Scottish couple facing $33k repair bill after driving Tesla in heavy rain::undefined
Water got into the battery. Well that sounds like it is squarely a fault of Tesla and its QC or R&D. Who tf builds a car, with a battery, doesn’t make sure that the battery and all other major components are IP68 rated for “full immersion up to a meter or more for 30 minutes” ?
Its a CAR. We have Fords to cross. And some RAIN fscked it up??!!
QC
That’s implying they have one at all!
The official QC policy from Musk himself is “don’t”
He probably thinks QC is a bit ‘woke’ and thus dismisses it out of hand.
Nah, it’s because he’s obsessed with getting cars out the door as quickly as possible to shorten the waiting list he’s always hearing about.
Coupled with fact that he doesn’t care about the safety and happiness of people whose surname isn’t a perfume ingredient.
It makes no sense…
It does when you’re a narcissist who cares a lot about your own reputation and how endless waiting lists are tarnishing it and not at all about the safety and happiness of people who have already given you their money.
Teslas are very pretty and quick, but this welding is symptomatic of their overall build quality:
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Gotta save that time and money
It didn’t get fucked up by rain. They drove it on heavily flooded roads, according to Scots from the area.
Myself and about 3 million other Tesla owners can attest that they are not perturbed by rain.
Well, it is a SUV. Why not?
Why not what?
Just in case anyone thinks this is a problem with all electric cars…
I own a Chevy Bolt. It lives in the driveway, as my house doesn’t have a garage. And I live in a city that gets Scotland levels of rainfall. It’s not uncommon for a heavy downpour to leave some low-lying streets with an inch or more of water on them in some places, and that’s perfectly normal here.
My Bolt does just fine in that. I never even considered the idea that I might need to take extra precautions with it because fucking rain might kill its battery.
This wasn’t everyday “Scotland levels of rainfalls” though, it was a specific storm that posed a risk to life in many areas.
That said I still would expect my car to endure anything short of being submerged underwater.
Southern California may be mostly dry, but has had several storms this year with inches of rain each. So even the"home" of Tesla needs to take that sort of weather into account.
It’s
(so far) in this case, so pretty exceptional and more than a few inches.
Regardless, my point was that this isn’t just “another rainy day in Scotland”. The circumstances are exceptional even for stormy weather.
Wow!
Keep in mind we didn’t see articles like this coming out of California during all the flooding. I’d be willing to bet money this guy drove through a flooded street and killed the car. If this was a design flaw, we’d be hearing a lot more about it I’m sure. Tesla is like the #1 news topic.
Just in case anyone thinks this is a problem with Teslas, I have driven mine through several dozen heavy rainstorms and even a hurricane and my Tesla does just fine in that.
And as everyone knows, science is comprised of my personal experience.
I don’t think anyone thinks this is a universal problem with Teslas. It’s just a possible case of quality control failure. That said, quality control has been a problem lately.
I’ve been hearing of quality control problems when it comes to everything Tesla for years. This hardly seems like a recent thing.
Quality control is a problem with every product. Once you reach a certain point it just makes more financial sense to fix any issues when they’re discovered and reported by the consumer rather than going over it with a microscope. Most consumers don’t care about panel gaps.
Until someone completes and publishes a scientific study on the matter, and compares them to other OEMs, I’ll continue to assume that these are just anecdotes from click-hungry publications that know anything to do with Tesla or Elon drives clicks, because everyone I know and every Tesla I’ve seen (with the exception of S/X) is totally fine.
The problem is, Tesla’s “ignore it till people complain” baseline is lower than most other mfgs.
How many references would you like? https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/24/tesla-lags-auto-industry-in-quality-finds-new-jd-power-study.html https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1128625_tesla-ranks-last-in-initial-quality-build-issues https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/03/business/elon-musk-tesla-quality-problems/index.html
How do you like your bolt? I’ve been thinking about getting one or maybe an equinox when that comes out
Best car I’ve owned, without a doubt. I charge it overnight, and never have to even think about range (it’ll do 300 miles in good conditions if driven carefully). Keeping it charged costs a few dollars a month most of the time, unless I’m on a road trip and need to pay for charging on the way - which is still far, far cheaper than paying for gas.
The only downside is that road trips require more planning, because you need to know where you’re going to stop for a charge beforehand, and you need to plan out the time it’ll take to get a decent charge. But that just means making sure you’re going to have lunch or take a break to stretch your legs and walk around where you’ll be charging. Long-distance trips are definitely doable, you just plan them around charging locations.
And it’s impossible to beat the maintenance costs: Nearly $0. Very few moving parts and an electric motor means no oil changes, engine maintenance, and general wear-and-tear are much lower.
It’s a great car.
