Scottish couple facing $33k repair bill after driving Tesla in heavy rain::undefined

  • Brownian Motion@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Water got into the battery. Well that sounds like it is squarely a fault of Tesla and its QC or R&D. Who tf builds a car, with a battery, doesn’t make sure that the battery and all other major components are IP68 rated for “full immersion up to a meter or more for 30 minutes” ?

    Its a CAR. We have Fords to cross. And some RAIN fscked it up??!!

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Nah, it’s because he’s obsessed with getting cars out the door as quickly as possible to shorten the waiting list he’s always hearing about.

            Coupled with fact that he doesn’t care about the safety and happiness of people whose surname isn’t a perfume ingredient.

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It does when you’re a narcissist who cares a lot about your own reputation and how endless waiting lists are tarnishing it and not at all about the safety and happiness of people who have already given you their money.

            Teslas are very pretty and quick, but this welding is symptomatic of their overall build quality:

    • elmicha@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      The second car here is a Tesla, and it still runs at the other side of the ford (but we don’t know for how long). But I agree, driving through rain should not damage a car.

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        1 year ago

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    • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      It didn’t get fucked up by rain. They drove it on heavily flooded roads, according to Scots from the area.

      Myself and about 3 million other Tesla owners can attest that they are not perturbed by rain.

  • Fisch@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I think it’s important to mention that this isn’t an issue EVs have but an issue Teslas in particular have. They seem to have a really bad build quality from what I hear.

      • frshmt@lemmy.zip
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        1 year ago

        Battery was installed over zoom and the call dropped before the insulation part

    • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      an issue Teslas in particular have

      I suppose you have evidence of this “issue” with Teslas?

        • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          This post is about a single vehicle that was most likely driven in deep water, but even if it wasn’t, is not indicative of an “issue Teslas have”.

  • ZeroCool@feddit.ch
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    1 year ago

    Muskrats: “Why would anyone think they can drive in the rain?”

  • kescusay@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Just in case anyone thinks this is a problem with all electric cars…

    I own a Chevy Bolt. It lives in the driveway, as my house doesn’t have a garage. And I live in a city that gets Scotland levels of rainfall. It’s not uncommon for a heavy downpour to leave some low-lying streets with an inch or more of water on them in some places, and that’s perfectly normal here.

    My Bolt does just fine in that. I never even considered the idea that I might need to take extra precautions with it because fucking rain might kill its battery.

    • killeronthecorner@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This wasn’t everyday “Scotland levels of rainfalls” though, it was a specific storm that posed a risk to life in many areas.

      That said I still,l would expect my car to endure anything short of being submerged underwater.

      • bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Southern California may be mostly dry, but has had several storms this year with inches of rain each. So even the"home" of Tesla needs to take that sort of weather into account.

        • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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          1 year ago

          Keep in mind we didn’t see articles like this coming out of California during all the flooding. I’d be willing to bet money this guy drove through a flooded street and killed the car. If this was a design flaw, we’d be hearing a lot more about it I’m sure. Tesla is like the #1 news topic.

    • bad_alloc@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      I second this. Drove my Zoe through rain, snow and ice, never had any problem or even thought about with water ingress.

    • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Just in case anyone thinks this is a problem with Teslas, I have driven mine through several dozen heavy rainstorms and even a hurricane and my Tesla does just fine in that.

      And as everyone knows, science is comprised of my personal experience.

    • Mechanite@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      How do you like your bolt? I’ve been thinking about getting one or maybe an equinox when that comes out

      • kescusay@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Best car I’ve owned, without a doubt. I charge it overnight, and never have to even think about range (it’ll do 300 miles in good conditions if driven carefully). Keeping it charged costs a few dollars a month most of the time, unless I’m on a road trip and need to pay for charging on the way - which is still far, far cheaper than paying for gas.

