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Transportation

Tesla Slashes Its Used Car Warranty While Admitting Design Flaw In Model 3 (electrek.co) 117

Two recent articles from Electrek may have current and/or future Tesla owners concerned. According to Electrek, Tesla is now admitting that a design flaw in the Model 3 could cause the vehicle's rear bumper panel to fall off when driving through standing water. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: Tesla admits that a problem with Model 3 vehicles led to them losing the body panel on their rear bumper when driving in puddles of water. Early on, the Model 3 had some issues with the body panel on the rear bumper falling off after driving through what drivers have described as heavy rain or water puddles. That's obviously not normal, and Tesla said that it was investigating the situation, but we never heard back from the automaker. Some owners had issue with Tesla performing the repair under warranty as the company argues over how deep the water was that car owners drove through.

Now fast-forward to earlier this year when a video of Tesla Model 3 losing its rear bumper panel in puddle of water went viral. It looks like this event made Tesla finally acknowledge [in a service bulletin] that a design defect on Model 3 vehicles built before May 21, 2019, lead to this problem. It apparently affects all Model 3 vehicles built up to May 2019, at which point Tesla apparently changed the rear fascia diffuser as well as the front and mid aero shields. Therefore, it seems like the previous design of these parts contributed to the problem with the water pulling off the rear panel.
Thankfully, Tesla will perform the repair under warranty but the fact that it took over a year between when the defect was first reported and fixed, and two years before Tesla acknowledged it, "doesn't show the company at its best," writes Fred Lambert via Electrek.

That leads us to the second bit of news from Electrek: Tesla has weakened its used car warranty. From the report: Tesla used to offer 2 to 4 -year warranty on used Model S and Model X vehicles. Now Tesla has updated its used vehicle warranty to only one year or 10,000 miles over the original warranty: "Tesla used vehicles are covered by the remainder of 4 years or 50,000 miles left on the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty. After expiration, the Used Vehicle Limited Warranty provides additional coverage of 1 year or 10,000 miles. If the Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty has already expired, the Used Vehicle Limited Warranty will provide coverage of 1 year or 10,000 miles, starting from your delivery date."

While the new used car warranty being added on top of the new car warranty is good for more recent used vehicles purchased from Tesla, it really cripples any kind of warranty on used Tesla vehicles from 2016 and older. Instead of getting 2 to 4 years of warranty, now they only get 1 year or 10,000 miles.
The weakened warranty announcement comes just one week after Tesla canceled its "no questions asked" 7-day return policy.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Tesla Slashes Its Used Car Warranty While Admitting Design Flaw In Model 3

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  • Bad title (Score:5, Insightful)

    by robi5 ( 1261542 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @06:23AM (#60627586)

    It might be true that one of these things happened "while" the other thing happened as well, it's engineered to lead to believe that the two things are related, as in, "Tesla admitted a flaw, and at the same time, instead of fixing it, it just weakened the warranty"

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Joce640k ( 829181 )

      Haters gonna hate.

      Clickbait site's gonna clickbait.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Rei ( 128717 )

      What do you expect?

      The service bulletin is from July, covering a design issue that only affected cars up to May '19, "in rare instances". Has nothing whatsoever to do killing sales-boosting policies over the past week (which is something that happens when you have more demand than supply... the latter being the reason why Tesla has a massive expansion going on in Shanghai, an even more massive new factory under construction outside Berlin, and an even more massive new factory under construction outside Aus

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        The issue with the used warranties was that when buying an expensive car consumers expect that the manufacturer will actually refurbish it and stand behind it with an extended warranty. That's the norm for other cars in that price bracket.

        Obviously Tesla thinks it doesn't need to worry about quality or even bothering to clear the cars before they are delivered used.

        • Obviously Tesla thinks it doesn't need to worry about quality or even bothering to clear the cars before they are delivered used.

          Or new!

        • Re:Bad title (Score:4, Insightful)

          by timeOday ( 582209 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @09:53AM (#60628086)
          Is a year and 10,000 miles a bad warranty for a used car? I've always bought from private sellers with no warranty whatsoever.