Maintenance is something I’ve been thinking about a lot, thanks for mentioning it. I know it’s supposed to be a lot cheaper than other cars but at the same time I’m curious what maintenance looks like 10+ years out, in other words older than probably most of the bolts out there. I appreciate the comment though!
I love my bolt euv, but they are hard to get, high demand and discontinued. For me the autopilot is a huge feature, makes moderately long trips way less fatiguing. It has great set of camera for maneuvering and isn’t too big (still I would prefer smaller). Range is fine for everything I do, 400km in summer, 275 in winter. That’s what the gauges say, but with good driving habits and practise you can get that significantly better. A full charges costs me about 5 bucks and its very nice to not have to think about it unless roadtripping. It charges slowly compared with some evs but I don’t find a 1hr to full charge on a fast charger particularly problematic. My wife did toronto to ottawa (about 500km) twice now and the stop for charging was shorter than the time it took her to grab lunch. Cooled front seats are very nice and the price was much more affordable than cars with similar ranges. Almost No maintaince is great, although chevvy will message you for an oil.change (lol!).
On the downsides, the bose sound system is crap and there’s no front trunk like many evs.
Yeah if any dealerships near me ever had any in stock I probably would have bought one by now on impulse, I wish you could purchase it without any kind of dealership intervention though
Unfortunately, you’ll probably have a hard time finding a new Bolt at this point. They’ve just stopped making them and dealerships haven’t really been able to keep any in stock for months in my neck of the woods. Apparently they will eventually come back but the timeline hasn’t been announced so probably several years.
Yeah I’m pretty split right now between getting a bolt while they’re still available or waiting and hoping the equinox is as good as they are saying it will be. I definitely want an EV at some point though my current (ancient) car currently does the job for short trips
I think it’s important to mention that this isn’t an issue EVs have but an issue Teslas in particular have. They seem to have a really bad build quality from what I hear.
an issue Teslas in particular have
I suppose you have evidence of this “issue” with Teslas?
The article this entire post is about…
This post is about a single vehicle that was most likely driven in deep water, but even if it wasn’t, is not indicative of an “issue Teslas have”.
“They said it’s not necessarily my fault but it’s not Tesla’s to pay under warranty.”
If it’s not a warranty case and not a misuse case that means it’s designed and it’s supposed to function like that. Imagine an “automotive” grade battery pack with a lower IP rating that the car itself :))))
I have no sympathy at this point for anyone buying one of these pieces of garbage from a company led by a person who quite obviously a flaming piece of garbage, producing products that are quite obviously flaming pieces of garbage.
I mean, there are so many alternatives now, you really have to ignore how horrible Musk is to buy one of these, and you have to have your head stuck in the ground for a couple of years now to not know that Tesla quality control is diaper poo.
There aren’t alternatives is my part of the USA due to lack of charging options. That is changing now that Tesla’s network is opening up but that hasn’t happened yet.
So buy a hybrid, charge at home, and done. Is the environmental impact different enough from a fully electric vehicle vs hybrid, when you take into account the pollution from lithium mining and refinement? Not dramatically better, no. It’s idiotic to buy a Tesla that is a flaming piece of garbage, just because it’s the only option in a particular area or country. The simple solution is to wait until viable, good quality products are available. It won’t be long.
Must be nice to own a home
Who said anything abt owning? U can charge a car with a plug socket it’s just slow but if its at your house that wouldn’t matter as much.
So are you suggesting someone in an apartment building should run an extension cord out to their car to charge it?
I’d probably just ask someone on the ground floor to use theirs and cover the added cost of electric
I get it that people don’t like Elon. I don’t either, but I’ve gotta say the Tesla Model Y is my favorite car I’ve owned. I’ve owned 7 or so cars at this point.
I’d rather not own it at this point for Elon/political reasons but it isn’t because of the car itself.
Yes, expensive new car shiny. Right up until something or anything goes wrong with it and you get charged 10 times more than any other company and ripped off. I’m sure at that point your opinion about that car will change. perhaps you’ll be among the lucky owners that don’t encounter that kind of fun. Your solo experience means practically nothing.
I mean, who would ever expect RAIN in SCOTLAND?? There’s no way that Tesla could have predicted that the car might be subjected to such a freak occurrence! 🤦😂
One of the most important things when buying a used EV is checking the base of the car for any punctures. One could happen due a plethora of reasons.
Combine a puncture with driving in heavy rain/puddles and water damage may occur.
I hate Musk and wouldn’t buy Tesla ever, but this isn’t necessarily just because of the shoddy quality control they have.
Didn’t they have already issues with water on the Model 3 bumper? Still remembering seeing my first Tesla Model S… Worst bodypanel gaps I’ve ever seen on a new car
With that money I could just buy three more trucks like the one I already own and take a week long holiday to Europe.
Where on earth are finding decent vehicles for under 8k??
