Model Y owner's steering wheel comes loose while driving, Tesla initially charges US$104 for repair

[Redaktion]

While the American EV maker is not particularly known for its build quality, it took about a week for Tesla to indirectly acknowledge the apparent manufacturing defect as it has now bought back the practically brand-new Model Y of a disappointed customer from New Jersey.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Model-Y-owner-s-steering-wheel-comes-loose-while-driving-Tesla-initially-charges-US-104-for-repair.692164.0.html

[ariliquin]

Wow, its almost like US has no consumer protections at all, the wild west. Buyer beware, your product may kill you and it can be a manufacturer fault, that's your problem. Or is it that the US is unable to enforce the protections in law that it has? In most countries there are Consumer protection agencies with powers to prosecute with strong penalty's the business who take the p***.   

[kek]

Wow, its almost like US has no consumer protections at all, the wild west. Buyer beware, your product may kill you and it can be a manufacturer fault, that's your problem. Or is it that the US is unable to enforce the protections in law that it has? In most countries there are Consumer protection agencies with powers to prosecute with strong penalty's the business who take the p***.   

How to notice someone has never set a foot on America:


As for your questions, if Tesla refused they could be sued for not fulfilling their warranties and duties. Public image would take severe damage and their stocks would tank, which would hurt them a lot.

[Haggy]

Clearly, the initial bill was a local service station decision and not corporate policy. It was rectified with a new car, even though missing bolts, as horrifying as it is, is not indicative of problems with any other component.

"Not known for build quality" is mostly based on anti-Tesla hype. JD Power found that the average premium vehicle has 204 issues per hundred vehicles, while Tesla has 226. Yes, it's bigger, but per vehicle it's two problems vs 2 1/4, meaning two for most people. And Tesla will come to your home to fix it, so the typical Tesla owner will spend less time getting a vehicle serviced.

Many of the reported problems were because Tesla was in a rush to send out cars near the end of the quarter that any other company would have sent for rework. They were of the same quality as what other manufacturers made, but it was a question of whether a minor repair was made before or after sending the car to a customer. Tesla's business model was obviously flawed since it bumped up the count of reported problems, rather than bumping up the rework rate, the latter of which consumers don't see. And it was a clear image problem.

With their new policy of not having EOQ rushes, they should be able to avoid this issue completely. As for the steering wheel, even if it's a one in a million occurrence, that doesn't excuse it. Tesla will have to add an extra step to their QA to address it.

[Shaw]

"Not known for build quality" is mostly based on anti-Tesla hype.

LOL
How many cars had their steering whell came off during last year??
Is it because of "anti-Tesla" hype?

[Shagi]

This is normal for Tesla.  They are known for being overpriced and low quality.

[EVfan]

Tesla always quotes a charge up front, it's a common accounting process. But in the processing of the order, if under warranty, the chargers are removed from the customers obligation and processed against the warranties obligation. The same thing happens in healthcare. You get a bill from the hospital it shows the full amount. Then you'll see what insurance pays then what remains for you to pay. This is not news.

[Juan Melendez]

Don't buy or rent Elo Musk's defective EV'S! You will lose your money or worst. You or someone else can be killed in an accident.
Elon Musk must be sent to prison immediately.

[Juan Melendez]

Don't buy or rent Elon Musk's defective EV'S! Tesla Models are a disaster. You or someone else can be killed in an accident. Elon Musk must be arrested and sent to prison immediately.

[UCMike]

"Not known for build quality" is mostly based on anti-Tesla hype.

LOL
How many cars had their steering whell came off during last year??
Is it because of "anti-Tesla" hype?

Not in the last year but Ford had to recall 1.4 million vehicles in 2018 for exactly the same reason and Toyota had wheels falling off in 2022.

[Bagre]

What is the position of the NHTSA on this subject? or it is too soon to have information that requires to make a recall to Tesla?
The issue is a design issue and/or a manufacturing issue, whichever of the two we are talking about steering wheel systems just like brakes are by definition a SAFETY characteristic.
The whole supply chain beginning at Tesla and going all the way until Tier"N" are involved (depending on the root cause of the failure), the people managing for product SAFETY should be held responsible.
This is not about "anti-anybody" is about avoiding this type of failures. And not becuase other OEMs have bigger recall numnbers nothing should be done.

[Tommo5]

Not in the last year but Ford had to recall 1.4 million vehicles in 2018 for exactly the same reason and Toyota had wheels falling off in 2022.

Look up "Whompy wheels". The only difference is Toyota cares enough about their products to suffer the reputational damage. Meanwhile Tesla has suffered the same quality defects for the past 10 years.

[Dguy321]

Wow, its almost like US has no consumer protections at all, the wild west. Buyer beware, your product may kill you and it can be a manufacturer fault, that's your problem. Or is it that the US is unable to enforce the protections in law that it has? In most countries there are Consumer protection agencies with powers to prosecute with strong penalty's the business who take the p***.   

How to notice someone has never set a foot on America:


As for your questions, if Tesla refused they could be sued for not fulfilling their warranties and duties. Public image would take severe damage and their stocks would tank, which would hurt them a lot.

For such a blatant SAFETY defect there should be automatic penalties and required reports of root cause analysis to regulatory bodies.

That whole family, possibly more, could have been killed.

Consumer protections have nothing to do with getting your repair cost covered.

[RichSPK]

How are Tesla wheels attached? I'd think the driver would notice the wheel getting looser and looser for months before it actually detached.