Tesla X last straw - Open Letter

[ModelXBoy]

I don't have a VIN yet so I doubt they built my car yet (which is a good thing) but they are still promising the mid-April delivery so who knows

It is hard to say good or bad now a days. Maybe your X already been built and still waiting for new latches to come in, this put your X like sig Xs back in Jan and Feb, car is built but sitting there for nothing waiting for parts to come in. On the other hand your car might not even started building yet (this is the best news), this will put your car the first batch to have the new parts and be a very well built car since the sig owner, March owners all took the hit to improve the quality for future Xs. But either way I miss my X. Loaner S is a nice car, but no way near in comparison with X. X is far more superior car and better looking in my opinion.

 

[eye.surgeon]

Your experience should serve as notice to people who are the first to order any new Tesla. There will be early QC issues, and you will have to wait longer than you thought you would, and you will not be hand held during the waiting process. If any of those eventualities bothers you , wait until production is up to speed.

As it turns out all of those issues do bother me, which is why I have a serial #63xxx Model S.

 

[K-MTG]

It is hard to say good or bad now a days. Maybe your X already been built and still waiting for new latches to come in, this put your X like sig Xs back in Jan and Feb, car is built but sitting there for nothing waiting for parts to come in. On the other hand your car might not even started building yet (this is the best news), this will put your car the first batch to have the new parts and be a very well built car since the sig owner, March owners all took the hit to improve the quality for future Xs. But either way I miss my X. Loaner S is a nice car, but no way near in comparison with X. X is far more superior car and better looking in my opinion.

How is the service at Costa Mesa? I will be picking up my X at Costa Mesa. Good thing they gave you a loaner.

Did they release any information regarding the Model X service plan (annual inspection)? If so, did you get it?

 

[ModelXBoy]

How is the service at Costa Mesa? I will be picking up my X at Costa Mesa. Good thing they gave you a loaner.

Did they release any information regarding the Model X service plan (annual inspection)? If so, did you get it?

Well here is the irony. I only spend one day at Costa Mesa delivery department, to pick up the X initially of course. I spent whole lot of time in service. Service people are very nice. I would say it's by far one of the best SC in Orange County. You should definitely trust them for fixing your stuff. Here is the catch, try not having those problems, those annoyances can really cause some serious diarrria, lol j/k. Just be patient. If I were you, I would do two things, one is to patiently wait for the X hoping all problems are solved, you are getting a high quality car. Second is to cancel your car and reorder the X, this will put you in back of the line to get a even later delivery date, again in hoping for a high quality car. In case you do get a flawed X, don't be afraid, take your car in, there are many Xs in the service center to keep your car accompanied.

Regarding to service of the X, the SC briefly told me to come back and check for batteries and motors once a year. I kinda ignored this because I was already in SC for fixes just one day after delivery.

 

[Drivin]

From Tesla Delivers 14,820 Vehicles in Q1 2016; On Track for Full-Year Delivery Guidance (NASDAQ:TSLA)

The root causes of the parts shortages were: Tesla's hubris in adding far too much new technology to the Model X in version 1, insufficient supplier capability validation, and Tesla not having broad enough internal capability to manufacture the parts in-house. The parts in question were only half a dozen out of more than 8,000 unique parts, nonetheless missing even one part means a car cannot be delivered.​

Cold comfort, but at least Tesla acknowledges the part problem.

This isn't new.
It was acknowledged in January
And even with that they had a different forecast in February

However, Q1 should be a different story, and the most-recent updates from Tesla on its Model X production ramp-up seem to agree. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has emphasized on several occasions that he is very confident in the company's ability to produce Model X, noting that initial uncertainty was mostly related to the ability of suppliers to deliver on their promises.

Weird that Tesla is the only car company that needs "Parts" for their vehicles and need to do supply chain management

 

[aesculus]

I am kind of the opinion that those of us that got earlier shipments just happened to be the ones that randomly did not have issues. I suspect that there are a lot of completed cars that failed with one part or another after they were all fully assembled. I think they sorted out those that passed the test and held the others back. Those that passed were delivered.

I have absolutely no evidence or justification for my opinion but it seems to fit with what we are seeing here. There were both early and later VINS that had essentially the same configurations as some of the cars that were delivered recently. And even a few of the most recent cars have had some issues but many came out close to perfect, like mine.

So it was not anything that anyone did or who you were, just some random thing that went on. And as others have said you are probably better off waiting a bit for the improved part rather than chancing fate with the luck of the draw.

 

[DrComputer]

I will agree with others here that there are many cars sitting at the factory being held up with quality problems to be fixed. Saw this first hand when I did factory delivery and picked up my VIN 1056 on March 27th. Mine somehow made it through production and delivery in less than 2 weeks. Is is perfect, no. Are the things that are wrong major, no. I have a few squeaks and rattles that I will have the service center fix when they have time.