          I assume a Tesla purchased directly from the previous owner without Tesla's involvement would also have no warranty? The summary doesn't make it clear this is about cars resold by tesla.

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Private sellers usually get a lot less money because they don't offer a warranty. Buying from a company you get the usual consumer rights and pay more.

            If Tesla's used prices were not so high they could justify the poor warranty.

            • Tesla had just recently lowered the prices of its models.

              • by mspohr ( 589790 )

                My daughter just bought a used Model X from Tesla. End of quarter they lowered the price. Plus it came with a 4 year warranty. Lucked out!
                The car is great. Was in perfect condition. Only 16,000 miles.

          • transferred to me. Tesla's doing the same, but 4 year/50k is kinda crummy actually. Especially on a $60-$80k vehicle. Most manufactures do 5/60 on the power train. Given that Tesla's are supposed to have a more durable power train (by virtue of being electric) it's not a good sign.
            • 4 year/50k is the "bumper-to-bumper" warranty. The battery and drive train still get 8 years/100k miles or 120k miles, depending on model.

              It's pretty in-line with most manufacturers. Last time I was shopping, which was a couple years ago, most manufacturers were doing a 3/36k bumper-to-bumper, and then a longer power train...usually around 6 or 8 years, and 80k-100k miles....but powertrain widely varied

            • Being that electric cars have less moving parts, that means less can break down.

              I have seen the best warranty on power trains on cars that are prone to break down more often. I was doing research on a new car a while ago. One had a really good warranty on the power train, then I also found it had the highest level of failure.

              This is mostly a sales gimmick to get past quality issues.

              • That sales gimmick is self-defeating for a car company, though, right? Because it now pre-loads the backend warranty costs. I could understand if they had a secret agenda to close up shop. But for a car company that plans to be in business for a while...

        • by Rei ( 128717 )

          You're describing a CPO programme. Tesla does not have a CPO programme, and hasn't for years (they used to with S/X, but Tesla has been trying to extract themselves from the used-car business in general)

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            I know, they just charge CPO prices on their non-CPO cars.

            It sounds like you are right though, with the end of the 7 day return offer it looks like they are cutting down on the number of nearly-new hopefully repaired cars they have to shift.

        • My experience, is every time I get a car the problem I get is usually just out of warranty , or they don't cover that particular issue.
          It may be a good thing, if Tesla passes the costs of a Warranty down to the customer via price drops.
          Tesla recently also dropped the prices of their models as well. Which may be related.

      • Yeah.

        Two different and unrelated things. Putting them in the same article makes them seem as if they are related, but they don't appear to be.

        I note with some amusement that I think the base problem comes from it being a car designed in southern California, where they are intellectually aware that some parts of the country have serious rain that results in deep puddles on the streets, but they don't completely believe it.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Rei ( 128717 )

          There could be some truth to that. It's one thing to have remote testing sites around the world for putting your cars through weather testing (which Tesla has). But its another to have a company whose engineers' and designers' daily lives involves slogging through said miserable weather conditions. ;)

          It'll be interesting to see how the new design centres in Shanghai and Berlin influence the designs that come out of each.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by fatwilbur ( 1098563 )
        Here's a video from a couple weeks ago of the roof flying off a brand new model Y driving away from the dealer [driving.ca]. This is just something you don't see from other manufacturers.
      • by hawk ( 1151 )

        tomorrow night, Tesla will force download a fix.

        From now on, a big mechanical hand will reach out, slap you upside the head, and announce "
        hey, dumb****. That water you're about to drive through is higher than your bumper. " and stop on the spot . . .

        • by Cederic ( 9623 )

          How will this help with the bumper detaching when driving through 2-3 inch deep puddles. You know, the sort that form during periods of heavy rain, that everybody else drives through?

          Did you watch the video linked in the summary? That wasn't a flooded road, that was a puddle. A car should be able to handle a puddle. Hell, a car should survive fording a river.

