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What happens to all the unserviceable Tesla vehicles if the OEM goes bankrupt? Is your car just bricked then? Do owners have any recourse?
by ForHackernews 8y ago
What happens to all the unserviceable Tesla vehicles if the OEM goes bankrupt? Is your car just bricked then? Do owners have any recourse?
- trhway 8y agoask Fisker Karma owners. At least in case of Tesla one can expect a robust cottage industry to quickly spring up, not just one small shop of former Fisker engineers which will bleed you dry.
- fortylove 8y agoI don't know any.
- slg 8y agoTesla delivers more cars in a few days that Fisker did in their entire history. The two really wouldn't be close in either demand or supply for ongoing servicing.
- maxxxxx 8y agoThis makes it even more likely that there will be a healthy aftermarket.
- tomatocracy 8y agoI have to ask the question, why isn't there one already in that case? Is everyone really putting up with the high pricing and very long parts delays reportedly associated with repairs the OEM experience entails?
- maxxxxx 8y agoI am assuming there is some copyright thing going on. There is also not much pressure for Tesla owners to look for alternatives as long as Tesla is around so the potential volume is low.
- freerobby 8y agoReal answer: Tesla would be acquired before filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Theoretical answer: The cars would continue to function as cars, but network-dependent features like Autopilot and remote unlocking/monitoring would cease.
- jlv2 8y agoI don't believe AutoPilot is network dependent.
- crunchlibrarian 8y agoMy understanding is that everything in the car is network dependent. You can't run it offline, at least not long term.
- beamatronic 8y agoDo you have a source or citation for that?
- Shivetya 8y agoNot entirely. When they had a recent network outage, site down and such I lost my phone app. It could not talk to the car as it apparently goes to Tesla first. However I was able to unlock, start, and drive just fine. Autopilot, both the traffic aware cruise control and auto steer, worked without issue. now I did not need to use a super charger but one would hope they don't need network access to work and would just keep a local database of cars that are allowed. would be damn silly to require a call to the mothership for each charging session.
- ReverseCold 8y ago> unlock, start, and drive just fine. With the key card?
- Shivetya 8y ago
- bduerst 8y ago>Do owners have any recourse? No. There may be some enormously expensive, 3rd party service that springs up to fill demand for custom fixes with the machines, but warranty holders get nothing if the company goes bankrupt and dissolves liabilities.
- ReverseCold 8y agoOnce there's no company that can prevent people from tinkering with their cars (by threatening to sue/end your ability to be hireable in the industry), someone will probably figure out how to get a custom firmware running on it.