One of Tesla’s biggest problems isn’t range – or recharge times. It’s build quality. Leaving aside what propels a Tesla, how Teslas are put together is shameful.
As evidenced by one coming apart the other day.
Nathaniel Chien didn’t think he’d bought a convertible but when he looked up, he realized Tesla had updated him. The roof was no longer there – having blown off. “I thought a window was open,” he said. “But half a minute later, the entire glass top of the roof just flew off into the wind.”
The Tesla was just bought, brand-new.
A couple of hours new.
Chien had bought the Model Y earlier that day and was out for a drive with his parents on I-580 in California when the convertible option got downloaded – and the roof offloaded. Apparently, it wasn’t glued down sufficiently.
Normally, cars aren’t glued together.
The roof is welded onto the body, making it difficult for it to fly off. But Tesla cars are built using adhesives – glue – which sometimes comes unglued. Especially if it was never applied in the first place, which is what a Tesla dealership apparently told Chien had happened.
No word yet as to whether the unglued roof flew into another car, which it might have – and so might have killed someone.
This is an especially egregious example of Tesla’s build quality, which even Teslians themselves openly grouse about – which says something about the willingness of Teslians to tolerate that which would be intolerable in any other context.
Two years ago, Consumer Reports awarded Tesla a “much worse than average” rating for long-term reliability, based on pieces of the car coming off, not fitting properly, not working or working intermittently. A year ago, CR withdrew its “recommendation” that people buy the Model 3, due to major fit and finish problems. 
Another Tesla victim – whoops, customer – who bought a Model 3 this summer got a bumperless upgrade after driving through a puddle. The force of the water sheared off the entire rear clip of the car – which apparently wasn’t clipped (or glued) on very well.
“I was driving in the rain with my girlfriend and her father, decelerating about to make a right turn (going into the turn lane) when all of a sudden we heard a big noise. I thought we got rear-ended. I pulled into the nearest parking lot and went outside, and the whole back of my car was off,” the auto-dissassembling car’s owner told InsideEVs.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Tesla – which is a high-end luxury car brand – scored the worst among major car companies in a survey of customers performed by JD Power & Associates. Teslas owners reported 250 problems per 100 vehicles, which is just shy of twice the industry average of 166 problems reported per 100 vehicles. The next-worse brand for problems – LandRover – had 228 reported problems per 100 vehicles.
But it may be even worse than that.
Tesla, notes the WSJ, has kept a lid on the reporting of problems by not giving reporting agencies such as JD Power access to buyers’ contact information – via vehicle registration. Many states require that the manufacturer (e.g., Tesla) to give permission for this info to be disclosed to reporting agencies; without it, they have no way to contact the people who bought the cars to ask them about the problems they’ve had with their cars.
For years, Tesla hasn’t given permission.
And one of the states where Tesla owners haven’t been surveyed just happens to be Tesla’s largest market – California.
If the roof flew off a new Toyota, it’d be national news – even displacing the cases! the cases! for awhile. “Consumer” advocates would rise in collective outrage, demanding investigations, recalls – and there would be both. Toyota’s reputation would be badly dinged; people would be hesitant to buy Toyotas. There would be lawsuits and massive settlements. The damage would take years to remedy.
But Elon drives on.
This is due t the fact that his customers aren’t buying a car so much as virtue, which they signal by driving a Tesla. No matter what. They will put up with almost anything because the drive is secondary to what they are driving.
It is like the wearing of the Face Diaper – which people do not so much because it “stops the spread” – because it can’t, being porous to viruses – but rather because it is a visual symbol of their membership in the Sickness Cult. Which they regard as a virtue – to be signaled.
So also with Tesla, which thrives not because it makes good cars like, say, Kia – which reports 136 problems per 100 vehicles or about half as many problems as Tesla owners report – but because it makes virtuous cars.
This is how you make money in Heliogabalus Era America, a country in which the pathological is the “new normal.”
. . .
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I have a Tesla Model 3. I consider myself a “car guy” and a bit of a Libertarian. I miss a manual transmission, and I’ve had a couple minor issues that likely wouldn’t have popped up if I’d bought a Toyota instead. I still have my 60s sports car in the garage, but my Tesla is simply the best and most advanced car ever made. And the instantaneous torque makes it quite fun. Oodles, actually. And very practical and cheap to run, except I tend to go thru performance tires rather quickly. That’s more my doing. Test drive one. But no more $7500 tax credit, so you have to pay sticker.
Hi John,
“Best” is both subjective – how you like the car, as a personal thing – and objective – as defined by such things as reliability/quality control. By the latter standard, the Tesla is a very poor car indeed. Yours may be better than the general run in terms of things not falling off, of slipshod fit and finish, etc. – but the fact is most have many more such problems than the average car.
You’re right about the federal tax subsidy, but the car is still massively subsidized – as by the carbon credit scam – all of it neatly folded into Tesla’s shady business model.