        The only downside is that road trips require more planning, because you need to know where you’re going to stop for a charge beforehand, and you need to plan out the time it’ll take to get a decent charge. But that just means making sure you’re going to have lunch or take a break to stretch your legs and walk around where you’ll be charging. Long-distance trips are definitely doable, you just plan them around charging locations.

        And it’s impossible to beat the maintenance costs: Nearly $0. Very few moving parts and an electric motor means no oil changes, engine maintenance, and general wear-and-tear are much lower.

        It’s a great car.

      • murderisbad@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Unfortunately, you’ll probably have a hard time finding a new Bolt at this point. They’ve just stopped making them and dealerships haven’t really been able to keep any in stock for months in my neck of the woods. Apparently they will eventually come back but the timeline hasn’t been announced so probably several years.

      • Reality Suit@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        Yes, but he , as capitalists do, exploited EV for money. First step is to reduce, not make more. Chevy is working on an electric motor that will go in the differential. Reduce the existing cars by reusing the old. New cars can be made, we just need to make sure the old ones are gone. Me, I like the idea of retrofitting old cars. Yes, it can be expensive, but once again, if capitalists wouldn’t be constantly capitalizing, we all could have nice things.

  • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    This isn’t surprising at all. Have you ever looked at a Tesla up close? The fit and finish is bad. Like really bad. I have never understood how anyone could walk up to one, look at it and think “I’ll buy this”. Tesla has absolutely miserable quality control.

    • d3lta19@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      That’s why they sell them online. So you can’t walk up to it in a dealership and see them up close.

      • Pxtl@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Tesla has showrooms. It’s just they’re fully part of Tesla, instead of being little franchises with wingnut owners and weird regulatory capture.

        Musk is a jack-ass, but the showroom model makes sense.

    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I’ve been in a Model S, and don’t get me wrong the acceleration was absolutely phenomenal

      But my Skoda Fabia (which for the first owner probably cost £15k instead of £70k+) absolutely beat the shit out of it for how well-built it was. (For the yanks - Skoda is a sub brand of the VW group - think of them as a slightly cheaper Volkswagen)

      Everything is rigid and you’d need a sledgehammer to shift it. In the Tesla you could just grab random parts of the interior and wobble it about. Everything shifts about, rattles, and shakes.

      The paint on my Fabia is flawless - it’s of equal thickness everywhere, whereas for the Model S some parts were clearly thinner than others.

      The panel gaps are a meme for a reason. On the Fabia, sure the panel gaps are wider than they are on a Porsche or something, but they’re exactly the same everywhere. On the Tesla you’d see it completely flush at the top of some panels, and a 6mm gap at the bottom! It was so inconsistent.

      And the rear passenger-side door’s rubber seal where the window comes up was peeling off. This car is only 3 years old ffs!

      I wish Tesla would license their drivetrain designs out to people who can actually build cars.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        Skoda was the brand we’d take the piss out of in the early 90s.

        I wonder if 2030s kids will be laughing at their friends being driven to school in a clapped out Model S, with half the panels falling away, one door a slightly different colour to the rest, and a battery that goes maybe 40 miles, going “Ahhh, your mum drives a Tesla!”

      • raptir@lemdro.id
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        1 year ago

        That’s funny because my Jetta felt like it was going to rattle itself apart.

    • Toribor@corndog.social
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      1 year ago

      I rode in one for the first time a few months ago and it immediately broke any preconceived notions I had of it being a luxury product. The weather stripping on the doors was installed crooked and the material on the seats wasn’t lined up properly either. That’s just what I noticed in the first minute or two. It wasn’t even old, it was brand new since the owners first Tesla was totaled in an accident (in which all the recorded camera footage was lost on impact, you know the most important time you would want recordings to work).

    • bighatchester@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Apparently I’m going to Tesla dealer ship near my and from what I heard the cars aren’t actually there you just get to look at them on a screen . And there would be nowhere to get it serviced if something happened to it .

  • tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.uk
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    1 year ago

    I don’t get why the service centre isn’t covering it in warranty, given the car should be able to handle rain (or even driving through floodwater) just fine and many Teslas do just that, including the many currently in Scotland. Clearly there was a fault that allowed water ingress to the battery… eventually it would have failed anyway, just in normal weather.

