Suspension Problem on Model S

[techmaven]

Where is he claiming that all Model S's may have this problem as you claimed in your post?

My last response is to Mr. Jon Barkland - he made that claim. As for Mr. Cordaro, he linked to both the Daily Kanban article written by Mr. Niedermeyer who has been writing all sorts of anti-Tesla articles for years that makes the insinuation and he re-published Mr Wivaneff's letter which has all sorts of outrageous claims. So Mr. Cordaro is now a party to this and claiming that this is a public safety issue. Just his single report is part of being a public safety issue. I expected him to report that to NHTSA. Good for him. Doing the rest is no longer... it's trying to do something else.

My first comment about being angry with Mr. Cordaro is after it became clear that he greatly exaggerated the NHSTA investigator's comments stating that NHTSA said the ball joint is of poor quality and he posted Mr. Wivaneff's letter as if it has any truth. Using those lies in the hopes of furthering his case is disgusting, even if there is a manufacturing defect with his suspension.

 

[CarlK]

It is interesting that this thread started on April 28th. Same day the OP reported this issue to NHTSA. But the story that unfolds is that there were several days of conversations with OP and Tesla, check his updates several days after 28th.

The tone of his writings on 28th and few days later were in sharp contrast to someone reporting to NHTSA. I am not sure what to make of it.

Then there are those people who registered after 5/28 came here to defend the op. I'm not sure what to make of them either.

 

[Lump]

There's also reports that the NHTSA is angry that Tesla is fixing the issues for owners, but making them sign NDAs that seemingly prevent them from discussing the issue with the agency. We actually saw some evidence of that here on the forum a few weeks ago.

Feds investigating potentially widespread Tesla Model S suspension issue - Roadshow

Tesla Suspension Breakage: It's Not The Crime, It's The Coverup - DailyKanban

 

[TMSE]

Yes, but no. The fact that one car had a ball joint failure at ~70K miles is not out of this world unusual.


My take away from this:
-OP's car clearly had a problem (defective part most likely, not intentional abuse by the OP or unusual wear), that he didn't take care of before the ball joint completely fell out. (no warning it was failing?...Com'on that thing must have been clunking like crazy).

-Now he is on a mission...

You nailed it! Glad you brought it out! By the pictures, the ball joint appears totally rusted out. How on earth is it not noticeable? No vibrations? No shaking? No noise? So, everything worked perfectly fine and bam! It fell apart?? How is that possible???

I am sure NHTSA is looking into the Intentional sabotage angle too. Given this background, I wouldn't rule out that possibility.

 

[Electroman]

The moment anyone quotes the internet 3rd rate lier and troll, Kieff, as their supporting argument - they lose all my respect and I put them in troll bucket. That guy simply took several pictures of the same car from multiple angles that have been in terrible accidents and pass them off as multiple incidents. Anyone can clearly see his bald face lies clearly, including the poster here who quoted him as supporting material.

The fact that he is quoting that troll is what makes him extremely suspicious.

 

[techmaven]

I am sure NHTSA is looking into Intentional sabotage angle too. Given this background, I wouldn't rule out that possibility.

I doubt that very much.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Agree. If there is an issue, take care of it and get it out in the open. NDAs are suspect.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I am very glad that the NHTSA was informed of a potential problem and that they are looking into it. We will all benefit as a result. There is no need for negativity or anger. If there is a problem, I'm sure we would all like to know about it and have it addressed before we put ourselves or our loved ones into a potentially dangerous situation.

 

[stopcrazypp]

It is probably talking about this particular incident (and thread):
Suspension Problem on Model S

While there is a NDA signed, it is hard to tell if it is a standard generic goodwill NDA (one designed so that other consumers can't expect to get the same terms, but rather separate it to a case-by-case payout; this is very common esp. for lemons for example) or if it was one that prohibited the owner from reporting to the NHTSA. Would have to see the terms to be sure.

 

[trils0n]

I thought NDAs were standard procedure for Tesla when they made out of warranty repairs for free due to owner complaints. There have been reports of similar NDAs on these forums over the years when Tesla does the right thing and covers out of warranty repairs, buybacks, etc.