A brief update on BILs model 3- just about 6 months old, under 3k miles. 1) paint flaws which they have yet to fix. 2) and 3) twice didn’t start in the morning, had to get on hold with customer support for them to re-boot the thing (apparently software update over night hung up). 4) Bad 12 volt battery, which caused all sorts of other glitches, including the main battery draining and buzzing sounds. required a call out from tesla. 5) And now squeaky noise on braking, the kind my 13 year old diesel SUV with 115k miles made before a brake job…. and im thinking im forgetting one but will keep you posted. The guy got it because his company has a “green” policy, to reduce CO2 – the easiest way for them to do so was to lease government subsidised electric cars and give them to employees at reduced costs!!!
Morning, Nasir!
It’s almost funny. These affluent people paying a fortune to drive a car with problems that would be intolerable in a $15,000 Kia.
The old joke was; why do the British drink warm beer…because they own Lucas refrigerators. Why do Californians drink warm Koolaid; because they drive Teslas, get their power from the weather and Jim Jones types tell them it will be good for them and others.
Just in case anyone thought the Net Zero virtue signalers had a rational leg to stand on. What kind of moron spends that kind of money on a notoriously “unsafe at any speed” piece of crap? The kind of moron who functions purely in response to their feelings, that’s what kind. Which perfectly demonstrates that the entire Net Zero idea isn’t an idea at all. It’s an emotional response to feelings based on no fact whatsoever.
It’s glued in because it’s window. A glass roof. When done properly it would be stronger than the sheet steel. But I’ve already discussed TM’s obvious lack of basic engineering procedures, practices, and so on and that translates into manufacturing as well.
Elon is the anti-Ford of our day. Henry Ford was the great automotive pioneer, building affordable, reliable cars and providing employment for countless thousands during hard economic times. Elon, by contrast, builds expensive toys for the rich and takes as much money as he can from the public dole instead of contributing to the public’s wealth the way Henry Ford did.
Every single thing Elon builds is for the benefit of either the wealthy or for the government. (And most of it requires enormous subsidizing). What has he ever done for the middle class?
In many ways, Elon is the perfect icon for the modern era of “everything to serve the elite”, while Ford was the champion of then-rising Middle America.
We should have listened to Henry Ford as well when he printed a series of essays back in the early 1900s, now available in a book form, titled, “The International Jew.” You see, Henry, who honestly should have a statue in every state, in my opinion, warned us about the deviousness of the nose people, but they went unheeded. You read this book today, and everything he states, has come true in America.
Which leads me to Elon. For whatever reason, you cannot pin down his religion in any bio…which leads me to believe he is a crypto-jew. How else can you get away with such fraudulent activity and not get called out on it in lame-stream (nose controlled) press.
Unfortunately, I think ol’ Henry, later in life, couldn’t resist the Cabal’s god- money- and ended up joining the cult and renouncing what he knew as the truth- as can be seen in the charter and mission statement of his Ford Foundation, which has long been pushing the agendas of the Cabal.
akso unclude charles lindbergh. he rightly campaigned against another european war and then later peddled war bonds. Dead anerican kids? yawn
What a load of crap from a dumbass little aryan warrior twerp crawling out from under his rock!
Ol’ Henry recanted the drivel he published before he died. Nothing to do with any non-existant “Cabal”. The “deviousness” of the “nose people” is no more or less than that of anyone else’s deviousness. (There has been no shortage of devious regular white guys.) The stupidity, cowardice, and overall inferiority of the aryan warriors/white supremacists and their malicious bigotry, however, is off the charts.
Jason normally I would respond to your prattle but go on loving people who hate your christian guts and western society in general – whats left of it
You have never responded in a meaningful manner, Marky. Just the typical unsubstantiated drivel that bigots continually vomit. It’s always good for a laugh though.
Sorry, I don’t particularly “love” aryan warriors. (Those would be the true haters.) They’re a gaggle of phony christians that actually hate and shit on Christ’s teachings and the principles of western civilization in general. The lot of them are a bunch of unprincipled louts and miserable cowards looking for a scapegoat.
I can only imagime you have jew porn on your computer. if that exists
Hi Jason (and Mark) –
I’ve had this conversation – about “the Jews” – with I can’t tell you how many of my conservative friends (many of them ex for reasons that will become clear). I point out to them that practically all the tyrannies inflicted on us were inflicted by white, (ostensibly) Christian men. It is or ought to be hardly necessary to point out examples, but here are a few: Wilson (income tax, direct election of senators) Johnson (“civil” rights, Great Society) The Chimp (Warrnn Trrr). Etc.
Some will say: But they were doing the bidding of . . . In which case, they are still doing the bidding of and just as vile or even more so as they are (as the saying has it) traitors to their kind. These traitors abound. What does it say about the great blanco collective? Who votes for these traitors? Are they not culpable – or too stupid to be dignified by culpability?