    • hagelslager@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      Tesla customer service seems to be based on deflection, rather than responsibility.

    • skyspydude1@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Because that costs money, and they absolutely hate that. Those insane margins have to come from somewhere.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I mean, who would ever expect RAIN in SCOTLAND?? There’s no way that Tesla could have predicted that the car might be subjected to such a freak occurrence! 🤦😂

  • mirror_slap@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have no sympathy at this point for anyone buying one of these pieces of garbage from a company led by a person who quite obviously a flaming piece of garbage, producing products that are quite obviously flaming pieces of garbage.

    I mean, there are so many alternatives now, you really have to ignore how horrible Musk is to buy one of these, and you have to have your head stuck in the ground for a couple of years now to not know that Tesla quality control is diaper poo.

    • dalingrin@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      There aren’t alternatives is my part of the USA due to lack of charging options. That is changing now that Tesla’s network is opening up but that hasn’t happened yet.

  • Toes♀@ani.social
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    1 year ago

    The number keeps going up every time I see someone post about it lol

    • SnapZinger@monyet.cc
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      1 year ago

      This article had more info than the last one I saw floating through the feed (The article I saw had been “enhanced” by AI writing and you could tell).

      In this article “A couple from Edinburgh was shocked after receiving a £17,374 (A$33,370) bill”

      The last article floating through the feed didn’t really cover any real ponts about what happened and seemed to be targeting Elon in a negative scope.

      This article had information about the issue they faced when attempting to leave and waiting 5~ hours for Tesla RSA. Then calling Tesla and talking to a manager that that was covering Tesla’s ass with warranty talk.

      • Toes♀@ani.social
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        1 year ago

        All the posts keep using the $ symbol. But I bet that’s exactly what’s going wrong.

        • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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          1 year ago

          Earlier it was listed at 17k Euro which is only $18k USD or $28k AUD. Somehow it does keep rising.

          • shunir@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            From the article.

            A Scottish couple has been confronted with a £17,374 (A$33,370) bill after their Tesla Model Y wouldn’t start after a night out.

            • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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              1 year ago

              Them exchange rates be crazy. I wonder if it really fluctuated $5k between the time of the article and when I looked it up yesterday.

  • Tolstoy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Didn’t they have already issues with water on the Model 3 bumper? Still remembering seeing my first Tesla Model S… Worst bodypanel gaps I’ve ever seen on a new car

  • redfellow@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    One of the most important things when buying a used EV is checking the base of the car for any punctures. One could happen due a plethora of reasons.

    Combine a puncture with driving in heavy rain/puddles and water damage may occur.

    I hate Musk and wouldn’t buy Tesla ever, but this isn’t necessarily just because of the shoddy quality control they have.

  • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    With that money I could just buy three more trucks like the one I already own and take a week long holiday to Europe.

    • Brownian Motion@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      no excuse imo. its a car. Its even stupider that it failed from rain (even bad rain) in a car park. Cars can deal with 1m water easily (most batteries are that high, the air intake for the engine is easily that high (I will ignore Lambos and similar, built for different purposes).

      In the worst case for a ‘normal’ car (what is the TLA for them now?) a replacement battery would cost you a couple hundred bucks at most.

      Even if water got into the intake, the whole overhaul would not cost $20k or whatever it was.

      • sizzler@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If water gets into the intake the engine is a rightoff and often the car. You need to watch more bengreggors at the Ford matey.

        • Brownian Motion@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          well aware of how it works. just a little dramatization for shits and giggles. But I disagree that it is an instant right-off. it can be salvageable 90% of the time.

  • Smacks@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I always hear bad things from Tesla owners after the honeymoon phase is over.

    • DavidGA@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Am owner of 3-year-old model X. Can confirm. Build quality is shit, and service experience is worse. Will never buy another Tesla.