I assume this issue is slightly different, because after receiving goodwill, out-of-warranty repair the owner reported it to the NHTSA. The NDA was about the goodwill (free, out of warranty) portion of the repair.

 

[Az_Rael]

I have gotten goodwill repairs before from other manufacturers (well, dealers really), but I haven't ever had to sign an NDA for them. I might have been a bit put off if presented with one.

On a side note, as a relatively newbie to the forum, it was fascinating to watch this go from a single post complaint to full-blown media storm. This sort of stuff never happened on the Lexus/Toyota/Volt forums at the speed with which it happened here.

 

[Zybd1201]

Then there are those people who registered after 5/28 came here to defend the op. I'm not sure what to make of them either.

To be clear, I registered after I bought my Tesla because waiting for it is killing me. I am not here to 'defend' anyone. The car is the bomb. That is why I am here.

I think this guy has been treated pretty poorly, though. I am also not surprised by his situation. My initial experience with Tesla has been far less than stellar.

The company has a lot of work to do on communications, sales process, technology, user interfaces, etc. etc. etc.

Truthfully, I'd love to be a part of making Tesla better. I believe in the mission and am ready for a new world of EVs.

But, Tesla is not perfect and recognizing problems both in the community and in the company are paramount to achieving its mission. There is, at minimum, a problem with these NDAs and Tesla's approach to out of warranty work. They may have been well intentioned but that doesn't make them right for the consumer or the business.

Second, for whatever reason, there is a problem with the 'Tesla community' and its distrust of newcomers and their concerns. I am sure there is a legitimate backstory but the times are changing and a lot of people will have Teslas soon. That is a good thing. :-D

 

[anticitizen13.7]

I am very glad that the NHTSA was informed of a potential problem and that they are looking into it. We will all benefit as a result. There is no need for negativity or anger.

Let's be honest: most of the anger on every side of these issues has to do with the share price of TSLA, and there are in aggregate at least tens of Billions of dollars at risk for both Tesla fans (shareholders) and detractors (short sellers). When people on both sides stand to lose substantial amounts of money, many will become angry and even enraged. Whether there is need or lack of need for anger isn't the issue.

The very existence of the anger and possibly rage needs to be acknowledged.

When threads start to get out of control, people need to ask themselves whether they are posting in order to contribute to the collective knowledge and betterment of the community, or whether they are posting for the purpose of harming the other side of a financial investment.

I ask myself this question often, and many of my posts are indeed partly to defend my paltry holdings in TSLA, though not entirely. I do want to advance sustainable transport, and reduction of fossil fuel use is my primary motivator for my interest in Tesla Motors. If Tesla wasn't an electric car and battery company, I would never have invested in TSLA in the first place.

If there is a problem, I'm sure we would all like to know about it and have it addressed before we put ourselves or our loved ones into a potentially dangerous situation.

I agree with this completely.

I believe that Tesla has been very proactive in terms of safety and recalls, but people still need to be vigilant. Even if Tesla has done everything right, that doesn't mean that mistakes don't happen, or suppliers won't screw them.

Look at what happened with Takata and the airbag inflators. Honda trusted Takata to produce safe airbag inflators. It now appears that Takata screwed Honda and other car makers, resulting in tens of millions of potentially dangerous airbag inflators that need to be replaced as their propellant becomes dangerous with age, humidity, and temperature swings.

 

[Atlantis]

My take away from this:
-OP's car clearly had a problem (defective part most likely, not intentional abuse by the OP or unusual wear), that he didn't take care of before the ball joint completely fell out. (no warning it was failing?...Com'on that thing must have been clunking like crazy).
-Due to the fact that the ball joint didn't get replaced before it completely failed, it came apart while driving and caused additional damage (big surprise).
-Now that OP is on the hook for a big repair bill from this nasty surprise, he doesn't feel like he should have to pay for it. For which I can understand as the ball joint probably failed much too early. Telsa offering to pay half the bill didn't satisfy him and only enraged him further.
-Now he is on a mission...

