned to me and said "I thought you were just another annoying customer, complaining about nothing, but I totally see what you're talking about now. Here's the key to the loaner, and ill call you when we have a status update."
So a week goes by, at the end of the week he tells me they are flying someone down from Fremont, to diagnose my car. Then another 12 days goes by and he tells me the car is ready for pickup. When I go down to pick it up, he tells me that they couldn't find the issue but it may be a software issue and that I would need to take some videos (with time stamps) in order for them to start replacing things. So I did, and unfortunately I moved to another city about 2 hours away so I would have to deal with them from there on out.
During this time, another issue started happening: My Screen would go completely blank and/or the battery level would go away, the map would stop moving, the car would disappear on the screen, everything. The whole screen fritzes out, and also wont let me restart it until it goes to sleep for a while. At the same time, some days the car would not turn on when I first got into it, for anywhere between 10-20 minutes. It made me late to a lot of things at first, until I started to plan my day around it. Annoying, but not inherently dangerous.
Fast forward to beginning of 2023, the car has 85% of these issues still, with the addition of: Every few moments my car will pull/jerk/tug to the right, unpredictably, but consistently.
This entire time Tesla has stonewalled me, even with the videos and verified timestamps, all they've replaced is my side repeaters and it did absolutely nothing to fix the issue. They say they are unable to replicate the issue (which is what the videos & timestamps are supposed to alleviate) and that the hardware is fine. "pLeAsE pIcK uP uR cAr"
I'm not only so extremely tired of these issues, but with the addition of the side repeaters (side cameras) as blind spot cameras (that really help when the sun is blasting the mirrors, etc.) and the jerking motion to the right, it has made for some very dangerous situations. The camera's show old images, between 1-5 seconds old, show nothing but a loading symbol the entire time, or just a black screen. I never know if what I'm seeing is something I can rely on and trust the data of.
I've had many loaner cars at this point, even including an identical car built in the same exact week that my car was built, and none of them have ever missed a beat. They all work absolutely perfectly, even with MANY more miles on them than my car has. Not only do I refuse to drive the car until its fixed, I have a year left on my factory warranty and will not allow Tesla to make me stuck with a defective vehicle that I paid ~$70k for. I would literally trade them for a Long Range with Acceleration Boost and more miles on it, I really don't care. I just want a safe vehicle.
They are attempting to give the car back to me yet again, without addressing any of my issues, what do I do?!
Please help
Thank you
