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Own a Y, and absolutely couldn’t explain how much I love this car. That said I am running into a complaint: somebody backed into me in a parking lot last week.

by blhack 5y ago

Own a Y, and absolutely couldn’t explain how much I love this car. That said I am running into a complaint: somebody backed into me in a parking lot last week. The car is still mechanically fine, but with a damaged panel and bumper now. This is a bummer for me, since I’ve been meticulous about washing it, always parking at the end of the lot, etc. car detailing has actually become a hobby as a result of enjoying taking care of this car. The problem is that Tesla simply doesn’t have the parts to fix this right now. I made a service appointment, and they sent me a message the next day cancelling it due to a parts shortage. So I’m kindof at a loss now. My car has a dented/scratched panel, and I can’t even get it fixed. I’d be really frustrated if this was something preventing it from driving. That said, there’s a reason the for the parts shortage, long order wait times, etc. The model Y is basically a perfect vehicle. I can’t recommend it enough. (And this article is just a cherry on top. We bought this car originally because we knew it was really safe, and we just had a baby. So reading this is just affirming.)

azinman2 5y ago
We test drove the Y and passed on it. We found the visibility out of the back poor, all the mirrors tiny, and the headrest also tiny and my head kept rolling off it. Do you not experience these problems?
- jondwillis 5y ago
  cameras kind of make all of that less of a concern in my experience. dunno about the headrest
- hansendc 5y ago
  The rear visibility felt weird when I test drove it for sure, coming from a normal sedan. But, over a year in to ownership, it never feels tiny when driving it. All the cameras and sensors make it a MILLION times better to maneuver in small spaces than my old car. It was more a matter of getting used to something different (and I'd argue objectively better) rather than an overall downside. As for the headrest, I've never thought about it once myself.
  - azinman2 5y ago
    Why is it objectively better to have less rear visibility? Note you can have both excellent rear AND cameras/sensors. Do you not feel its tiny when driving on the freeway?
    - 11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
      Not sure how you'd get to objectivity, but there are tradeoffs. The M3 and MY have higher rear which provides more trunk and rear passenger space. I drive an M3 and usually keep the rear seats folded down to add a little more visibility out the back. Cameras and visualization compensate sufficiently in my view. It's to me a minor negative in a long list of positives, and not a reason to avoid Tesla.
    - hansendc 5y ago
      The Y's overall visibility is objectively better than my old sedan. It's also really hard to have that really aerodynamic shape and good rear visibility. The Y's visibility reminds me of a Prius in a lot of ways. I've never thought once that the rear visibility was a problem on the freeway.
      - azinman2 5y ago
        Thanks! FWIW We went with the VW ID.4. $20k cheaper with federal rebate, and absolutely love it. Doesn't feel cheap. No issues with visibility or headrest size, prefer mechanical door locks, and appreciate not having a single offset screen. Wish CarPlay was a little more integrated with the rest of the car, and I miss physical buttons for things like setting temperature (which is even worse on a Tesla Y as there are no buttons, but it seems at least their touch screen has more things visible at once than the VW does). Having to touch a touchscreen while driving is difficult, even as a passenger, because unless you're on the most perfect road ever the shaking will make it hard to tap your target.
    - ajross 5y ago
      > Why is it objectively better to have less rear visibility? Because it's an artifact of the tapered afterbody that makes the cars the most energy-efficient on the road. Teslas beat every other EV on range, and the tiny handful of cars that do better (Lucid Air being the most notable) do so with significantly larger batteries. Everything has tradeoffs. FWIW: a few years of driving a van in my youth cured me of reliance on the center mirror anyway. This is very much an ejectable feature in my mind, something very much worth trading for ~30 miles of extra range or whatever. There are plenty of other quirks like this. The Y has a very poor turning radius (to reduce the void size in the wheel wells) too. It only comes in five boring colors. The third row seating is real and useful, but the headroom is comically small (same tapered afterbody). Everyone has their own list. The car isn't perfect. But it's absolutely as close to perfect as anything else I've driven.
- tills13 5y ago
