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Tesla Removes Mileage Limits On Drive Unit Warranty Program
Ars Technica reports that Elon Musk today wrote that Tesla will remove mileage limits on its warranty policy for all Tesla Model S drive units. The warranty, which will still span eight years, won't have a cap on the number of owners for each vehicle. People who purchased Teslas before today were told that the warranty period for the drive unit expired after eight years or once the car logged over 125,000 miles. The revised warranty applies to new vehicles and Model S cars that are already on the road.
The article mentions that quite a few Tesla owners have had to have their drive units replaced; out of warranty, that runs about $15,000. Musk's announcement acknowledges that the change may cost the company some money, but says he's "confident it will work out well in the long run."
So there is a problem and they are avoiding recall?
... that can be given that Elon Musk isn't one of the best humans out there? Let me elaborate a bit. In an age of chasing profits and cut-throat competition and where the most ruthless are getting rich, there are some people chasing another type of enrichment. And this comes after giving up on patents. I don't know this man, but it'd be an honour to shake his hand. I simply got nothing that could do justice. Nikola Tesla would indeed be proud.
Because the summary sort of makes it sound like a lot of people had to pay for a $15000 replacement: The article says that many people have had to change their drive unit. It does not say specifically that they had to change it out of warranty and out of pocket. Given how new the Model S is and that the existing policy was for 125,000 miles anyway, I suspect it would be very few if any that were adversely affected by the old policy. Musk says they have to stand by the word that electric motors are fundamentally more reliable and the cost to the company is the increase in reserves for dry units that they will need to cover the new warranty since it is applied retroactively.
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If it included the battery then that might mean something. As it is now, there is just a low percentage of every needing the coverage. No real cost to Tesla, lots of good P.R. but not much else.
Passionately Indifferent
If only other manufacturers would learn that stepping in front of an issue is always better than being run over by it, both for total cost and, more importantly, reputation.
So divide mileage required to get out of warranty [125,000] by the number of months the vehicle has been available on the market [26, since June 2012], you get a minimum possible average of just over 4800 miles/month. Unless of course the article mentions other ways to get to the point of being out of warranty. [8 years or older, or over 125,000 miles for those that didn't read TFS.]
I have enormous respect for Elon Musk, but don't mistake enlightened self interest for altruism.
Musk is a very successful and brilliant business person. I just think he also understands that customers appreciate being treated with respect and integrity. It doesn't hurt that he clearly believes in building the best product(s) possible, relying on innovations to place him squarely ahead of the entrenched players (whether that's NASA/Boeing/ULA, or GM/Ford.) His particular brand of greed is good for nearly everyone, but don't mistake it for something other than greed.
First we had the smug "NASA is boring, Elon Musk is awesome" article, and now this. If we hit 3 articles in 1 day, I think it becomes a national holiday!
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
after I posted, it is not very legible. "dry units"? Sorry!
So they removed the mileage limit but they still have the time limit of 8 years.
It's not like people are going to use a Tesla car to go cross-country driving. They have to charge the car after use and so has to remain near a viable charge station. So, the removing the mileage limit seems pointless.
If they removed the time limit of 8 years, then it would be something.
I don't see this as a big deal. Sure sounds good but the service centers probably realized that the mileage of the cars coming in for service was nowhere close to getting to warranty mileage and just dropped them.
Wow. get the GOP's cock out of your mouth. They have obviously been pounding your brain into fucking mush.
Elon is trying to make a new car company from scratch.... with electric cars, using lithium ion batteries, made of aluminum. Many people now expect cars to last for a really long time, especially expensive cars. There are so many new things that can go wrong... On the other hand, the Tesla Model S, has a high price, but has a low fuel cost, by being electric, with a large battery. Electric motors are also supposed to last longer than internal combustion engines... This would suggest a better use as a fleet car, like a taxi, or police car. Leave the low end car to infrequently driven gasoline cars.
Basically, The drive units haven't been failing so the warranty can be extended. AKA, it's mainly a feel good idea. In short the engineers couldn't guaranty that the drive units would last and Elon wasn't going to bet the company on warranting it.
125,000 miles would be considered a serious quality defect with a traditional auto. If memory serves me right, most recent example was BMW nikasil engine block issue.
Owners of early 2000s Dodge Caravans and Ford Windstars might disagree. Plenty got less than 100,000 before developing issues that cost more to repair than the value of the vehicle.
The darling of the left keep getting exceptional treatment. According to some websites of the owners clubs the expensive drive unit fails in 30% of the vehicles. Normal automaker like Ford, Toyota or GM would be forced to recall such lemon. But darling of the left instead of scrutiny gets excuses from the nerds.
The Model S has only been available for a couple years. It's really hard to imagine that many people have driven a Model S more than 125,000 miles.
Greed is the root of all evil.
When the price of repair is 15k, they had to do something. To me, a Telsa has 8 years, and then becomes worthless to sell. Who is going to buy a car that no longer warranted, that at any kind could break down and cost you 15k to repair? This has nothing to do with being better then GM, its about HAVING to do it in order to sell cars, electric cars are not popular to begin with, most of the sales are to the government where the cost don't matter.
There's a problem and they're handling it immediately and responsibly,
Uh, these drivetrain failures have been happening for at least a year. Google around and you'll see reports of failures around early 2013.
Edmund's Tesla has had the drive unit replaced FOUR times since they bought it last year.
http://insideevs.com/edmunds-long-term-tesla-model-s-on-fourth-drive-unit-going-up-for-sale/
Please help metamoderate.
How many Ford or GM cars back them up after 100,000? All parts or just certain parts? This doesn't seem to be that unusual and I've not heard any claims about 30% failure rates-- given how anything bad with Tesla gets some news coverage and provokes online defenders I would think we'd be hearing about major problems.
None of my past cars were able to get anything out of the maker after 100,000 miles.
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http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/postcode/rg61hd/radius/1501/maximum-mileage/over_100000_miles/onesearchad/used,nearlynew,new/quicksearch/true
Most cars there over 1500 quid, over 100k is nothing for modern cars.
You're talking crap.
I hoped so.
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