If your are right, this sort of behaviour in my country is named as to be a "Chico esperto", that we can translate as something as to be a "clever clogs". Here, the mentality of a lot of people drives them to have this sort of behaviour (and this make me sick every time a see it).
I hope to be wrong but my guess would be of someone that detects the problem but didn't care or didn't want to spent the money for repair. So he let the thing going worse until breaking, then he report to Tesla as a fabrication default to have a free repair. One more time, I'm not saying that was actually the case there, but it's a scenario that I could perfectly imagine because very common here with a lot of people to trying to have free repairs in cars after doing bad thing with them (so going to brand repaired shop to have free repair) or driving to fast in bad roads to make old suspensions or old tires that were in need to be changed braking and then going to city hall to demand it to pay the change to new suspensions or new tires! Very common in fact.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I have gotten goodwill repairs before from other manufacturers (well, dealers really), but I haven't ever had to sign an NDA for them. I might have been a bit put off if presented with one.

Yeah in those cases you weren't dealing with the manufacturer directly, but for example for lemons and working with the manufacturer, NDAs are quite common (I happened to read this article a while back):
http://jalopnik.com/victory-porsche-says-theyll-buy-lemon-911-guys-car-b-1564711471

On a side note, as a relatively newbie to the forum, it was fascinating to watch this go from a single post complaint to full-blown media storm. This sort of stuff never happened on the Lexus/Toyota/Volt forums at the speed with which it happened here.

That was fascinating to watch too. I remember people questioning why people bring up the "are you a shorter" question all the time here. This is the reason why. TMC gives you a much more effective stage to broadcast something that can affect Tesla's stock price than any other site out there, given the media monitors this forum regularly. I haven't seen any other car forum have the same phenomenon, not even the "official" Tesla forums. TMC is always the one in the news.

 

[Legitsu]

ok so I had to register and comment on this after reading it on ./
last I checked control arms and ball joints where a normal 'wear-item' on most vehicles I have worked on
70k on a stock part is pretty frigging good
and as others have stated the op is a idiot he had plenty of warning that it was failing they tend toe make a lot of noise when they get bad on any car or truck

 

[aznt1217]

I have gotten goodwill repairs before from other manufacturers (well, dealers really), but I haven't ever had to sign an NDA for them. I might have been a bit put off if presented with one.

On a side note, as a relatively newbie to the forum, it was fascinating to watch this go from a single post complaint to full-blown media storm. This sort of stuff never happened on the Lexus/Toyota/Volt forums at the speed with which it happened here.

Yup. Welcome to the Tesla life where everything is under a microscope for no reason lol

 

[Atlantis]

Now I was thinking about something that could make some people beginning to freaking out about their privacy, but I wonder how far goes the capacity of Tesla to go into the log of this particular vehicle to see what was the roads it takes and the general health of the car (an idea based in the log released about Tesla X recent acceleration incident). Can Tesla log data goes hours back, days, or even more back in time, and show that suspension were in the way of breaking long time before it actually occurred and the guy went in very rude roads with it?

 

[JohnSnowNW]

I am very glad that the NHTSA was informed of a potential problem and that they are looking into it. We will all benefit as a result. There is no need for negativity or anger. If there is a problem, I'm sure we would all like to know about it and have it addressed before we put ourselves or our loved ones into a potentially dangerous situation.

I'm irritated that the OP lied, and appears to be more than willing to let himself be led by persons with some sort of vested interest in the falling price of TSLA.

If there's an actual issue it would certainly be good for it to be addressed. Of course, we all know it wasn't the motivation here, and if it ends up being true it will simply have been coincidental.

 

[aznt1217]

Mr. Cordaro, you should continue posting everything you want to post. It is clear that many on this site just desperately want to cover up anything negative regarding Tesla. You deserve your suspension to be fixed, for free. Tesla should also take some of its billions and fix 100% of the existing suspensions so that it does not give EV's a bad name. Shame on Tesla for an apparent coverup, and for the fanboys on this site for lynching one of their own. Disgusting.

Sorry, but where did I say he should stop posting? If anything I'm watching out for him as he can be on the hook legally for posting CONFIDENTIAL information and posting during an investigation where extra scrutiny detracts focus. None of us have information on both sides of the table. While I don't agree with SOME of the treatment he has gotten from us "fanboys." I'm telling OP to be sensible and aware of how heavily this company is scrutinized and to watch his own butt with confidential information. This is a given.