  While I agree with you that the rear visibility seems really bad, you eventually get used to it. Don't get me wrong -- that's not a valid excuse but in my experience I've never felt like I couldn't see what's behind me. Suggesting that's what the cameras are for is, imo, a worse excuse. As for the head "rest", technically it's a head _restraint_ not a head _rest_. Your head shouldn't be resting against it while driving.
  - sovnade 5y ago
    Yeah I feel like I'd have to artificially push my head back an uncomfortable distance to keep it against the headrest. Looking into getting a 3 or a Y next year myself.
    - maxdo 5y ago
      It's a typical first impression before I bought model Y i saw one youtube review one person criticized the seats. He had some back pain issues due to some medical conditions. After he drove model Y on o long distance 500+ miles he said he's taking his words back. It almost scared me away also because it looks visual but I can confirm seats experience of tesla is very good. Musk in interview to Munro told they tried several contractors to produce a comfortable seat. Most cars outsource seats. They ended up producing their own with better ergonomics. They invest a lot with distributing the pressure/weight across entire seat.
- mirkules 5y ago
  Same here. I needed a larger car that can seat my family of five (3 kids). Everyone was cramped, the visibility was poor, especially with everyone in the car and I just can’t get over having the dashboard in the center. It’s a shame because I really love the acceleration, I love the technology, and I would love having an electric car. Model X would be a great fit, but not for a 6 figure price. In the end I got a Subaru Ascent, which is a better overall fit for my family than the Y, but I’m not excited about it like I am a Tesla. It’s basically a glorified minivan (actually, it’s even a little less utilitarian than our Odyssey). But there are some exciting new electric cars and vans coming, and I’m really looking forward to the next generation of electrics!
- elif 5y ago
  The rearview mirror itself has a light filter which works in concert with the light filtered by the back window such that the interior of the car does not show up on the mirror, but everything coming through the window is perfectly clear. So if you were looking at it going "this is too dark" it was probably misunderstanding a feature. In terms of the amount of space you can see, it is sufficient.. but also the 3D rendering will give you a much better idea of what's behind you than any mirror.
  - azinman2 5y ago
    Actually I wasn’t concerned with the darkness, just total visibility. My understanding is that the 3D rendering is meant to be a subset of what the car sees, and not a safety feature. If that’s the case, I saw it miss all kinds of cross traffic and other cars that should have been in it… and that was just on a short car ride plus the few times I’ve been in other Teslas. > but also the 3D rendering will give you a much better idea of what's behind you than any mirror. I don’t buy this. To me it’s a poor substitute to look down at a display rather than a quick glance out in my rear view mirror to learn the distance to the car behind and it’s acceleration curve, who is behind me, etc. I much rather rely on my human eyes to gather all the information I’m looking for than an abstracted subset by an inferior camera with latency, and then having to extrapolate distances.
- maxdo 5y ago
  Model Y owner, visibility is definitely not an issue. If you used to drive an F150 maybe, but apart from that is very spacious car. I'm 6'3 and I have 6'4 friend in back of me with no issues. I can also do a camping mode in the car. This is by far the best car I ever owned. It's nothing even to compare with. My friend bought 2 years old BMW, and I feel like there is a 10 years gap between bmw and tesla. I guess you just biased against tesla. Check the videos about their car seats on youtube. they are one few companies that don't outsource Car seat production because of ergonomics.
- _ea1k 5y ago
  The rear visibility came up a lot in reviews early on. After a day or so of driving, it becomes unnoticeable and doesn't actually cause a problem in practice. On top of that, you can turn on all three rear facing cameras while driving for amazing visibility. I don't use the headrests, but I've found the seats to be amazingly comfortable on long road trips.
tedk-42 5y ago
Not like it's critical to the performance of the car. Just wait and the parts will arrive for you...hardly seems like a fair complaint.
- blhack 5y ago
  Totally agree. My point was that there seems to be a general shortage, and that if it was something necessary for driving, I’d be in trouble.
- nwomack 5y ago
  I disagree. I have been waiting 3 months for parts, in the mean time my sensors collision don’t work and I have constant annoying dash messages saying my sensors don’t work.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  > hardly seems like a fair complaint Is a reliable parts supply chain not a reasonable expectation of a car? I can get whatever part I want whenever I want from a diverse set of manufacturers for my Land Rover.