 

[ModelXBoy]

I will agree with others here that there are many cars sitting at the factory being held up with quality problems to be fixed. Saw this first hand when I did factory delivery and picked up my VIN 1056 on March 27th. Mine somehow made it through production and delivery in less than 2 weeks. Is is perfect, no. Are the things that are wrong major, no. I have a few squeaks and rattles that I will have the service center fix when they have time.

Wow your vin is very close to mine Vin 104x. If your car is good, I think once my issues are fixed, everything else should be good? Well I will sure bring my microscope to check for more problems if any when car is back from SC.

 

[K-MTG]

Wow your vin is very close to mine Vin 104x. If your car is good, I think once my issues are fixed, everything else should be good? Well I will sure bring my microscope to check for more problems if any when car is back from SC.

I don't have the patience to cancel and reorder but I expect my vin to be in the 6,000 range so hopefully build issues could be resolved by the time I get mine

 

[neroden]

I have friends who grew up in Michigan who say that *all* cars are like this: the first 1000 off the production line, and particularly the first 100, inevitably have a lot more problems than later cars. This is one reason I dropped my Signature S order and got a regular production S.

It's probably wise of Tesla to reserve the early production line model 3s for employees, who may be more forgiving than the general public.

 

[ModelXBoy]

It's probably wise of Tesla to reserve the early production line model 3s for employees, who may be more forgiving than the general public.

This is exactly what's going to happen. SC told me that tesla employees will be first to order model 3 so will be first to get them also. This is definitely for safe measure I think.

 

[madodel]

Vin 16X, just got it 2 days ago with all options.

And how is the quality?

 

[Skotty]

Weird that Tesla is the only car company that needs "Parts" for their vehicles and need to do supply chain management

I think the problem here is that other manufacturers have been in business a long time and already have trusted sources for parts. Tesla is still fairly new and is probably developing new relationships with new parts suppliers. Unfortunately, a few of those parts suppliers aren't living up to their promises. In time, Tesla will have a full roster of suppliers they know they can trust for various parts, and I think we will see fewer of these issues.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I think the problem here is that other manufacturers have been in business a long time and already have trusted sources for parts. Tesla is still fairly new and is probably developing new relationships with new parts suppliers. Unfortunately, a few of those parts suppliers aren't living up to their promises. In time, Tesla will have a full roster of suppliers they know they can trust for various parts, and I think we will see fewer of these issues.

With the Model X specifically, Tesla is also trying some fairly unique ideas. The Falcon Wing doors and the pedestal 2nd row seats definitely are not common features in cars (or elsewhere in other industries) and will require some unique suppliers.

With the Model 3, it doesn't appear Tesla will be trying anything special like that (yet).

 

[pvogel]

With the Model X specifically, Tesla is also trying some fairly unique ideas. The Falcon Wing doors and the pedestal 2nd row seats definitely are not common features in cars (or elsewhere in other industries) and will require some unique suppliers.

With the Model 3, it doesn't appear Tesla will be trying anything special like that (yet).

Except the whole glass roof... And the funky hinging of the rear trunk door.

 

[Dr ValueSeeker]

Yeh, unfortunately, the excitement of the car has been completely clouded by this horrific experience. I wish I could share in the enthusiasm that everyone else had who received their cars. It's been frustrating also because I got rid of my car earlier this year and have been car-less, bc I was expecting the Model X "soon" they told me.

Great advice from everyone. Appreciate the tips and people taking a moment. Hopefully the ordeal will be over soon. The stress this has caused is totally not worth it.

The hide-and-seek game your DS is playing with you is completely unacceptable. Nor does it sound ethical for Tesla to ignore the loyal signature customers while the car already becomes yesterday's story. It does not match at all with the rumored Tesla service quality. It's not like the other Model X are shipping with anything better than beta quality, so QC is not the reason for sure.

If I were you, I would just ask for a refund and some more, to teach them a good lesson. There is no point giving them a free pass forever. They will never improve that way.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

The hide-and-seek game your DS is playing with you is completely unacceptable. Nor does it sound ethical for Tesla to ignore the loyal signature customers while the car already becomes yesterday's story. It does not match at all with the rumored Tesla service quality. It's not like the other Model X are shipping with anything better than beta quality, so QC is not the reason for sure.

If I were you, I would just ask for a refund and some more, to teach them a good lesson. There is no point giving them a free pass forever. They will never improve that way.

*Rolls eyes*

 

[ohmman]

If I were you, I would just ask for a refund and some more, to teach them a good lesson. There is no point giving them a free pass forever. They will never improve that way.

Be careful. It might start sounding like you'd benefit from cancellations and the misfortune of others.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Except the whole glass roof... And the funky hinging of the rear trunk door.

The glass roof from reports is optional and supposedly large glass roofs are not necessarily that special (which is why I didn't mention it for Model X). The hinging is not your standard goose neck hinge, but isn't really much different from a gas shock hatchback hinge like on the Model S.

 

[Drivin]

This is exactly what's going to happen. SC told me that tesla employees will be first to order model 3 so will be first to get them also. This is definitely for safe measure I think.

Do they get a significant discount for this?