Whether I am tyrannized by someone who is Jewish – or blue eyed blanco – or some other hue – is of as little relevance to the tyrannized as who eats the steak is to the cow.
Mornin’ Eric!
I know we disagree on this (Oy vey! 😀 )- but since you mentioned Mr. Wilson….
You are obviously of more than sufficient intelligence to know that the creation of The Fed was not merely Wilson’s own personal idea. If you’re familiar with the creation of The Fed, then you know just who engineered it and actually made it happen, and enabled the political conditions to allow such treason- And it wasn’t Dennis The Menace!
Such is a perfect example of exactly how the Cabal works, by controlling the highest level finance and politics, while getting front-men to get the blame, while they remain hidden to the clueless average citizen.
As an aside, it is very interesting how they used finance and corporate control to create censorship and propaganda, much the same way Hollywood and Silicon Valley do today….but without the technology. Now that they have the technology, we see the true efficacy of their tactics, and their results now being accomplished at warp speed and on a scale never before seen in the history of the world.
-Just something to be mindful of.
tl;dr: Wilson and the rest who were complicit were the spineless and evil pawns used as the mechanism to do the bidding of even more evil conspirators.
Hi Nunz,
Of course! In re Wilson, “Colonel” House und so weiter.
I agree there is a cabal. I disagree that it’s a cabal based on race/religion. It is based on blood and money. The blood of rich families, interlocking with one another. Are some – are many – of Jewish extraction? Yes, undeniably. But there are also many who are not – and they are in the same club that we are barred from.
I have dipped my toe into these evil waters. I have met personally some of these evil people. They are not united by Judaism but rather their psychopathic contempt for the “cattle” – ordinary people – and their depraved lust for wealth without limit and power without restriction.
Hey Eric!
I pretty much agree with all you’ve said, except that at the highest level -the families who have been busy amassing control of the world long before the Pilgrims set foot in ‘Merca- are motivated by more than mere lust for wealth and power, which they already have plenty of; They are united by Talmudic Judaism, which proclaims that certain Jews are the rightful superior rulers and inheritors of this earth, and that all non-Jews essentially animals whose only value is to serve those Jews.
Bear with me a moment on this -it is relevant. Their belief expressed above, is ancient. It goes back to the Babylonian Captivity. It is a perversion of the Scriptural concept that the saints (Those who do the will of God) will inherit the world under God’s administration, when Christ returns.
Rabbinic Judaism rejects that idea- They instead want to claim the world as their own, apart from God- by establishing their own dominance in this present world.
This is why the majority of Jews rejected Christ 2000 years ago. They were expecting a Messiah at that time who would deliver them from the greasy Dagos (Romans) and establish the Jews as the superior world power. Jesus instead condemned them, and made it clear that God’s favor and future reward is available to all who worship and obey God- not just the Jews; and that God was not happy with those Jews who were trying to do things their own way.
It is that modus operandi which is the underlying goal which unites these powerful Jewish families- and which explains why they have been relentlessly pursuing a globalist agenda for so long- and why so much of what proceeds from that pursuit, which is intended to destroy and subjugate Gentile society (such as communism; liberalism) is inherently opposed to Scriptural/traditional/Christian morality- and is actively destroying it.
They rejected Christ, who instructed believers to subdue the world NOT through violence and authoritarianism, but rather by appealing to men’s hearts to believe and do GOOD, by keeping God’s commandments.
The Rabbinic Jews, on the other hand, deem themselves as the only legitimate heirs of this earth- and rather than seeking that position by doing and spreading good….they instead seek to destroy and subjugate all non-Jews; And as such, rather than encouraging Gentiles to obey God, they loathe any Gentile who would dare to obey God’s law- lest those Gentiles should curry God’s favor and reap the blessings which are the natural results of practicing Scriptural morality.
It would be foolish to think that the Mafia is not comprised of Catholics; Yet Catholicism -while often enabling and being a tool of the Mafia, is not the underlying thing which unites and directs the Mafia- it is merely the culture of the group- but nonetheless, no one would deny that the Mafia is Catholic.
It would be even moire absurd to deny that the Cabal is Jewish- because in their case, Jewish superiority and domination IS a part of a good deal of Judaism.
Although the Cabal members are not ‘religious’ in the sense that they do not worship God -much the same way that John Gotti doesn’t- the thing is, they ARE united by a quasi-religious culture which decrees and mandates their domination- thus essentially making them their own god. Self-worship.
I know you’re not ‘religious’, but as I’ve said many times before, just about everything ultimately boils down to religion- especially things which you and I are fighting and resisting.