  - throwaway894345 5y ago
    These are anonymous times. I suspect many auto manufacturers are having parts shortages.
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      > These are anonymous times. Eh?
      - xeromal 5y ago
        Probably meant ominous
        DuskStar 5y ago
nwomack 5y ago
Hate to break it to you but you will be waiting months to get it fixed. I’ve been waiting on parts for about 3 months to get mine fixed for relatively minor damage. got rear ended by a pickup truck.
- capkutay 5y ago
  +1. My tesla got side-swiped in November. The shop is estimating Mid-February (so probably March) for all parts to ship and labor to be completed.
tills13 5y ago
It's also insanely expensive to service. I had an Amazon van back into my parked M3. Left a small indent on the right rear quarter panel. Total cost to fix (for Amazon) was $3k CAD.
- nwomack 5y ago
  Seems normal. What are your precious vehicles? My wife’s C250 cost 10K to fix a relatively minor bumper collision.
  - tills13 5y ago
    Sounds like a racket.
- loeg 5y ago
  Panel damage is really expensive on all cars.
dawnerd 5y ago
They shouldn't have cancelled, they should have pushed your appt out based on what their estimated date is. I'd make another appt and push them to order the part. You can find the part and reference it by number so they have no excuse. Instead of just asking for it to be fixed, ask for a quote and if they could order the part(s) for you. Then you can figure out if you want to try the repair yourself or have them do it once you get it. https://epc.tesla.com/en/catalogs https://epc.tesla.com/en/catalogs I used it recently after hearing they were telling people they couldn't install all season tires on the 21" wheels, but if you reference the new tires by part number (they're new tires) they were able to get a quote and order them.
SEJeff 5y ago
The Gigafactory in TX is going to certainly help with this as it will massively increase the amount of Y vehicles and parts being produced domestically. Not that it is going to be a magic fix, but they know it is a problem and are opening the factory with the Y only so they can fix some of the backlog. My wife has a Model Y and I have a Model 3. My 3 got hit by an idiot who ran a red light after having it for a month (in Sept 2018) and I had to wait for 2 months to get the new seatbelt tensioners after a tesla approved body shop fixed the cosmetic work.
foobarian 5y ago
I got a Ford Escape 2014 a while ago. I needed something cheap and decent enough. I don't love it, and I don't spend much time on it. It has never had issues in spite of common jokes about Found On the Road Dead which I think may be behind the times. The thing about a large volume manufacturer with a developed dealer network is: when someone backed into it in a grocery store parking lot and destroyed the bumper, I thought I would be making phone calls, waiting for parts, getting it in, etc. But the very first phone call to my dealer, and they had the part for this 6 year old car just sitting there on the shelf. Installed and back on the road the next day.
- gameswithgo 5y ago
  with supply chain issues right now even a Ford may not have parts available at times. Tesla is definitely worse on average about service though still.
  - maxdo 5y ago
    Tesla is the only car brand almost not affected by chip shortage. Because they adjust parts super fast. They will beat their production estimate in 2021. Ford service will never come to your home unlike tesla. Their service is far more superior to ford. Yes, if you have non critical issue it will be hard to get an appointment, but it's not tesla's fault. It's monopoly of dealership, and regulations. They not allowed to open as many services as they want.
  - taylodl 5y ago
    I have a friend who has a 2008 Honda that got hit and my wife has a 2003 Lexus that got hit. Both have parts readily available even in this supply chain crunch. Tesla has never been up to snuff when it comes to parts. If you own a Tesla then you better pray you don't need a part because the Tesla service horror stories are practically legendary at this point - and that was before "supply chain issues."
    - MonaroVXR 5y ago
      Because those parts are adjust produced and used on other cars too, so that means there are parts available in general.
simonebrunozzi 5y ago
You know what? I'd guess that Elon, as "crazy" as he is, might have an idea or two about solving this problem (e.g. 3D-printing the part, etc). Tweet to him. There's a tiny, tiny chance that he will respond and decide this is worth pursuing. Edit: scratch that, I tweeted to him about it [0]. I should never miss a good opportunity to do a micro-tiny amount of good to someone else. [0]: https://twitter.com/simon/status/1473673346583773187 https://twitter.com/simon/status/1473673346583773187