          • Did you watch the video linked in the summary?

            OK, I just watched it.

            That wasn't a flooded road, that was a puddle.

            If you look at five seconds into the video [youtu.be] you can see that was a flooded road. The standing water covered more than half of the roadway. Poke around the second before and after the five second mark. That was clearly many gallons of water.

            Now, I don't want this to be construed as supporting this bumper cover failure, it's unacceptable. But it was clearly an amount of standing water that one should not drive through at speed for a broad variety of reasons. Stuff falling off the car is o

            • by Cederic ( 9623 )

              If you look at five seconds into the video you can see that was a flooded road. The standing water covered more than half of the roadway. Poke around the second before and after the five second mark. That was clearly many gallons of water.

              Maybe that's a UK/US difference then. We call that a large puddle. You can also say the road is partially flooded but it's still a road condition you're going to encounter every year and need a car that won't fall apart when you do.

              Dumb AF.

              No disagreement here. Perhaps Tesla should require advanced driving qualifications and an IQ test before selling their cars.

      • What do you expect?

        Bullshit from you whenever Tesla fucks up.

    • it just weakened the warranty"

      nb. They only weakened the warranty on their used cars.

    • My favorite nephew recently bought a Tesla. I was thinking about if I might buy one. Looking at it from the perspective of someone considering buying one, we have two new facts today:

      1. The tape holding the bumper on stops working when it gets wet and the bumper falls off. (Maybe that's why normal car manufacturers use bolts).

      2. Tesla just reduced their warranty coverage that would cover problems like parts falling off.

      To me they are related, because I'd be less worried about parts that fall off if I could

    • There has been a narrative pushed by the Automakers and Oil Industry for the past hundred years basically saying Electric Cars are inferior to ICE Cars.

      Then Comes Tesla who makes a Car that performs better than most ICE cars, has a range equivalent to a tank of Gas. Designed to be rather attractive and desirable.

      It really it hurting the old narrative that Electric Cars are slow, tiny, limited range cars. As often a traditional ICE car maker will release an electric car, just to show off how inferior it is

  • So it seems that Tesla admitted a design flaw with the bumper. Not a catastrophic flaw, but they probably should have figured it out faster.
    Then, there is a completely unrelated thing about the used Tesla warranty. They still give you 1 year ON TOP of the original car warranty. Forgive me if I am wrong, but I have heard of horror stories with manufacturers trying to weasel out of repairs due to claims the original warranty "not transferring" and other such shenanigans, and as for used cars, you often have t

    • by Ecuador ( 740021 )

      Woops, that's "many more people would be buying used" as in, there would be less of an incentive to buy new. Many people claim to buy new to avoid issues.

  • by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @06:44AM (#60627614)
    Multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

    Which car company do you work for?

    A major one.
  • by danielcolchete ( 1088383 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @06:44AM (#60627616)

    This reminds me of this very funny video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • Between rear bumpers falling off, roofs flying loose [slashdot.org], scrap wood being used [slashdot.org], ongoing issues with auto pilot [slashdot.org] not recognizing large obstacles [slashdot.org] in the car's path, and the ongoing fit and finish issues [forbes.com], there seems to be a common theme: just get it out the door, issues be damned.

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      And they still have no real competition! What does that say about the rival manufacturers???

      • They have no significant competition because other manufacturers expect to make 6% return on sales and their shareholders get grumpy if they don't..

      • by Cederic ( 9623 )

        That's odd. Almost everybody I know buys cars from Tesla's competitors.

        If that's not real competition then Tesla are in shit if some does turn up.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Tesla QC at their Fremont plant is sorely lacking. By all reports Model 3's made in China are far, far better in terms of fit and finish.
      never mind their millions of disciples will be along to defend their Messiah, Elon Musk who can in their eyes, walk on water.
      I owned a Model 3 for just over 6 months. It was rubbish in terms of build quality but it went like stink. After a while, I just got tired of its one redeming feature, acceleration. I now drive a Niro and it is a much better all round package apart f

      • by Dog-Cow ( 21281 )

        Elon Musk who can in their eyes, walk on water.

