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I had one experience with Tesla parts and it was positive. I had an issue with corroded bolts on my Model S liftgate. Following advice from the Tesla Owners U

• toomuchtodo 2y ago
  Same experience whenever I’ve ever needed parts from Tesla. Fasteners for various pieces of trim, suspension parts (model y suspension upgrade), a wiring harness, always a great experience when working with the parts counter at the nearest service center to where I was when needing the parts. The disconnect between Tesla corporate policy and super helpful local employees is frustrating and disappointing.
• gerdesj 2y ago
  Please forgive me if I'm way out but I think a liftgate is a plate that acts a bit like a fork lift on the back of a lorry. I usually know it as a tail lift. Having browsed that catalogue thingie, it looks like the boot lid is formally called a liftgate by Tesla, presumably it is hydraulic. I might call that a tailgate instead of boot lid or simply the boot (trunk). I think we'll put that down to the US <<subst GB if required>> and the rest of the English speaking world ... << insert comment here >> Corroded bolts that you can get at on a car sounds quite a serious fail. This is a Tesla S and not my first Ford Fiesta Mk 1. I'm old enough to remember when galvanization of car bodies became a thing. Nowadays, you rarely hear of anyone stepping into a car and being able to see the road through their knees. Stainless steel has also been a thing for rather a long time. I'm (not) looking forward to finding out what fails my Chinese "MG" effort manages in the next few years. So far mechanically and electrically all good but its Android central console is rather flaky. I am happy that the driver's console (behind the steering wheel) is just a display and not "smart" in any way. It is important that bollocks is called out and your anecdote seems to support that. You were able to DIY and clearly Tesla will supply some parts to civilians. However, are you absolutely sure that your warranty is still valid? Have you read it, all of it? Even so, we enjoy quite a few protections as consumers in the UK, as do wider Europeans and even in the US (int al)! Your corroded bolts anecdote had a happy ending (sorry) but it should not have happened in the first place.
  • cbeach 2y ago
    Yes, I totally agree. Likewise the covers that sit in the middle of the wheels are known for corroding over time and have to be replaced. Luckily the costs and effort are minimal, but it's still annoying, given the problems shouldn't be happening in the first place. That said, Tesla do improve their car parts radically over time. The retracting door handles used to fail after a few years due to microswitch wear, so they redesigned the handles to use Hall Effect sensors instead (solid state) and now they're flawless. The new design can be retrofitted. Some daylight running lights would eventually fail due to overheating. They redesigned with heatsinks and the new design can be retrofitted. It's a costly repair (~£700) but I don't think it's strictly necessary to fix these on my car as it was a 2016 model, and it wasn't a legal requirement to have DRLs at that time. The computer storage eMMC chip would eventually fail due to writing wear. They have replaced this system design with a new chip and will replace the affected part for free, even for cars out of warranty. And the whole computer unit in older models is replacable by Tesla for a couple of thousand pounds. While expensive, I admire Tesla for going to the effort of producing a retrofit upgrade. Other manufacturers would have simply abandoned owners with old infotainment systems. It's not mandatory for manufacturers to produce computer upgrades for cars, but Tesla goes the extra mile in order that customers can enjoy the latest software features if they want them. As regards the warranty - I'm not entirely sure if replacing my bolts would void a warranty, but for me the point was moot as my four year warranty had expired anyway. Annecdotally I think Tesla are quite liberal in this regard. I made a proactive repair to my car by using a third party to de-solder the eMMC chip and replace it with a larger and newer model. When Tesla did the eMMC "recall" in the following year, they actually paid the expense (£500) of my chip replacement, even though it was done by a third party and was performed before the "recall" was live. They simply put £500 in my bank account. I thought that was unusually impressive, and leads me to believe they're amenable to third party repair where it's viable.
    • gerdesj 2y ago
      In the end: do you enjoy driving your Tesla (yes you do!) You know as well as I do that you can absolutely piss on any ICE powered car that lacks paddle pre-selector gears and a sodding huge lump of a power plant. That car will also cost twice as much as yours (and your's is not cheap!) If they fuck up a gear change they will end up in the rear view. If you fuck up, you will need new tyres.