2000 years ago, some practitioners of Rabbinic Judaism used the power of the power of the non-Jewish state (While in subjugation to that very state!) to crucify one of their own who opposed their agenda, by gas-lighting, trying to get Him to say the “wrong thing”, and ultimately by painting Him as an enemy of the state- though He had never harmed a single soul. Has anything really changed 2000 years later? Now we face similar persecutions, as the inventros of liberalism have automated the process of using Gentile governments to destroy those who are exposed as enemies of the state for using the wrong words and thinking the wrong thoughts.
Tesla, Tesla, Tesla
Tesla schmesla. lol
‘It ain’t the car, it’s the driver’
That’s what they say.
In this case, it’s the car.
We need more Tesla cars out! Thousands! The more the merrier! You know for CO2 and the children and Greta.
Dis a Tesla?
“How dare you!”
Elon Musk is a con artist. Pure and simple. A really big one at that. He won’t like it that history will see him as that, not as a “scientist”.
Tesla has 21st century software and drivetrain technology and 1974 quality control.
However people used to buy British cars despite the legendary quality problems
and people used to buy French cars despite legendary electrical problems.
Some guy named Eric Peters even wrote a book on the worst cars ever and mentioned some of these,
yet French and Italian auto manufacturers got past their quality problems.
TSLA has to improve quality, service and general support but they can.
Pat,
The difference is that people actually bought British and French cars, in spite of their defects. In the case of Teslas, other people buy them – via the tax-mulctings they’re forced to submit to.
Tesla needs to do a great deal more than improve build quality if it wishes to be something other than a rent-seeking/wealth transfer scam.
“In the case of Teslas, other people buy them – via the tax-mulctings they’re forced to submit to”
Actually TSLA exhausted their EV credits years ago. The 7500 Credit
was phased down in 2019 as they hit 200K unit sales.
But please proceed.
Clover,
Tesla’s entire operation is subsidy and wealth-transfer (and mandate) dependent. He sells “credits” – and he depends on mandates (e.g., “zero emissions” sales quotas, CAFE) to foist his car onto the market. Also, while the federal tax credit no longer is available t Tesla “buyers,” several states – such as CA and CO – still hand out lots of other people’s money to those who “buy” Teslas.
“Elon drives on …”
Reflecting what buyers want, pickups and SUVs continue to gain US market share, leaving dowdy sedans as the least-popular vehicle configuration.
How is it then, that Tesla stock is valued more highly than Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler together? All three of these traditional automakers, for damned sure, make highly competitive pickups. Tesla has no equivalent to the F150, Silverado or Ram.
Kalifornia is reputed to be a bellwether market for vehicle trends. But in the case of EVs, the playing field is grossly tilted — not only by direct purchase price subsidies, but also by heavily discounted time-of-use plans for electric power to facilitate nighttime charging. Buy an EV, get a social-virtue exemption from Kali’s breathtakingly high power costs.
But the notoriously cantankerous Prophet Elon, easily angered by those who fail to worship his genius, has pulled the plug on Kali by saying he’ll build his next factory in Austin, Texas. Which only deepens the mystery of Tesla’s valuation: normally companies planning heavy capital investment in physical assets are valued at a discount to those whose product is intangible, such as software delivered from the cloud as weightless electrons.
Elon had better have something really world-changing up his sleeve, like nuclear fusion in a jar, or Viagra for women … or else one of these days, high-flying Tesla is gonna come a cropper in spectacular fashion.
The cat must’ve gotten Ralph Nader’s tongue! Ol’ Comrade Ralph had to manufacture a war against the Corvair -which was a great car- and here’s Tesla, handing-out a “consumer advocate’s” wet dream by manufacturing cars that fly apart, burst into flames, and drive themselves into tractor-trailers- but ol’ Ralphie boy is silent? (Of course, he’d probably never say a critical word about Tesla, because they sell “virtues” which are so inline with those which Nader pushes that they sound like they could’ve been lifted from Nader’s political platform as declared on his campaign website when he was running for president. )
Ralph will love this:
A working group chaired by General Motors and Honda has released the specifications of a blockchain-based decentralized electric vehicle charging system.
“Electric vehicles, chargers, and electricity producers can have a secure identity, communicate with a standard messaging format, and automatically record transactions such as charging, generation, and exchange on a distributed ledger,” said MOBI Chief Operating Officer Tram Vo.
The EVGI standard supports data transparency, trust, coordination, and automation among mobile service providers, consumers, utilities, and government stakeholders, says MOBI.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-honda-led-group-launches-085158203.html
———–
NOW the long-term plan comes into view. Once IC-engined vehicles are bulldozed off the roads, “government stakeholders” will shift from subsidizing EVs to TAXING them with a mindless vengeance.
Who you gonna call?
Thanks to the privacy-destroying blockchain, there will be no place to hide from the long arm of The Man picking your pocket and limiting how many precious electrons you are allowed to consume for mobility.
BINGO WAS HIS NAM-O!!!!