Tesla reliability and cost of ownership.

[greggertruck]

My brother has a 2014 Model S P85 or something like that. 61k miles roughly, full battery replacement. Tesla would not provide any diagnostics, not proof of the issue. He's skeptical of the required replacement and hates that he can't run diagnostics himself to see if it's funny business.

That being said, he's paying the 16k for the refurbished replacement battery. Although disappointed, he LOVES the car. He's had other issues too. Handles were messed up. Display also needed a replacement. He's had a heck of a time.

WE have a 3, only 12v battery needed replacement, Tesla did that for free in the garage at our house. It'll be 3 years old next week. 50,577 miles. No issues otherwise.

My brother has a Y. 1.5 years old. Zero issues as far as I know.

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[Crissa]

My brother has a 2014 Model S P85 or something like that. 61k miles roughly, full battery replacement. Tesla would not provide any diagnostics, not proof of the issue. He's skeptical of the required replacement and hates that he can't run diagnostics himself to see if it's funny business.

That being said, he's paying the 16k for the refurbished replacement battery. Although disappointed, he LOVES the car. He's had other issues too. Handles were messed up. Display also needed a replacement. He's had a heck of a time.

WE have a 3, only 12v battery needed replacement, Tesla did that for free in the garage at our house. It'll be 3 years old next week. 50,577 miles. No issues otherwise.

My brother has a Y. 1.5 years old. Zero issues as far as I know.

Your brother seems foolish.

They're required by law to provide the diagnostic information. And a 2014 should be under the original 8 year warranty. Federal law requires them to prove the damage is outside the coverage. And other countries are more strict!

This is the edge cases that Tesla isn't good at, because there's rarely someone to escalate these rare cases to.

-Crissa

 

[greggertruck]

Your brother seems foolish.

They're required by law to provide the diagnostic information. And a 2014 should be under the original 8 year warranty. Federal law requires them to prove the damage is outside the coverage. And other countries are more strict!

This is the edge cases that Tesla isn't good at, because there's rarely someone to escalate these rare cases to.

-Crissa

They do not provide diagnostics to the level you seem to think they would.

14 + 8 is 22 my guy.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Perhaps you could cite the data sources that lead you to believe Teslas are unreliable? I know that Consumer Reports makes hay about Tesla's "initial reliability" such as panel gaps and cosmetic damage, but that says nothing about actual reliability.

JD Power shows that Teslas are well-regarded by their owners, but they are ineligible for awards since Tesla will not provide them with customer information.

I'm sure they are many empirical cases of bad ownership experiences, but that's true of any vehicle.

A simple search on Google provides ample links and data showing that Teslas are unreliable. Most of the data is about older Teslas, and some of the data is old and shows Teslas being beaten by ID.3, Bolt, iPace, and other cars that either don’t exist anymore or have proven to have much more serious problems than those reported of Teslas. The problem is that these sources are the ones people have historically looked to for this kind of information, and most of them are in the pockets of Legacy Auto, legacy media, The Wall Street Journal, and they all write articles “based on fact” thst expose their bias against Tesla.

here is my advice to the ziP or anyone thinking of buying a BEV: look on the road and count the number of BEVs of any auto maker. People may follow others like lemmings but they do catch on and what you see the most of is probably the best overall. Second, see if you can find a Tesla owner that doesn’t love their car. Ask around a see if Tesla owners would buy another. I suspect that you will find uniformity in both answers.

After that you are on your own.

At the present time I would not trust most any BEV if it isn’t a Tesla but I spend a lot of time following things BEV.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

It doesn’t much matter if there is a service center close by if you never need service.

 

[Crissa]

They do not provide diagnostics to the level you seem to think they would.

14 + 8 is 22 my guy.

They're required to by law.

Laws only hold as strongly as you defend them.

-Crissa

 

[greggertruck]

They're required to by law.

Laws only hold as strongly as you defend them.

-Crissa

Bru. You really don’t get it.

the diagnostics provided are very very surface level.

Rather than calling perfect strangers fools, get informed. Regardless; 14+8 is 22. Warranty up. $16k plz.

 

[Crissa]

Bru. You really don’t get it.

the diagnostics provided are very very surface level.

Rather than calling perfect strangers fools, get informed. Regardless; 14+8 is 22. Warranty up. $16k plz.

Yes, the warranty should have lasted until sometime this year.

Yes, the date of the warranty validity is the first date a symptom of the system was reported to the manufacturer or service personnel, not the date of the diagnosis.

And yes, the burden is upon the manufacturer to prove the damage is out of warranty - not the other way around. Surface diagnosis isn't appropriate.

This isn't just about your brother - this is for anyone else who may have an issue. If you don't know these details, you can get snowed like your brother.

So for instance, if he reported the issue in July, but they didn't look until September, and the warranty ended in August, it should still be covered.

Also, if they built it in June, and he took delivery in August, August is when the warranty period began for a new product.

You gotta know your rights.