by blhack 5y ago

azinman2 5y ago

We test drove the Y and passed on it. We found the visibility out of the back poor, all the mirrors tiny, and the headrest also tiny and my head kept rolling off it. Do you not experience these problems?

jondwillis 5y ago
cameras kind of make all of that less of a concern in my experience. dunno about the headrest
hansendc 5y ago
The rear visibility felt weird when I test drove it for sure, coming from a normal sedan. But, over a year in to ownership, it never feels tiny when driving it. All the cameras and sensors make it a MILLION times better to maneuver in small spaces than my old car. It was more a matter of getting used to something different (and I'd argue objectively better) rather than an overall downside. As for the headrest, I've never thought about it once myself.
- azinman2 5y ago
  Why is it objectively better to have less rear visibility? Note you can have both excellent rear AND cameras/sensors. Do you not feel its tiny when driving on the freeway?
  - 11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
    Not sure how you'd get to objectivity, but there are tradeoffs. The M3 and MY have higher rear which provides more trunk and rear passenger space. I drive an M3 and usually keep the rear seats folded down to add a little more visibility out the back. Cameras and visualization compensate sufficiently in my view. It's to me a minor negative in a long list of positives, and not a reason to avoid Tesla.
  - hansendc 5y ago
    The Y's overall visibility is objectively better than my old sedan. It's also really hard to have that really aerodynamic shape and good rear visibility. The Y's visibility reminds me of a Prius in a lot of ways. I've never thought once that the rear visibility was a problem on the freeway.
    - azinman2 5y ago
      Thanks! FWIW We went with the VW ID.4. $20k cheaper with federal rebate, and absolutely love it. Doesn't feel cheap. No issues with visibility or headrest size, prefer mechanical door locks, and appreciate not having a single offset screen. Wish CarPlay was a little more integrated with the rest of the car, and I miss physical buttons for things like setting temperature (which is even worse on a Tesla Y as there are no buttons, but it seems at least their touch screen has more things visible at once than the VW does). Having to touch a touchscreen while driving is difficult, even as a passenger, because unless you're on the most perfect road ever the shaking will make it hard to tap your target.
  - ajross 5y ago
    > Why is it objectively better to have less rear visibility? Because it's an artifact of the tapered afterbody that makes the cars the most energy-efficient on the road. Teslas beat every other EV on range, and the tiny handful of cars that do better (Lucid Air being the most notable) do so with significantly larger batteries. Everything has tradeoffs. FWIW: a few years of driving a van in my youth cured me of reliance on the center mirror anyway. This is very much an ejectable feature in my mind, something very much worth trading for ~30 miles of extra range or whatever. There are plenty of other quirks like this. The Y has a very poor turning radius (to reduce the void size in the wheel wells) too. It only comes in five boring colors. The third row seating is real and useful, but the headroom is comically small (same tapered afterbody). Everyone has their own list. The car isn't perfect. But it's absolutely as close to perfect as anything else I've driven.
tills13 5y ago
While I agree with you that the rear visibility seems really bad, you eventually get used to it. Don't get me wrong -- that's not a valid excuse but in my experience I've never felt like I couldn't see what's behind me. Suggesting that's what the cameras are for is, imo, a worse excuse. As for the head "rest", technically it's a head _restraint_ not a head _rest_. Your head shouldn't be resting against it while driving.
- sovnade 5y ago
