il_cyber
New member
- Joined
- May 8, 2024
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 7
- Location
- IL
- Vehicles
- '18 M3, '20 MY, '23 MX, '24 Cybertruck
- Thread starter
- #1
This past weekend, I picked up my new Cybertruck at the local-ish delivery center (~100 mi away). The sales folks were fantastic and the truck looked great -- a few of the minor cosmetic issues that everyone is seeing (e.g., slight misalignment of the doors, machining marks on the sail panels, glue of the tail light lens), but nothing that a post-delivery service call or a few hours of detailing at home couldn't fix. I happily took delivery and my wife, son, and I started the drive home.
About 30 minutes into our return trip, driving on the highway, the windshield suddenly cracked from the lower leading edge centered in the passenger's field of view. There was no car in front of us to throw a rock or cause an impact (thankfully on a low-volume segment of the highway so we weren't getting too many gawks and pictures from passing cars), just a quite pop. The crack appeared from the edge and extended about 3 inches up the windshield. Disappointed we pulled off at the next rest stop to inspect the damage and put in a ticket to Tesla for service. In the 10 minutes between having the crack appear to the rest stop, the crack continued to pop every few minutes, grew across the lower passenger side corner over to the A pillar, and extended up about 25% of the windshield.
When we got out at the rest stop, we could not find any visible indication of a defect, chip, impact crater, etc that might indicate road hazard damage. Instead we noticed that the lower passenger-side corner of the windshield was noticeably depressed into the frame of the truck: the seals around this corner were loose and do not sit against the glass as they do on the driver's side but only for the portion of the glass that had now cracked. It started to rain as we were taking pictures and deciding that the was nothing more we could do at the rest area, we continued the drive home.
Once in the garage, I toweled off the truck, and was able to better visualize the damage. The initial crack that we saw on the highway definitely started at the leading edge of the windshield. There is no chip in the edge, no indication of an impact, and the crack is clean. The seal between the glass and the frunk lid/space is very tight at the point of initial crack. From there, the crack trees over towards the A pillar, pulls down to the lower edge a couple of times and heads up to make contact with the A pillar edge. The seals in that lower passenger corner are loose and do not sit flush to the windshield. The fractured segments of the top glass do show a gradual angle going from the center of the windshield to that corner: at each section of the crack you can feel a step down moving towards the corner.
It seems to me that the windshield was not set correctly at the factory. I've found similar issues on the forums for Model 3 and Y in almost the same location that were later determined to be manufacturing errors and replaced under warranty. I had one of my engineering colleagues take a look and they agreed that the gradual depression of the glass leading to that corner seemed to indicate that there may not be enough adhesive behind the glass, and that it may be under some tension or making contact with the body and that a little chassis flex on the highway may have been enough to cause the crack -- they highlighted the long, straight line cracks indicating that this is a sign of glass under stress/tension (I'll take their word for it; I'm no materials scientist). Seems like a warranty item for sure!
Fast forward to mid-day Monday, I called the service center (~60 mi away in the opposite direction from my delivery center, go figure) to followup on my ticket and the local manager indicated that they currently had no parts for the Cybertruck and that they would have to order them from the factory to perform the repair. I sent them additional photos showing how it had progressed over the weekend just sitting in the garage and that the cracks were now extending further up the center/passenger side. They were able to order the replacement windshield and indicated that it would be arriving today (5/8)
The following morning, they sent my a repair estimate in the app for $2300! When I reached back out to the service center, the indication was that they couldn't be sure from the photos but they think that it is NOT a warranty issue. Looking for an indication of how they made that determination when the pictures of the seals around the windshield paint a very different story, they said that it's very rare for it to be anything other than that. On top of this, despite getting the parts ordered and shipped quickly, they indicated that the earliest they would be able to fit me in was the end of next week.
After a series of progressively more condescending and snarky texts from the service center manager, I reached out to the next closest service center who indicated that they could order the part and do the repair, perhaps in the same time if not sooner depending on delivery -- by looking at the same photos and walking through my observations on the phone, this service manager indicated that his suspicion was that indeed it is a manufacturing error and that it will most likely be covered under warranty, but they they would have to have it on-site to confirm.
At the end of the day, I need this repaired and I want it done right. I have not had the best luck with the closest service center in the past -- my wife and I have had 3 previous Tesla's serviced there and on multiple occasions have had to have mobile service come out to repair and/or inspect something that wasn't serviced correctly. I'm very skeptical about going back to them again with the truck, especially because they have not serviced any of them yet. The second service center (~125 mi away) has serviced trucks already and gave me much greater confidence based on the questions they were asking and their evaluation of the photos I sent in. I have the option of going to either -- both suggested getting roadside assistance to tow the truck to whichever center would be working on it.
