New tire blows out; delayed roadside; no spare!

[Julie119]

We purchased two rear tires from Tesla in June 2023 for our 2020 Model X. On September 30, 2023, we had one of those new tires blow out on I-26 near Orangeburg, SC on our way back from North Carolina to our home in Miami Florida. We used the Tesla app to contact Roadside Assistance. They showed up four hours later and used a flatbed to tow the car to the Savannah Georgia Service Center. Service there had given me an appointment for 3:30, but by the time we reached there it was 6:30 on Friday. Therefore, with many of my belongings in the car and left in an open air, unguarded parking lot, I had to stay and pay for the weekend in Savannah. On Monday morning, the service center installed TWO new tires, since the other, non-flat tire was worn down to the metal. Although we were anxious to get home, the Service Center explained that when the Miami Service Center installed the new tires in June, the car was badly aligned. They recommended I wait another two hours for them to align the car. I agreed. When the car was finished, they told me they were unable to align the car completely and that it needed another .6 inches. Although I was nervous the rest of the drive back to Miami, I made it safely. Now I can't get an appointment with our Service Center for another two weeks!

All in all, the incident cost me $2,500 including towing, hotel, meals and replacement of two three-month-old tires. I insisted on being reimbursed for these expenses or I would have to take further legal action. In addition, we have spoken with Tesla several times about why there is no spare or run flat tire, and the answer has been, "Roadside Service will be there to change the tire!" (We had another flat tire in a parking lot with our 3-year-old grandchild. Roadside Service NEVER showed up but left a message at 4 am that they would be there in the morning! It was 6:00 pm when we called.)

Because of this terrible trauma, not to speak of the incredible inconvenience, we will publicize this ridiculous lack of service in all the media outlets we know of. Other than compensating us for our expenses, there is not much we can do but soil the reputation of Tesla.

 

[karkrazy]

Totally symphatize and emphasize with the situation you were in… not the situation anyone would want to find themselves in.

But if you were expecting white glove service with Tesla… never gonna happen. If you wanted to give Tesla a black eye because of your experience, well there are much worse cases than yours on TMC. On the flip side, would this be any different with another car manufacturer?

In any case, sounds like you’ll need to pursue your case in small claims court if that’s what you are looking for. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

 

[Millex]

I’m truly sorry to hear about the unfortunate experiences you've faced, especially with such a new set of tires. Publicizing your experience is your right as a consumer, especially when safety and significant expenses are involved. However, I'd also recommend escalating the issue within Tesla whether through direct communication channels or by reaching out to higher-level executives before taking legal or public action. Sometimes, upper management might not be aware of ground level issues and might intervene to correct them once brought to their attention. Good luck with that

 

[jkdman123]

I sympathize, but this situation is gonna be more common to other manufacturers. Honda is not putting spares in their new cars and doesn't use run-flats. I suspect there are more doing this to save costs. I would not consider doing a long distance trip without a spare.

 

[GtiMart]

I sympathize, but it's not Tesla's fault that your car was badly aligned and used up tires quickly. You as the owner of the car are supposed to look after your car and that includes visually looking at the tires from time to time. You should have seen the wear and replaced them, plus got the car aligned, before something as bad as a blowout happened. As you say the second tires was worn to the metal, this type of thing is quite easy to see without lifting the car. Seeing a tire use up so quickly should have signaled that an alignment was needed, at least garages should have told you that. I don't believe any of this is Tesla's fault. You can buy a flat tire kit with slime if you want. Some of us bring tire plugs, some buy a spare for the trunk. As someone else said, many manufacturers are now going spare-less. I also don't think Tesla should pay for your hotel and expenses for the weekend, you arrived at a garage after hours...

I understand the frustration of the situation completely, but not your reaction (e.g. trying to soil a reputation).

 

[Tronguy]

And, um. Having owned cars since the early 1970's, those cars have had their fair share of alignments. Until the Teslas, none of them had any lane keep; usually, one can tell something is odd because the car drives squirrelly.

Now, from time to time, especially when using the auspices of a semi-reliable dealership, while doing, like, 30k mile maintenance, the dealerships in question would do an alignment check. Most of the time that comes up clean; once in a great while it'll be off a bit, in which case the going rate for a straight forward alignment would be paid and I'd drive off happy.

But the only way I've discovered to get a, "It's Way Off!" alignment problem is to run into something. Usually a curb at some kind of speed. Or a great big pothole (less common). And, after such an event, as mentioned, squirrelly driving resulted.

Now, over time, I've been lucky. When these it's-really-necessary-after-a-jolt alignments were performed, by and large the alignment shop (sometimes a dealership, more often a repair shop with the correct facilities for a four-wheel-alignment) was able to get the car into alignment, no problems.

And since I'm enough of a shade-tree mechanic who likes (yes, I'm strange) to read the actual repair manuals for cars, I'm kind of aware of how the process works. Toe-in is done by messing with tie rods to the steering assembly. Caster and camber is typically done with various thickness washers, although I've seen some cars types that one rotates an oddball bolt to get a few degrees of movement. The rears are usually the washer-and-bolt approach. (Those cars with Race Car suspensions have other, easier to adjust stuff.)

But, if a car can't be put into alignment, that's much more serious. Usually indicating a bent frame. There are body shops (typically) that can actually straighten a frame that's bent, so the car can be put into alignment.

And, I'm a-telling you, if one is fixing one of those kinds of problems, the car likely has been through something major.

Now, it's just possible, although highly unlikely, that the car came new like that.

So, did you have a bang into a hole somewhere? An accident requiring body shop repair? (In which case the body shop really missed something they should have checked.) Or what?

 

[Kairide]

What I read is you had a blow out and Tesla roadside took a long time to reach you. You decided to stay and pay for a hotel, a decision you made.
Now you expect Tesla to reimburse you for expenses and you’re upset they don’t have a spare tire or run flats.
You knew there was no spare tire when you purchased your car. You decided that checking your tires wasn’t necessary to look for issues as part of routine maintenance.
I think you’re living in fantasy land for thinking you have any legal recourse and that it’s Tesla’s fault.