        At the risk of his rear bumper falling off.

      • Elon Musk [...] can [...] walk on water.

        Any idiot can walk on water. Just do it during winter.

      • I wonder if thatâ(TM)s because of the GM workers Tesla inherited from the factoryâ(TM)s NUMMI days? The place had a poor (for Toyota) reputation during its joint-venture era; and by every account Iâ(TM)ve read even that was a dramatic improvement over its absolutely craptastic build quality when it was a pure GM factory.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @07:21AM (#60627696) Homepage Journal

      How companies handle stuff like this is more important than anything else really. With any new product there is a high chance of design issues, what matters is if they put them right.

      • by tflf ( 4410717 )

        How companies handle stuff like this is more important than anything else really. With any new product there is a high chance of design issues, what matters is if they put them right.

        And in this case, Tesla has decided to embrace automotive industry norms: denial, more denial, and when unable to deny any longer, delay honoring the warranty.

        Appears Tesla is eager to become just one more weasely car manufacturer.

      • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

        I had a 07 VW Passat (its the daughters now) that was getting things replaced for some recall or another for over 9 years. At some point I would wonder what made them go back and do repairs on a car this old. Aside from a PCV issue, that got fixed twice under recall, I have had no serious issues with the vehicle. Due to a lot of commuting, I blew through the warranty in just a year and a half, but the recalls would come in every so often.

        • At some point I would wonder what made them go back and do repairs on a car this old.

          First, it's normal for recalls to exist on some vehicles that old.

          Second, it's a VW. VWs have always been pesky little fuckers. Back when they were air-cooled and simple this was no big deal, you could fix them with baling wire and a good set of pliers. It's not so charming now. It's not just VW though, it's all German cars. Bosch has gone right into the toilet and all German cars are made out of lots of Bosch components. For example Bosch sold their 12v starter/alternator division to China, and has let the

          • Well that PCV issue was the relief valve sticking. Makes a hell of a racket when it failed. I hadnt heard that about Bosch. I get most my stuff from fcpeuro so I will have to keep that in mind. I did run into a string of bad coil packs for a while. Had to return 3 under warranty, same cylinder every time. Finally got one that held up.

    • there seems to be a common theme

      Make every single issue a front page headline piece?

    • Between rear bumpers falling off, roofs flying loose, scrap wood being used, ongoing issues with auto pilot not recognizing large obstacles in the car's path, and the ongoing fit and finish issues, there seems to be a common theme: just get it out the door, issues be damned.

      Just ship it now, we'll fix it in a day-1 patch later!

    • by ElizabethGreene ( 1185405 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @11:07AM (#60628336)

      The scrap wood callout is BS. The plastic edge protectors had a wood grain finish. They weren't actually wood.

  • Very funny (Score:1, Insightful)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) *

    " the fact that it took over a year between when the defect was first reported and fixed, and two years before Tesla acknowledged it, "doesn't show the company at its best,"

    I remember dearly all the Detroit car companies that didn't even acknowledge dozens of deaths of their customers, because paying for the dead was cheaper than fixing the cars.

    This is a joke!

  • Detroit must be jealous that they didn't think of it first!

  • by ratbag ( 65209 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @07:40AM (#60627738)

    Quick, there hasn't been a story about Tesla for a while, let's scrape together some old news, mix it up a bit and portray as an "OMG Tesla totally sucks" piece.

    Which is all fair enough, so long as we can get similar breathless panic every time any other manufacturer announces a recall or changes the terms of the warranty for used products, or any other perfectly normal day-to-day part of selling goods.

    Disclosure: Tesla-owner (amongst other vehicles). Boot (or trunk if you like) still intact despite hurtling along the 99 from Vancouver to Whistler in typical NW coastal weather. No TSLA holdings.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @08:45AM (#60627860) Homepage Journal

      That's the price you pay for the endless serious of Musk-worshipping posts on Slashdot. If we have to hear about every time SpaceX launches something or Musk tweets something idiotic then you can be sure we will also be hearing about every fuck-up Tesla makes.