So, the long and short of it -- I've had the truck for a little over 4 days, driven it exactly once, and am already having to fight to have a windshield repaired. By the earliest point it can go in for service, I will have been without a car for 11 calendar days -- which is a big disappointment after waiting nearly 4.5 yrs to take delivery. For now its a glistening, $100K garage ornament...
About 30 minutes into our return trip, driving on the highway, the windshield suddenly cracked from the lower leading edge centered in the passenger's field of view. There was no car in front of us to throw a rock or cause an impact (thankfully on a low-volume segment of the highway so we weren't getting too many gawks and pictures from passing cars), just a quite pop. The crack appeared from the edge and extended about 3 inches up the windshield. Disappointed we pulled off at the next rest stop to inspect the damage and put in a ticket to Tesla for service. In the 10 minutes between having the crack appear to the rest stop, the crack continued to pop every few minutes, grew across the lower passenger side corner over to the A pillar, and extended up about 25% of the windshield.
When we got out at the rest stop, we could not find any visible indication of a defect, chip, impact crater, etc that might indicate road hazard damage. Instead we noticed that the lower passenger-side corner of the windshield was noticeably depressed into the frame of the truck: the seals around this corner were loose and do not sit against the glass as they do on the driver's side but only for the portion of the glass that had now cracked. It started to rain as we were taking pictures and deciding that the was nothing more we could do at the rest area, we continued the drive home.
Once in the garage, I toweled off the truck, and was able to better visualize the damage. The initial crack that we saw on the highway definitely started at the leading edge of the windshield. There is no chip in the edge, no indication of an impact, and the crack is clean. The seal between the glass and the frunk lid/space is very tight at the point of initial crack. From there, the crack trees over towards the A pillar, pulls down to the lower edge a couple of times and heads up to make contact with the A pillar edge. The seals in that lower passenger corner are loose and do not sit flush to the windshield. The fractured segments of the top glass do show a gradual angle going from the center of the windshield to that corner: at each section of the crack you can feel a step down moving towards the corner.
It seems to me that the windshield was not set correctly at the factory. I've found similar issues on the forums for Model 3 and Y in almost the same location that were later determined to be manufacturing errors and replaced under warranty. I had one of my engineering colleagues take a look and they agreed that the gradual depression of the glass leading to that corner seemed to indicate that there may not be enough adhesive behind the glass, and that it may be under some tension or making contact with the body and that a little chassis flex on the highway may have been enough to cause the crack -- they highlighted the long, straight line cracks indicating that this is a sign of glass under stress/tension (I'll take their word for it; I'm no materials scientist). Seems like a warranty item for sure!
Fast forward to mid-day Monday, I called the service center (~60 mi away in the opposite direction from my delivery center, go figure) to followup on my ticket and the local manager indicated that they currently had no parts for the Cybertruck and that they would have to order them from the factory to perform the repair. I sent them additional photos showing how it had progressed over the weekend just sitting in the garage and that the cracks were now extending further up the center/passenger side. They were able to order the replacement windshield and indicated that it would be arriving today (5/8)
The following morning, they sent my a repair estimate in the app for $2300! When I reached back out to the service center, the indication was that they couldn't be sure from the photos but they think that it is NOT a warranty issue. Looking for an indication of how they made that determination when the pictures of the seals around the windshield paint a very different story, they said that it's very rare for it to be anything other than that. On top of this, despite getting the parts ordered and shipped quickly, they indicated that the earliest they would be able to fit me in was the end of next week.
After a series of progressively more condescending and snarky texts from the service center manager, I reached out to the next closest service center who indicated that they could order the part and do the repair, perhaps in the same time if not sooner depending on delivery -- by looking at the same photos and walking through my observations on the phone, this service manager indicated that his suspicion was that indeed it is a manufacturing error and that it will most likely be covered under warranty, but they they would have to have it on-site to confirm.
At the end of the day, I need this repaired and I want it done right. I have not had the best luck with the closest service center in the past -- my wife and I have had 3 previous Tesla's serviced there and on multiple occasions have had to have mobile service come out to repair and/or inspect something that wasn't serviced correctly. I'm very skeptical about going back to them again with the truck, especially because they have not serviced any of them yet. The second service center (~125 mi away) has serviced trucks already and gave me much greater confidence based on the questions they were asking and their evaluation of the photos I sent in. I have the option of going to either -- both suggested getting roadside assistance to tow the truck to whichever center would be working on it.
So, the long and short of it -- I've had the truck for a little over 4 days, driven it exactly once, and am already having to fight to have a windshield repaired. By the earliest point it can go in for service, I will have been without a car for 11 calendar days -- which is a big disappointment after waiting nearly 4.5 yrs to take delivery. For now its a glistening, $100K garage ornament...
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