-Crissa

 

[HaulingAss]

Can say the same for my GMC Acadia I took delivery on April 2020- not even a single issue since that 65k miles on it. Oil change cost $120, twice a year. The vehicle price is 20k less than MY. For this money difference I don't care paying for changing oil.
2018 Jerp Grand Cherokee - no issues at all. Owned for 2 years, took brand new(around 50k miles)
2016 Jeep Cherokee - no issues. Owned for 2 years(45k miles)
And so on...
Every new car I bought and owned for 2-3 years ( I like buying new cars, when the ‘old’ does not smell as new ) had never had any single issues.
I think reliability is mostly applied to cars 8-15 years old...

Google "gmc arcadia engine problems" and you might be shocked how many people have had serious issues, and many of them before the car is 8 years old. It gets low reliability marks by many publications. Some years are worse than others so you take your chances when you buy a new car because you don't know how that model year will fare.

I mention this because you can Google ANY car and find hundreds of issues. Tesla had their share of issues with the early Model S and Model X's but the Model 3 and Model Y have remarkably few serious issues compared to the typical gas car. There is no transmission (just a simple reduction gear), and the motors and power electronics have a very low defect rate.

That said, there are an army of trolls out there to amplify any real issues and make up a bunch of fake ones.

What I know is the two Model 3's my wife and I have been driving for over four years each have been remarkable. I even take mine off-pavement on rocky steep mountain roads that go many miles back into the N. Cascades and have tricky rocks and washes to navigate through without any issues except I did tear off my under fairing last winter. It's a fairing under the car about 4 feet by 6 feet. I took it Tesla for replacement and they put a new one on it with a smile. I was floored when they told me "no charge" this would have been a $300 or higher repair at a legacy auto dealer. Maybe a lot more depending upon the brand.

 

[HaulingAss]

Unlike every gas car on the road, Tesla's do not need regular services for oil and filters. After four years I had my brake fluid flushed and replaced. That was the first and only preventive service the car has needed in over four years. Even that wouldn't be necessary according to Tesla technicians unless the car is driven very aggressively with a lot of brake usage like it would see on a track. Apparently the brake fluid in a Tesla lasts a lot longer because a traditional cars brakes are always heating up and cooling down with brake usage which is what allows the moisture to find its way inside the brake lines (temperature cycles). I only did it (against their recommendation) because it's my ski car and I'm always driving through slush and puddles and other nasty stuff. And I do occasionally rally the car and use the friction brakes from high speeds into corners.

The Cybertruck might not even have brake fluid! I think the Cybertruck will be the first production vehicle to use Brembo's newest electronic braking system called "Sensify". If so, this will eliminate one more service item (brake fluid replacement).

Tesla keeps detailed databases on every issue their cars have and figures out how to reduce or eliminate the need for service. Legacy automakers do this also but not nearly as effectively because they take a lot longer to make production changes (years in some cases) and the wall between the private dealerships who do the warranty work and the manufacturer is not entirely transparent. Dealers are always looking to make a few hundred extra bucks. Not Tesla!

 

[Daddystired]

I have enjoyed following this forum and any other news cybertruck related since placing a reservation on reveal night. Cybertruck is the first utility EV that has checked enough boxes to interest me. In recent months I have become increasingly concerned by the reports of below average reliability of existing Tesla EVs in the new car marketplace. That combined with the lack of a well established network of service centers really worries me. Would love to be enlightened if my concerns are not warranted. To be clear I hope to own a Cybertruck ASAP but could be talked out of completing a purchase if red flags continue to pop up as my reservation comes up.

I’ve owned my model Y since the beginning of 2021…. the only thing that’s ever happened was my battery range dropping from 313-to-278 for a FULL charge. A code was sent to me to schedule a service. So once I pulled open the app- sent it in- in about 5 minutes they told me my MAIN BATTERY needed to be replaced. ‍
Let me tell you.
took them 1 1/2days to do it! 5 minutes to figure out the problem 1 more minute for you to pick a date to drop it off. Roughly 1 week later. Dropped it off on Thursday morning- ready Friday afternoon.
No cost. Because warranty.

Compare that to a ICE vehicle-which you would have to schedule an appointment- arrive. 1hr would go by for them to come out and say 30 more minutes your car is next. Then 2hrs after arriving they will tell you. Whole engine needs to be replaced. 3 weeks later you’ll have your car back.

I went a little bit on a rant but yeah. My cars fine. Has around 15k miles on it.

 

[Qball]

Teslas are as unreliable as it comes! They have so many changes or so inconsistent that almost no Tesla you see on the roads are the same. Time to cancel your reservation if you reserved one…..especially if you have one of the early reservations.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

'Never' is a push for sure, but of the 2 Teslas we own we have not had a single service except for a tire repair which we would have had for any car that rolled onto a nail. In all the time I owned my 2 hybrids before getting our Teslas the only service we ever needed was on the ICE engines and their related components, and that was over many years, so I think it is within reason to expect repairs on the Teslas for only warranty or collision related work. The former would be performed by Tesla and the latter by an external shop. Remember, we are talking to the OP about Tesla reliability, and they need to know that what goes for reliability in the traditional sources (like Consumers Reports) is not valid.

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