      We had a story about Tesla price cuts recently. I'm all for reducing the number of Musk related stories but at the moment this is where we are at.

      • I don't mind the Musk posts. Most companies have become risk adverse and aren't doing interesting things. If they are innovating, they're doing so with abstract software technologies that the average person can't comprehend. (Kubernetes anyone? Read the comments. [slashdot.org]) People like to see technology in action. Rocket launches and fast cars inspire people in ways a box with blinking lights can't.

        Musk is doing old school innovation that inspires people the same way Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford did. Like H
        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          I don't mind occasional stories when something really significant happens, but do we need to hear every time they test-fire and engine?

          I'd like there to be more diversity as well. I like fast things too so I keep on top of maglev development, with Japan having deployed a new carriage design last week. If it was Musk revealing a new design for some tunnel it would definitely be on Slashdot. I don't think there was even a story here when they started running at 600 kph.

          • I like fast things too so I keep on top of maglev development, with Japan having deployed a new carriage design last week. ... I don't think there was even a story here when they started running at 600 kph.

            That does sound interesting. I suspect it wasn't popular due to Slashdot's large US based readership. I think seeing major technological developments outside of the US like this is depressing for a lot of Americans. Musk's popularity likely has some influence from US patriotism.

            • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              Huh, that's interesting. I get the competition aspect but actually feeling bad that other countries are making advances? And in trains, something the US seems to hate anyway?

              • Pure speculation. However, I think there's a general feeling that the US is past its prime. Many Americans remember a time when the US was thought to be a leader in just about everything. Some people look at other countries and think we should follow their lead, and others are tying to go back in time.

                I'm coming to these realizations while I'm writing this. However, I think most Americans are mourning the days of great technological progress during the Cold War. When someone promised to, "make Americ
                • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                  With maglev 300 miles is about 45 minutes. No out of town airport, bring your luggage, big comfy seat etc.

      • If we have to hear about every time SpaceX launches something or Musk tweets something idiotic then you can be sure we will also be hearing about every fuck-up Tesla makes.

        Why? What have the very much nerd related achievements of an entrepreneur got to do with random odd cases of quality control in an occasional product?

        You know why I can't name who the current CEO of Ford Motor Company is? Because I don't give a shit. Ford is about cars, Tesla is about cars. If the Ford CEO decides to start a side gig by founding a company to beam wireless internet to us from space then maybe he will be relevant too.

        If you really can't separate stories about a tech entrepreneur from a car ma

    • It's perfectly reasonable to be a fan of a company and still want to shine a spot-light on the company's shittier practices, with the agenda of hoping the company improves in the long term.

  • I’m guessing Tesla looked at the potential costs of warranty claims for older vehicles, now that they have data to predict it better, and decided it was way more than expected. If batteries were covered that alone could be a driver of costs that they would want to avoid.
    • I don't think this will affect batteries, which have their own, much longer warranty.

      • I don't think this will affect batteries, which have their own, much longer warranty.

        It appears they have capped the mileage for battery coverage from the previous time period/unlimited miles, as well as for perfromance degradation from updates to their software, sometime in early 2020.

  • Short sellers?! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @07:54AM (#60627760) Journal

    Really, are the Tesla short sellers STILL at it? I figured by now they had all reached financial ruin or thrown themselves off the top of the nearest large building.

    In this capacity (selling used cars), Tesla is in the role of the car dealership, and as most of you know who have purchased used cars, most dealerships don't provide ANY used car warranty (outside the original manufacturer warranty), and if they do it's for literally a few days basically covering the drive home. I'm sure any of you who have shopped for a used vehicle has seen the "As Is - No Warranty" box checked for any car whose manufacturer's warranty has expired. Legally the dealership only has to make sure you are aware that there is no warranty at all.

