Tesla Backed Out of Warranty Repair - Any Help Greatly Appreciated - High Pitched Noise When Decelerating

[AWev]

Hello everyone, looking for some advice.

I have a 2015 Model S, and 3 years ago noticed that it had started making a high-pitched squealing noise when decelerating from about 65 mph to 50 mph. I initially took it in to the local service center in Columbus, OH (in 2020), they asked me to monitor it. I took it back a year later (2021) when the sound had worsened and the person who accompanied me on a test-ride told me it was the ring and pinion, and that the rear drive unit would need to be replaced. He said it wasn't bad enough to be replaced at that time but to monitor it and bring it back when we were closer to the drivetrain warranty expiring.

I took it back in to the service center on July 31, 2023, and someone from the service center later called and said that their team agreed that the noise was excessive and told me that I "have nothing to worry about, it will be repaired under warranty. Especially because there is a paper trail going back years about this." I then wait for a week, while each day they say, "it will be done tomorrow," then the next day, then the next day...I

After seven days of them having my car I get a message that my repair is finished. I look at the invoice through the Tesla app, and it says that they changed their minds, the noise is no longer excessive, and that they will not be repairing anything or covering this under warranty. I've been trying to get someone on the phone at the service center but no luck so far, not a surprise there.

That stinks. Have any of you experienced something like this when dealing a Tesla warranty-related repair? Any advice on how to get Tesla to honor their initial commitment to repairing this? I've read about the arbitration process and am considering that.

Thank you in advance for any insight that you can provide.

 

[Rudyv1]

Any updates since your original post?

 

[fhteagle]

What was the estimate amount before the service started? Hopefully you took a screen shot or saved that ......

 

[KArnold]

Maybe NCDS? I did this early on with the yellow screens being a "wear item" and won. Pretty easy.

See Yellow screen? Force Tesla to Replace it!

 

[jacko1421]

The same thing just happened to me. They said over the messages that they were replacing the drive unit. But then after further diagnosis, the sound was normal. I am quite disappointed. Did you get anywhere further with them repairing your issue?

 

[AWev]

jacko - sort of.

They said that they would not replace the drive unit, which yes, was very disappointing, so I continued digging online and found a number of posts/articles/videos, where Tesla owners spoke of fixing this problem by replacing the car's ground straps. I brought this up to Tesla and they agreed to replace the front and rear ground straps for me at no cost.

It didn't seem to make a difference for me, I did not have the same result that many others seemed to. I still get the whining noise at the same speed that I did before. BUT - one other thing - some people online mentioned tightening their ground straps, past what Tesla tightens them to. I cannot say this is a good or bad thing to do, and I have not tried it yet. But I am considering either doing it myself or taking it to my local trusted mechanic to do it.

I don't have time right this second, but if I can find the videos about the tightening of the ground straps and the positive effect that had, I will post them in this thread.