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Well to be honest, I own a model 3, you just have to be a member of the subreddit if not any of the Tesla related sites to know that more than a few people have

Well to be honest, I own a model 3, you just have to be a member of the subreddit if not any of the Tesla related sites to know that more than a few people have a nightmarish time with new car delivery. It isn't like these cars loaded with features, I have yet to read anyone having issues with the display and tech as it is always panel alignment and overall fit and finish. Now if you also read the same you will find the Chinese side of Tesla apparently has an entirely different outcome. Their quality is superb with workers across the plant invested to the point no one wants to embarrass another. So what to do US side? Having had friends and family in the industry where they worked the line you get the same issues you have in any business. There are those who are just there to punch a clock and it is always some other person's job. Please don't try the tired retort of pay, myself and I am sure others here can attest to having worked with people who pay isn't going to fix them. Well if Tesla cannot insure the people at all stations on the line think otherwise they need to invest heavily on the end of the line and make sure that their delivery centers have no reason to ever have to work on a customer's car. Those employees must be able to fail a car without question. The only acceptable issues at that point would be damage during transit. I know my next EV will not be a Tesla, they have nothing in their pipeline I want; well let me be honest nothing I should buy but that truck is obnoxious enough to just have; and another fear is they are not concentrating on quality.

MDWolinski 6y ago
You don't have to watch more then one YouTube video review of whatever Tesla model to know that there will be more then a few "issues" with a brand new Tesla, that we can all agree on. We can also say that people who educate themselves on the brand first, go in knowing that there will be inconsistent gaps and possibly other problems as well with their brand new vehicle. Most will want the vehicle regardless and bet on Tesla Service being able to fix the issues at one point or another (ie when Tesla figures out why certain parts are not working as expected and create replacement parts to fix them). The problem, from an outside perspective, is that Tesla is operating as close to the bone as possible on costs, so the accepted variances in manufacturing are larger than what Ford or Honda would have due to the economics of scale. I don't want to say that this is necessarily a worker problem, because at the end of the day, when a vehicle rolls off the assembly line, (I'm assuming) Tesla has quality control people to verify the vehicle is meeting their requirements, so these are the people who are either not raising the flags on production, or the variances are "acceptable", which is what I think it tends to be. To create tighter variances usually means slowing down the process, which in turn will reduce the number of vehicles leaving the plant, thus lower sales, etc. I have no doubt, in years time, Tesla's quality of build will improve. But as a recent video review I saw on a Tesla vehicle said, "if you have OCD, you might not want to buy a Tesla."
pja 6y ago
It’s always easy to blame the workers but, in the vast majority of cases, poor quality output is a management issue. Other car manufacturers have managed to create production lines that churn out high quality vehicles every 90 seconds (or better) for decades now. When it comes to these fit & finish issues, panel alignment etc etc there is no excuse for Tesla not being able to reach the same minimal quality bar.
- Veedrac 6y ago
  That seems like a reasonable excuse to me. Tesla's only been doing high volume manufacturing for 8 years, and these things take time to build up expertise for. If you buy a Tesla today you should expect you're trading off some fit and finish for their advantages.
  - thrill 6y ago
    No, that sort of continued excusing of the manufacturer is why Tesla, after 8 years of production no less, continues to deliver substandard quality. What pressure is there for them to do otherwise? Tesla accepts this, their customers, only occasionally grumbling, accept this, and their die hard fans go to the mat on social media to insure everyone else accepts this.
    - Veedrac 6y ago
      It seems very strange to claim that Tesla's sales aren't impacted by their lackluster fit and finish. I only vaguely follow Tesla news and I've heard this complaint a lot. Even if this were the case, that prospective consumers didn't care about paint quality and panel fit... then what's the problem? Why should Tesla focus on a problem you say nobody cares enough to buy a different car over?
  - pja 6y ago
    You can buy this expertise off the shelf: you recruit plant managers from the rest of the car industry & give them a free hand. Or alternatively you can put the time into reading some of the many, many publications that have detailed exactly how it’s done. None of it is secret. Tesla seems to be unable to do any of this.
wwright 6y ago
Pay doesn’t necessarily fix individual motivation, but it does create significantly more competition, as well as making the job itself more lucrative for the most passionate. (ie, attract and retain better workers)
travisporter 6y ago
>myself and I am sure others here can attest to having worked with people who pay isn't going to fix them. Yes, but I don't blame my coworker, but the boss who hired them when I'm doing more work for the same pay. You're implying what, that Chinese factory workers have a better work ethic than American ones from your empirical review of Reddit formus/Internet, which may not be entirely unbiased.