  Yeah I feel like I'd have to artificially push my head back an uncomfortable distance to keep it against the headrest. Looking into getting a 3 or a Y next year myself.
  - maxdo 5y ago
    It's a typical first impression before I bought model Y i saw one youtube review one person criticized the seats. He had some back pain issues due to some medical conditions. After he drove model Y on o long distance 500+ miles he said he's taking his words back. It almost scared me away also because it looks visual but I can confirm seats experience of tesla is very good. Musk in interview to Munro told they tried several contractors to produce a comfortable seat. Most cars outsource seats. They ended up producing their own with better ergonomics. They invest a lot with distributing the pressure/weight across entire seat.
mirkules 5y ago
Same here. I needed a larger car that can seat my family of five (3 kids). Everyone was cramped, the visibility was poor, especially with everyone in the car and I just can’t get over having the dashboard in the center. It’s a shame because I really love the acceleration, I love the technology, and I would love having an electric car. Model X would be a great fit, but not for a 6 figure price. In the end I got a Subaru Ascent, which is a better overall fit for my family than the Y, but I’m not excited about it like I am a Tesla. It’s basically a glorified minivan (actually, it’s even a little less utilitarian than our Odyssey). But there are some exciting new electric cars and vans coming, and I’m really looking forward to the next generation of electrics!
elif 5y ago
The rearview mirror itself has a light filter which works in concert with the light filtered by the back window such that the interior of the car does not show up on the mirror, but everything coming through the window is perfectly clear. So if you were looking at it going "this is too dark" it was probably misunderstanding a feature. In terms of the amount of space you can see, it is sufficient.. but also the 3D rendering will give you a much better idea of what's behind you than any mirror.
- azinman2 5y ago
  Actually I wasn’t concerned with the darkness, just total visibility. My understanding is that the 3D rendering is meant to be a subset of what the car sees, and not a safety feature. If that’s the case, I saw it miss all kinds of cross traffic and other cars that should have been in it… and that was just on a short car ride plus the few times I’ve been in other Teslas. > but also the 3D rendering will give you a much better idea of what's behind you than any mirror. I don’t buy this. To me it’s a poor substitute to look down at a display rather than a quick glance out in my rear view mirror to learn the distance to the car behind and it’s acceleration curve, who is behind me, etc. I much rather rely on my human eyes to gather all the information I’m looking for than an abstracted subset by an inferior camera with latency, and then having to extrapolate distances.
maxdo 5y ago
Model Y owner, visibility is definitely not an issue. If you used to drive an F150 maybe, but apart from that is very spacious car. I'm 6'3 and I have 6'4 friend in back of me with no issues. I can also do a camping mode in the car. This is by far the best car I ever owned. It's nothing even to compare with. My friend bought 2 years old BMW, and I feel like there is a 10 years gap between bmw and tesla. I guess you just biased against tesla. Check the videos about their car seats on youtube. they are one few companies that don't outsource Car seat production because of ergonomics.
_ea1k 5y ago
The rear visibility came up a lot in reviews early on. After a day or so of driving, it becomes unnoticeable and doesn't actually cause a problem in practice. On top of that, you can turn on all three rear facing cameras while driving for amazing visibility. I don't use the headrests, but I've found the seats to be amazingly comfortable on long road trips.

