In Aug, 2023 we had to drive our 2019 Tesla Model 3 to a service
center because of a front end noise issue that was most noticeable when we
were backing up and turning. This was when we were repositioning the car
prior to driving out along the driveway. It is usually a two hour drive to
the SC.
Sure enough the problem was with the front left and right upper
control arms. Problems with these control arms have been known to Tesla for
years, but they didn’t redesign them for years. We were charged $197.02 to
replace a component that was known to be faulty. So much for the makers of
Tesla having the safest cars on the road.
Bobby Keeland
Arnaudville, Louisiana
On Wed, Dec 20, 2023 at 10:52 AM EV List Lackey via EV <[email protected]>
wrote:
> I just hate seeing thiese dire Tesla news stories piling up. I'm not an
> engineer or regulator so I can't say anything about their validity. I
> haven't read any similar reports here on the list. But for sure the
> negative publicity alone is doing Tesla no good.
>
> -----
>
> From Reuters again:
>
> Tesla blamed drivers for failures of parts it long knew were defective
>
> Wheels falling off cars at speed. Suspensions collapsing on brand-new
> vehicles. Axles breaking under acceleration. Tens of thousands of
> customers
> told Tesla about a host of part failures on low-mileage cars. The
> automaker
> sought to blame drivers for vehicle `abuse,´ but Tesla documents show it
> had
> tracked the chronic `flaws´ and `failures´ for years.
>
> *****
>
> Individual suspension or steering issues with Teslas have been discussed
> online and in news accounts for years. But the documents, which have not
> been previously reported, offer the most comprehensive view to date into
> the
> scope of the problems and how Tesla handled what its engineers have
> internally called part "flaws" and "failures." The records and interviews
> reveal for the first time that the automaker has long known far more about
> the frequency and extent of the defects than it has disclosed to consumers
> and safety regulators.
>
> *****
>
> Tesla has blamed frequent failures of several parts on Tesla owners,
> alleging they abused the cars ... [and] charged customers with out-of-
> warranty cars to replace parts that Tesla engineers internally called
> flawed
> or that they knew had high failure rates.
>
> *****
>
> The records reveal persistent problems with ... upper and lower control
> arms, and fore and aft links ... half shafts - the left and right drive
> axles - and steering racks ...
>
> *****
>
> Between 2016 and 2020, Tesla resolved about 400 complaints involving aft-
> link failures in China ... Tesla redesigned the part four times because
> the
> initial revisions did not fully fix the problem, the automaker´s records
> show.
>
> *****
>
> Tesla delayed a recall for four more years, until Chinese regulators
> pushed
> for one ... the automaker never recalled the part in the United States
> and
> Europe despite reports of frequent failures globally.
>
> Tesla told U.S. regulators the failures were caused by "driver abuse." The
> company also instructed service centers, in a February 2019 "talking
> points"
> memo, to use the same explanation with customers experiencing aft-link
> failures. They were told to blame "vehicle misuse," such as "hitting a
> curb
> or other excessive strong impact."
>
> *****
>
> Tesla owners have filed about 260 complaints with NHTSA over suspension
> and
> steering problems this year, compared to about 750 for General Motors and
> 230 for Toyota. That makes Tesla´s complaint rate far higher when
> considering the number of GM and Toyota vehicles on the road. GM has a 21%
> share of U.S. cars in operation; Toyota, 15%. Tesla´s share: less than 1%,
> according to data analytics firm Experian.
>
> *****
>
> "All I can tell you," the Tesla manager said, "is we´re not a 100-year-old
> company like GM and Ford. We haven´t worked all the bugs out yet."
>
> -----
>
> Those are just a few highlights (or lowlights if you will). Read the full
> story:
>
> https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-musk-steering-
> suspension/
> <https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-musk-steering-suspension/>
>
> or https://v.gd/XaWQzF
>
> Keeping in mind that Tesla also trades in the more strongly regulated EU,
> I
> sure don't want to see Tesla buried under liability and/or legislative
> penalties. They could end up sold to Stellantis or GM, or even BYD or
> Geely.. I'm concerned that that's where they're headed.
>
> David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey
>
> To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my
> offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt
>
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> a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: "The bigs hit
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> epitomized the history of the human race.
>
> -- Bertrand Russell, "Education and the Social Order"
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