    Regarding the panel coming off after hitting standing water... if every little flaw like that was covered on Slashdot for every major car manufacturer, we'd see half a dozen stories like that DAILY.

    Really, I still don't understand the microscope focused on Tesla.

    • by thomst ( 1640045 )

      Dan East wondered:

      Really, are the Tesla short sellers STILL at it? I figured by now they had all reached financial ruin or thrown themselves off the top of the nearest large building.

      The late, great Jack Rickard (former editor rotundus of Boardwatch Magazine, and a man I was proud to call my friend) had a theory about that [youtube.com].

      It all makes perfect sense, when you ask the musical question, "cui bono" ... ?

    • by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @09:06AM (#60627936) Journal

      The short sellers may not be making any money, but apparently one of them had some Slashdot mod points! LOL

  • by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @08:39AM (#60627840) Homepage
    When Tesla sends you to the hardware store for 'supplies'.
  • Good too see Tesla standing behind their products.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    So when a car company offers a warranty to people who purchase its vehicles second-hand, it's not good enough. Does Honda give similar warranties? Toyota? People with a personal issue with Elon Musk are grasping at straws here. They've been telling everyone how horrible Tesla is for over a decade, yet the customers somehow keep coming.
    • Islam has even more customers, and well would you want to live in a theocracy ?
    • Actually, better. https://www.hondacertified.com... [hondacertified.com] 1 year/12K on everything, 7 years/100K miles powertrain. Pretty much all manufacturers do this for certified cars, which is basically buying from the dealer like tesla is offering. Just like tesla, private party sales are not covered.
    • by leonbev ( 111395 )

      Yeah, most auto manufacturers have a "manufacturer recertified" option for their used cars that gives them an extra three years or a total of 100,000 miles on their warranty. It's not cheap, but on expensive cars like BMW's or a Teslas, I'd expect the option to be available.

  • These darling companies, cheered by politicians, eventually garner the attention as something a politician can criticize and threaten with regulation, and lawyers can start industrial strength piling on. As with the big Internet companies, their usefulness is expiring and their usefulness as something to attack gains weight.

    How well did buttering up the politicians these years do?

    Welcome to reality.

  • This is why mature car companies aren't rushing to create EVs and compete with Tesla out of the gate. Tesla hasn't got the hard part down, which is manufacturing fit and finish. Maybe they never will.
    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @09:07AM (#60627940)

      And clearly it doesn't matter. I mean with an endless string of hit pieces and front page headlines about their cars falling apart there none the less is a very real waiting list for all of their cars.

      Solving this is something they can do when they can actually meet their manufacturing obligations and when they stop being being the cars with the most satisfied customers in the industry.

    • With current demand, they have no incentive to make reliable cars. Teslas core business is not making cars, they make stock prices. Making quality is hard, and takes time. Next quarter is all they are focused on. That is going to hurt the brand long term, but short term is the goal here so why bother? They have no reason to.
    • This is why mature car companies aren't rushing to create EVs and compete with Tesla out of the gate.

      Mature car companies simply don't rush to do anything. They are too big, there are too many jobs on the line, and doing what they've been doing has been working too long for them to make a sudden change. Despite that, there are 36 distinct EVs on sale in the USA today [evadoption.com] (not counting different versions of those vehicles, if you do there are more) so clearly the mature car companies are not just sitting on their thumbs.

      • Right, so in other words, they are confident they can make EVs when they can actually profit enough on them. Right now the tech simply isn't mature enough. It doesn't wok globally in all weather. There are not enough chargers globally. People *will* be stranded, underestimating reduced battery capacity on highways in the winter. Once these problems are solved, expect mainstream companies to focus on EVs..