tedk-42 5y ago

Not like it's critical to the performance of the car. Just wait and the parts will arrive for you...hardly seems like a fair complaint.

blhack 5y ago
Totally agree. My point was that there seems to be a general shortage, and that if it was something necessary for driving, I’d be in trouble.
nwomack 5y ago
I disagree. I have been waiting 3 months for parts, in the mean time my sensors collision don’t work and I have constant annoying dash messages saying my sensors don’t work.
chrisseaton 5y ago
> hardly seems like a fair complaint Is a reliable parts supply chain not a reasonable expectation of a car? I can get whatever part I want whenever I want from a diverse set of manufacturers for my Land Rover.
- throwaway894345 5y ago
  These are anonymous times. I suspect many auto manufacturers are having parts shortages.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    > These are anonymous times. Eh?
    - xeromal 5y ago
      Probably meant ominous
      - DuskStar 5y ago

nwomack 5y ago

Hate to break it to you but you will be waiting months to get it fixed. I’ve been waiting on parts for about 3 months to get mine fixed for relatively minor damage. got rear ended by a pickup truck.

capkutay 5y ago
+1. My tesla got side-swiped in November. The shop is estimating Mid-February (so probably March) for all parts to ship and labor to be completed.

tills13 5y ago

It's also insanely expensive to service. I had an Amazon van back into my parked M3. Left a small indent on the right rear quarter panel. Total cost to fix (for Amazon) was $3k CAD.

nwomack 5y ago
Seems normal. What are your precious vehicles? My wife’s C250 cost 10K to fix a relatively minor bumper collision.
- tills13 5y ago
  Sounds like a racket.
loeg 5y ago
Panel damage is really expensive on all cars.

dawnerd 5y ago

They shouldn't have cancelled, they should have pushed your appt out based on what their estimated date is. I'd make another appt and push them to order the part. You can find the part and reference it by number so they have no excuse. Instead of just asking for it to be fixed, ask for a quote and if they could order the part(s) for you. Then you can figure out if you want to try the repair yourself or have them do it once you get it. https://epc.tesla.com/en/catalogs https://epc.tesla.com/en/catalogs I used it recently after hearing they were telling people they couldn't install all season tires on the 21" wheels, but if you reference the new tires by part number (they're new tires) they were able to get a quote and order them.

SEJeff 5y ago

The Gigafactory in TX is going to certainly help with this as it will massively increase the amount of Y vehicles and parts being produced domestically. Not that it is going to be a magic fix, but they know it is a problem and are opening the factory with the Y only so they can fix some of the backlog. My wife has a Model Y and I have a Model 3. My 3 got hit by an idiot who ran a red light after having it for a month (in Sept 2018) and I had to wait for 2 months to get the new seatbelt tensioners after a tesla approved body shop fixed the cosmetic work.

foobarian 5y ago

I got a Ford Escape 2014 a while ago. I needed something cheap and decent enough. I don't love it, and I don't spend much time on it. It has never had issues in spite of common jokes about Found On the Road Dead which I think may be behind the times. The thing about a large volume manufacturer with a developed dealer network is: when someone backed into it in a grocery store parking lot and destroyed the bumper, I thought I would be making phone calls, waiting for parts, getting it in, etc. But the very first phone call to my dealer, and they had the part for this 6 year old car just sitting there on the shelf. Installed and back on the road the next day.

gameswithgo 5y ago
with supply chain issues right now even a Ford may not have parts available at times. Tesla is definitely worse on average about service though still.
- maxdo 5y ago
  Tesla is the only car brand almost not affected by chip shortage. Because they adjust parts super fast. They will beat their production estimate in 2021. Ford service will never come to your home unlike tesla. Their service is far more superior to ford. Yes, if you have non critical issue it will be hard to get an appointment, but it's not tesla's fault. It's monopoly of dealership, and regulations. They not allowed to open as many services as they want.
- taylodl 5y ago
  I have a friend who has a 2008 Honda that got hit and my wife has a 2003 Lexus that got hit. Both have parts readily available even in this supply chain crunch. Tesla has never been up to snuff when it comes to parts. If you own a Tesla then you better pray you don't need a part because the Tesla service horror stories are practically legendary at this point - and that was before "supply chain issues."
  - MonaroVXR 5y ago
    Because those parts are adjust produced and used on other cars too, so that means there are parts available in general.

simonebrunozzi 5y ago

You know what? I'd guess that Elon, as "crazy" as he is, might have an idea or two about solving this problem (e.g. 3D-printing the part, etc). Tweet to him. There's a tiny, tiny chance that he will respond and decide this is worth pursuing. Edit: scratch that, I tweeted to him about it [0]. I should never miss a good opportunity to do a micro-tiny amount of good to someone else. [0]: https://twitter.com/simon/status/1473673346583773187 https://twitter.com/simon/status/1473673346583773187