Unless your current truck is 10-15 years old and has over 250k km on it…
My current truck is 15 years old and has 250k km on it.
Yes pieces of shit old cars are cheaper than new nice ones. How terribly observant of you.
Yes working old cars are cheaper than piece of shit new ones. How terribly observant of you*
Yes Teslas are pieces of shit.
Eh… Yes?
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What makes it a piece of shit?
Interior, garbage touch only controls, shitty build quality, beta features. The only thing it does well is the drivetrain.
You don’t even know which truck I have so how can you criticize its interior? Same applies to build quality.
Touch only controls and beta features? There’s literally no even a screen in it and all controls are done by physical buttons and knobs.
I think the person was talking about the Tesla.
Oh your truck? Because you priced it at 8k. It’s absolutely a piece of shit.
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no excuse imo. its a car. Its even stupider that it failed from rain (even bad rain) in a car park. Cars can deal with 1m water easily (most batteries are that high, the air intake for the engine is easily that high (I will ignore Lambos and similar, built for different purposes).
In the worst case for a ‘normal’ car (what is the TLA for them now?) a replacement battery would cost you a couple hundred bucks at most.
Even if water got into the intake, the whole overhaul would not cost $20k or whatever it was.
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If water gets into the intake the engine is a rightoff and often the car. You need to watch more bengreggors at the Ford matey.
well aware of how it works. just a little dramatization for shits and giggles. But I disagree that it is an instant right-off. it can be salvageable 90% of the time.
On the dime of the company who produced the car?
I always hear bad things from Tesla owners after the honeymoon phase is over.
Am owner of 3-year-old model X. Can confirm. Build quality is shit, and service experience is worse. Will never buy another Tesla.
do hybrids have a battery? I’m obviously not talking about the standard lead acid 12volt DC battery
the reason I’m asking, hybrids have been selling really good or so I’ve been told
Yes, that’s what hybrids are, a hybrid between an electric and combustion engine car, I.e. they have both.
Most, if not all, “hybrid” vehicles will have a high voltage bank of lithium batteries for propulsion in addition to a 12v lead acid battery to run the chassis electronics.
I am aware of three basic patterns of hybrid cars, which I will call:
-Electric Vehicle That Lugs A Generator Around With It. Example: Chevrolet Volt. The car is propelled with electric motors only, and it is intended to operate primarily from battery power recharged from the power grid. For range extension, it has a small ICE engine that turns a generator, which will only start and generate power when the batteries are low. There is no mechanical transmission; the engine cannot directly drive the wheels.
-Why Not Both? Example: Toyota Prius (Early models at least; I think they make a full EV badged as the Prius now). The car has an internal combustion engine, a mechanical transmission, batteries and motors. They’re exact modes of operation vary from model to model, but generally these will stop the engine and operate on batteries when stopped, coasting, braking, operating at low speed, or sometimes cruising. They will start the engine and run on engine power while accelerating to highway speed, possibly cruising at highway speed, to run accessories like air conditioning, or when the batteries are low. These may or may not plug into the power grid to recharge their batteries, or they may ultimately derive all energy from gasoline. Again the exact implementation varies from model to model.
-Two Ton Golf Cart. Example: Chevrolet Silverado. You’ll see these marketed as “soft hybrids,” “mild hybrids” or “stop-start”. Sometimes these just have extra big normal batteries, sometimes these have relatively small lithium batteries. These are more or less normal cars that are anal retentive about how they burn gasoline, shutting down the engine when coasting, braking, idling or sometimes moving at very low speed. Depending on the implementation, the car might just have an extra big starter motor that starts the engine in gear when you push the gas pedal, so the first 3 feet or so are done under battery power and then you’re under gas power. Some can decouple the motor and engine and kinda have “electric first gear.” Maybe you can make it through the McDonald’s drive-thru purely on battery, but it’ll start the engine if you hit 10MPH or so. You often see this in larger, heavier vehicles like pickup trucks where the additional electric powertrain would be very heavy and very expensive, but just shutting down the engine sometimes can gain some MPG.
It wouldn’t be able to function as an electric car at all without a battery. Think of the battery as the EV version of the gas tank. It has to have somewhere to store its energy.
#BoycottMusk #BoycottTesla #BoycottTwitler
The events of this story are bad yes, but I think it’s important to point out that the ‘$33k’ figure is using AUD, otherwise known as the weakest dollar. That’s a bit under US$21k. Still bad, but obviously not nearly as much.
This is why I will never buy a new car, or an electric car. My celica is the best car, and everyone should get one, like mines. Celicas are waaaaaay better than those pieces of shit electric cars. Oh what’s that? Your electric car roof is leaking even though it’s way newer than my car? Mines doesn’t leak tho. AND! And my car is used so it is less harmful to the environment than a new crummy plastic electric car