        They're just letting Tesla solve all those issues for them.
      • https://www.worldatlas.com/art... [worldatlas.com]
        Rank - Company, Country of Headquarters, Vehicles Produced
        1 - Toyota, Japan, 10.466M
        2 - Volkswagen Group, Germany, 10.382M
        3 - Hyundai / Kia, South Korea, 7.218M
        4 - General Motors, United States, 6.856M
        5 - Ford, United States, 6.386M
        6 - Nissan, Japan, 5.769M
        7 - Honda, Japan, 5.235M
        8 - FCA, Italy, 4.600M
        9 - Renault, France, 4.153M
        10 - Groupe PSA, France, 3.649M
        11 - Suzuki, Japan, 3.302M

        And yet on the list you linked to:
        Toyota only have one
        Volkswagen Group doesn't have any
        Hyund

        • VW is about to drop an electric successor to the golf in a year or two, so that will cover that.

          GM didn't see a path to profitability for the EV-1, and they were right. It was too expensive to build. You're also right that it cost them a lot of good will, but people have bought their cars still so clearly they were right that it didn't mean much.

          • Oh, in a year or two Volkswagen is going to release one EV? That's not enough. Right now, apart from Tesla, the only car manufacturer who seem the least bit serious about EVs is Hyundai / Kia.

            • Provided it doesn't bomb, they have a couple more in the can.

              I'm not super impressed either, but it makes sense to sit back and let other people spend the money figuring out what people want, then swoop in and sell it to them.

  • by nicolaiplum ( 169077 ) on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @09:17AM (#60627966)

    I don't expect a 5 year old used car to have a long warranty and most don't. From a private seller or a non-brand dealer there may well be no warranty. Even if you buy something like a second-hand Mercedes from Mercedes themselves (one of their dealers), it will have a 1 year warranty. That's not really a big problem with any used car.

    The problem with Teslas is the repairs. Third-party repairers barely exist and Tesla tries to prevent them from operating by fair means and foul. There are no pattern parts or third party spares for Teslas. Tesla has a tendency to replace major parts of the car to solve any problem, such as large parts of the drivetrain for a mechanical issue. Tesla repair costs, if you have to pay them, are very high because of these factors.

    If you get a second-hand car from another manufacturer (Mercedes, BMW, and even more Ford, Toyota, etc) then you can go to third-party maintenance organisations and use third-party parts to keep your maintenance costs down.

    Older Tesla vehicles are also more problematic than new ones. Tesla is still climbing the reliability and quality curve and newer cars have noticeably higher design and build quality than the older cars - but that means the old cars have problems.

    If you buy a 4 year (or older) Tesla then after a year of warranty you're exposed to very high repair and maintenance costs. That's a problem.

  • Warranty Comparo (Score:5, Insightful)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @09:24AM (#60627984) Homepage Journal

    Manufacturers regularly take in relatively new vehicles (~5yr old) and check them over (certified pre-owned) and then put them back on the lot with a lesser warranty. But what are the usual warranty terms, both pre- and post-used? Here's a sample I put together before I got bored

    Toyota: Original warranty 3 years/36,000 miles, CPO 1/12,000, CPO powertrain warranty 7/100,000
    Honda: 3/36k, 1/12k, 7/100k
    Nissan: 3/36k, 0/0, 7/100k
    BMW: 4/50k, 1/unlimited, 1/unlimited
    Audi: 4/50k, 1/unlimited, 1/unlimited
    Ford: 3/36k, 1/12k, 7/100k
    Hyundai: 5/60k, remainder of the 5-Year/60,000-Mile New Vehicle Limited Warranty, 10/100k

    So in short, the new warranty terms are very much in line with other automakers.

    • Yes, and the original powertrain (motor/controller+battery) warranty for the model 3 is 8 years/100k (8 years/120k for the LR). This transfers with the vehicle.

      Seems exactly in line to me?

    • How many of those companies cars will lose a bumper on a new car if you drive through a puddle?

  • The NHSTA had assembled a panel of experts to ponder the problem, but things fell apart quickly.
  • just push out an OTA update.

  • At least the front didn't fall off.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    That would be a tragedy.

We are each entitled to our own opinion, but no one is entitled to his own facts. -- Patrick Moynihan

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