Consumer Reports' Long-Term Tesla Develops Reliability Blemishes

by Cameron Aubernon

Published: August 13th, 2014

consumer reports long term tesla develops reliability blemishes

Though the Tesla Model S is one of Consumer Reports’ recommended darlings, the premium EV garnered its share of reliability blemishes during long-term testing.

Consumer Reports’ Gabe Shenhar says that over the 15,743 miles he and his colleagues have spent driving the Model S, a number of problems have popped up, including:

Automatic retracting door handles “relucant to emerge from the coachwork”
A broken seat buckle in the third row seating section
Front trunk lid failing to release via touchscreen
Said screen going blank, blocking all access to the car’s functions

Shenhar noted every one of these problems were quickly remedied by the service center in Milford, Conn. or over-the-air from the mothership in California.

He concludes that the sedan’s reliability ranking may fall a bit when the publication’s related survey is examined in September, but only if other Model S owners have had similar problems occur with enough severity and frequency to merit a downgrade.

#ConsumerReporters #ElectricVehicles #Long-termTesting #ModelS #PremiumVehicles #Reliability #Tesla

Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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11 of 72 comments

Kkop on Aug 13, 2014

15,000 miles is 'long term'? Even my motorcycle needed longer than that to break in.

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- Redav on Aug 13, 2014
  
  That's over a year's worth of driving for a typical American car. Most reviewers don't keep cars longer than that (curse you model year revisions!)--so, yeah, it's appropriate for a "long term" test.
  
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Heavy handle on Aug 13, 2014

Let's not forget that CR's life and blood is reliability. This reflects the worldview of their Camry-owning readership, but it's not a huge deal for everybody. I expect my fridge to operate reliably, quietly and economically for at least 20 years, but I like a bit more spice on my cars. So what if there's an occasional glitch that's immediately fixed?

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- Dr. Kenneth Noisewater on Aug 13, 2014
  So what if there’s an occasional glitch that’s immediately fixed? If your fridge breaks, Sears doesn't come over with a much nicer one, unload your food into it, swap them out, then do the reverse after they fix your fridge. I think early glitches, if handled awesomely by Tesla service, could actually end up selling a lot more of them, after word spreads and folks wonder WTF they're putting up with shit treatment at their legacy dealer service.
  
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- APaGttH on Aug 13, 2014
  
  This - and a touch of conformational bias. If you overall are happy with your car, you may not report that "glitch" that a dealer fixed with a tech just coming out to the parking lot and releasing a stuck latch for free (as an example) If you're not happy, you probably will report it.
  
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Philadlj on Aug 13, 2014

I don't ask or expect Tesla's Model S be perfect and continue being perfect for years to come. What I do expect is that Tesla will always be right on top of these issues and fix them in a timely and as painless a fashion as possible, which as far as I know, is exactly what is happening. Tesla seems to understand that a car with so many new technologies isn't going to be flawless, but those flaws can be largely mitigated by quick, personal, pleasant, competent customer service...not to mention by being early adopters the earliest of Model S owners are also essentially beta testers for Tesla's future products, meaning those flaws will likely be fixed in future product.

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- Highdesertcat on Aug 13, 2014
  
  And that's exactly what Phil Lebeau said yesterday when this story aired on CNBC/NBR, that Tesla was right on top of these things. Tesla went from production of a few thousand per year to several thousand per year and is expected to produce in the hundred thousands per year in the very near future. It's all part of the Research and Development of its new technology. They'll get the bugs out. EVs, PEVs, and Hybrids are not for me but I do think they should be available to anyone who wants to buy one, as long as they are not subsidized at taxpayer expense. I expect to pay full-pop for a vehicle I choose to buy. Let EV, PEV and Hybrid buyers do the same.
  
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- Psarhjinian on Aug 13, 2014
  
  "but those flaws can be largely mitigated by quick, personal, pleasant, competent customer service" That's largely the innovation that Lexus (and weirdly, Saturn) brought to the table. People who buy expensive cars expect to be treated well and not have to fight with the dealer, or have the dealer fight with corporate, to get things done. Lexus dealers have a _huge_ amount of leeway to get things sorted out on Toyota's dime. Saturn was similar, only it was that the generally excellent customer service allowed the brand to excel despite the problems with product. Saturn had the kind of brand loyalty rates that, well, Lexus had, right up until GM completely emasculated them. Tesla is smart to use that same model. People will forgive problems if you can turn fixing the problem into a customer-service win---especially when the kind of experiences the buyer is used to getting are German-marque style "sign here, next to the row of zeroes" ones.
  
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- David C. Holzman on Aug 13, 2014
  
  @psarhjinian In my experience Saturn was less than stellar. I had a (bought new) '93 with the oil use problem, and I spent a hell of a lot of time and even money (they made me spend $300 (around $450 in current $) to fix a tiny, tiny leak before they'd check the oil usage, which was almost always due to valve and ring problems). I think the brand loyalty was partly because the first gen Saturn was a really nice car to drive, much sportier than most family sedans of the era--and it looked the part. The second gen was nothing special at all. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/the-truth-about-saturn/
  
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- Highdesertcat on Aug 13, 2014
  
  @David C. Holzman My experience with a brand new 1996 Saturn I bought for my daughter's HS graduation gift was less than stellar also. Although my daughter never abused the car using it solely to get to and from college on US70, the problems were numerous, albeit all under warranty. After she graduated college and got a job in California the warranty expired but the problems continued even though all she used it for was the daily commute on I-5. Among the problems, the manual transmission lost first gear, the handbrake mechanism broke, the sunroof handle mechanism failed, with the final straw being a blown headgasket to the tune of >$1000 in cost to repair. Rather than fix it again, she traded that POS Saturn for a brand new 2000 Corolla and learned that life could be good, without car breakdowns and without the insecurity that comes with every GM product. At least the Saturn didn't kill her.
  
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RogerB34 on Aug 13, 2014

Minor but expensive for Tesla to repair. The major problem not solved is the requirement for higher battery energy density. No solution.

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