MDWolinski 6y ago

You don't have to watch more then one YouTube video review of whatever Tesla model to know that there will be more then a few "issues" with a brand new Tesla, that we can all agree on. We can also say that people who educate themselves on the brand first, go in knowing that there will be inconsistent gaps and possibly other problems as well with their brand new vehicle. Most will want the vehicle regardless and bet on Tesla Service being able to fix the issues at one point or another (ie when Tesla figures out why certain parts are not working as expected and create replacement parts to fix them). The problem, from an outside perspective, is that Tesla is operating as close to the bone as possible on costs, so the accepted variances in manufacturing are larger than what Ford or Honda would have due to the economics of scale. I don't want to say that this is necessarily a worker problem, because at the end of the day, when a vehicle rolls off the assembly line, (I'm assuming) Tesla has quality control people to verify the vehicle is meeting their requirements, so these are the people who are either not raising the flags on production, or the variances are "acceptable", which is what I think it tends to be. To create tighter variances usually means slowing down the process, which in turn will reduce the number of vehicles leaving the plant, thus lower sales, etc. I have no doubt, in years time, Tesla's quality of build will improve. But as a recent video review I saw on a Tesla vehicle said, "if you have OCD, you might not want to buy a Tesla."

pja 6y ago

It’s always easy to blame the workers but, in the vast majority of cases, poor quality output is a management issue. Other car manufacturers have managed to create production lines that churn out high quality vehicles every 90 seconds (or better) for decades now. When it comes to these fit & finish issues, panel alignment etc etc there is no excuse for Tesla not being able to reach the same minimal quality bar.

Veedrac 6y ago
That seems like a reasonable excuse to me. Tesla's only been doing high volume manufacturing for 8 years, and these things take time to build up expertise for. If you buy a Tesla today you should expect you're trading off some fit and finish for their advantages.
- thrill 6y ago
  No, that sort of continued excusing of the manufacturer is why Tesla, after 8 years of production no less, continues to deliver substandard quality. What pressure is there for them to do otherwise? Tesla accepts this, their customers, only occasionally grumbling, accept this, and their die hard fans go to the mat on social media to insure everyone else accepts this.
  - Veedrac 6y ago
    It seems very strange to claim that Tesla's sales aren't impacted by their lackluster fit and finish. I only vaguely follow Tesla news and I've heard this complaint a lot. Even if this were the case, that prospective consumers didn't care about paint quality and panel fit... then what's the problem? Why should Tesla focus on a problem you say nobody cares enough to buy a different car over?
- pja 6y ago
  You can buy this expertise off the shelf: you recruit plant managers from the rest of the car industry & give them a free hand. Or alternatively you can put the time into reading some of the many, many publications that have detailed exactly how it’s done. None of it is secret. Tesla seems to be unable to do any of this.

wwright 6y ago

Pay doesn’t necessarily fix individual motivation, but it does create significantly more competition, as well as making the job itself more lucrative for the most passionate. (ie, attract and retain better workers)

travisporter 6y ago

>myself and I am sure others here can attest to having worked with people who pay isn't going to fix them. Yes, but I don't blame my coworker, but the boss who hired them when I'm doing more work for the same pay. You're implying what, that Chinese factory workers have a better work ethic than American ones from your empirical review of Reddit formus/Internet, which may not be entirely unbiased.