Tesla Suspension Breakage: It's Not The Crime, It's The Coverup (dailykanban.com)

schwit1 quotes a report from Daily Kanban: For several months now, reports have circulated in comment sections and forum threads about a possible defect in Tesla's vehicles that may cause suspension control arms to break. Many of those reports appeared to come from a single, highly-motivated and potentially unreliable source, a fact which led many to dismiss them as crankery. But as more reports of suspension failure in Teslas have come in, Daily Kanban has investigated the matter and can now report on this deeply troubling issue. Our investigation began in earnest upon reading a thread titled "Suspension Problem on Model S" in the Tesla Motors Club forum. The original poster (OP) in that thread described the suspension in his 2013 Model S (with 70,000 miles) failing at relatively low speed, saying the "left front hub assembly separated from the upper control arm." Images of the broken suspension components showed high levels of rust in the steel ball joint and the OP reported being told by Tesla service center employees that the "ball joint bolt was loose and caused the wear," which was "not normal." Because his Tesla was out of warranty, the repair was reportedly sent to Tesla management for consideration. According to a subsequent post by the OP, Tesla management refused to repair the broken suspension under warranty despite the "not normal" levels of wear reported by the service techs. Then, just days later, the OP reported that Tesla had offered to pay 50% of the $3,100 repair bill in exchange for his signature on a "Goodwill Agreement" which he subsequently posted here (a scan of the stock agreement can be found here). That agreement included the following passage:

"The Goodwill is being provided to you without any admission of liability or wrongdoing or acceptance of any facts by Tesla, and shall not be treated as or considered evidence of Tesla's liability with respect to any claim or incidents. You agree to keep confidential our provision of the Goodwill, the terms of this agreement and the incidents or claims leading or related to our provision of the Goodwill. In accepting the Goodwill, you hereby release and discharge Tesla and related persons or entities from any and all claims or damages arising out of or in any way connected with any claims or incidents leading or related to our provision of the Goodwill. You further agree that you will not commence, participate or voluntarily aid in any action at law or in equity or any legal proceeding against Tesla or related persons or entities based upon facts related to the claims or incidents leading to or related to this Goodwill." [Emphasis added]

This offer, to repair a defective part in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement, is unheard of in the auto industry. More troublingly, it represents a potential assault by Tesla Motors on the right of vehicle owners to report defects to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's complaint database, the auto safety regulators sole means of discovering defects independent of the automakers they regulate. Reuters also reports today that U.S. auto safety investigators are reviewing reports of suspension problems in Tesla Motors Inc's Model S cars.

Comments

Re:Warranty

[WindBourne]

no, I see a MAJOR story. This is NOT how Tesla has operated. This is how companies like GM, Audi, VW, Mercedes, Toyota, Ford, Honda, etc operate. Tesla has stood behind their work and it has made them who they are today. They need to rethink this CAREFULLY.

Re:Look people

[rahvin112]

I should have Googled before posting. It seems NHTSA has already been to visit Tesla and remind that that such clauses that say you can't talk to NHTSA are not legal and if they don't remove them immediately Tesla is going to get a rectal exam from NHTSA.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/...

You might laugh, but that clause is what got NHTSA involved, a joint falling apart in a single car is not cause for them to get involved but that clause drew their involvement and it's going to result in a full investigation of this issue. It would have taken dozens of people having the same issue and some of them getting hurt of this type of issue to normally get in front of NHTSA but Tesla's illegal agreement put them right at the front of the pack. This will hurt Tesla, and their own lawyers did it to them.

substandard parts

[siamesevodka]

The ball joints were probably sourced from china. I have collector cars and this has been going on in this area as well. If Tesla would use Moog ball joints instead of lowest bidder they might have better results. That is what we found to cure early failure. Ball joints should last 100,000 miles easily if they are quality and your not hitting every pot hole in town every day. Recent conversion to the chinese market for this item has magnified issues of ball joints not lasting as long. I have been told by the local big box appliance store not to expect anymore than 8 years out of any major appliance you buy. That way we can squeeze more buying into your life span. After all we are the carcass everybody else feeds on. On any major purchase source the forum for that particular item.It might cut down on the jackals feeding on your money for a few years. It will alert you to the issues with that particular item.

Re: Warranty

[Lumpy]

My 2007 honda civic has has TWO fail. I have had to replace them 3 times in the life of my 1999 Jeep grand cherokee.

So there is data about failure rates all over the road.

Re: Warranty

[geoskd]

My current car has 108,000 miles on and hasn't had a ball joint fail.

I had an '01 Suzuki Areo that had 5 ball joints fail while it was still under warranty. When it failed the last time, Suzuki offered to buy the car back for the amount of my outstanding loan (far more than the blue book value of the car). Naturally I accepted and was happy to be rid of the problem. Even though it hadn't cost me any money, it was a pain to have to deal with it again every couple of months. The dealer said it was likely an alignment tolerances problem when the car was originally manufactured, and the only way to fix it permanently would be to replace the entire front differential which would cost even more than what Suzuki gave me for it.

Re:Lemons

[vtcodger]

Yeah, I'm mildly surprised. Tesla doesn't MAKE ball joints. It BUYS them from someone and they probably are not custom engineered for the unique needs of Tesla's vehicle. Tesla does design the suspension, but this sounds like a defective part rather than an overstressed part. Overall, Ball joint failure in modern cars is uncommon. Which is a very good thing as it often causes complete steering failure and can kill you if the ball joint fails at speed or at the wrong time and place.

BTW, I'm not a big fan of Tesla or Elon Musk. I think electric cars (as opposed to hybrids) are a poor choice for cold climates or long distance driving, and I think Musk is a con artist who will tell us anything he thinks we're dumb enough to believe if it is to his advantage. But his companies do seem to do decent engineering.

As for the agreement. The no admission of fault part seems reasonable. The confidentiality clause seems to me to be unconscionable and if this crap is enforcable, laws need to be changed to make it unenforcable.

Re:Uh?

[AmiMoJo]

The early cars have had some pretty severe issues. Replacement drive trains are not uncommon, as well as a long list of other quality issues like leaks, premature wear, seat leather stretching, all kinds of stuff. Tesla guarantees to buy cars back at a good price, so that has kept used prices high, but once beyond the end of warranty...

Well, I asked for advice on buying a used one, and the advice from owners was "don't". Too many problems, not enough discount compared to new with warranty. Maybe get one referbed and warrantied by Tesla, but don't buy private. Kind of a stark warning.

Then again this is all anecdotal, and despite the number of anecdotes they still don't add up to data. That data is a Tesla trade secret.