Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

roadandtrack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 209 posts

Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

#121

Post by TeMPOraL »

gnopgnip wrote: post #114
baroffoos wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is less of an option when hardware makers fuse everything in to a single board so when one thing breaks you need a new main board which costs as much as the whole device. I have had a surprising amount of luck with some items though. Managed to replace the shoulder buttons on my 3ds by finding a replica of the button + ribbon cable + connector used.

What is the alternative, a vacuum that has 3000 individual components now and they are still not user replaceable?

"Not user serviceable" is an evil concept that needs to die.

And as 'jdnenej points out, and the thing that "right to repair" movement is all about: nobody says you have to do the repair yourself. Having serviceable devices means your technically skilled friend, or your local repair shop, can do the repair. Possibly charging you money from it. As a side effect, this strengthens local economies.

Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

#122

Post by rkangel »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #58
leesalminen wrote: post #50

My wife has a 2020 Toyota Corolla. Less than 3 months old and it’s got a bad crack in the windshield. Toyota says a replacement is 6 months out and there are 800 on backorder in North America right now. So, it’s not just Tesla. Can happen to any manufacturer.

Can’t you just go to one of the dozens of windshield replacement businesses in your area? You drive it there and they plop in a new windshield for very reasonable rates. They will often even come to you to fix it.

Where are they getting there windshields from? If they're just a customer for manufacturer made windshields then you'd have the same issue.

Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

#123

Post by pjc50 »

ianai wrote: post #36
jonknee wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parts are hard to come by for their mass market models too, it's crazy.

What are owners supposed to do? Are there any indications these cars fail so rarely?

It's smartphone engineering: when it breaks, you're supposed to throw it away and buy a new one. /s

Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

#124

Post by drbytes »

icelancer wrote: post #120
twblalock wrote: post #5

A lot of early adopters were probably worried that Tesla would go out of business and they wouldn't be able to get parts. Tesla is still in business and there still aren't parts. Hopefully enough of the current Tesla models will end up on the road to make it profitable for aftermarket suppliers to make some parts. So far it doesn't seem like that is happening at very much scale.

Lots of would-be buyers won't purchase until the supply lines and insane repair wait times are fixed. Source: I am one, as are many of my friends in Seattle.

Yup, me too. I was almost about to pull the trigger when a buddy of mine with a Model S told me that his car broke down and he had to wait for parts. He was just into his second month of waiting. After hearing that I took to the internet and read up on it and it seems legit. I can't have that so bought a traditional car with an infernal combustion engine. Last one I hope.

Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

#125

Post by _pmf_ »

baroffoos wrote: post #51
jandrese wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The good news is you can get almost anything on the Internet. I've found so many weird parts from shady eBay sellers that worked perfectly in the end. Other times I've had to order a similar part off of Mouser and hack it to make it fit, with varying levels of success.

This is less of an option when hardware makers fuse everything in to a single board so when one thing breaks you need a new main board which costs as much as the whole device. I have had a surprising amount of luck with some items though. Managed to replace the shoulder buttons on my 3ds by finding a replica of the button + ribbon cable + connector used.

The Nintendo Switch is also quite accessible; but Nintendo might be the outlier here.

Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

#126

Post by londons_explore »

icelancer wrote: post #120
twblalock wrote: post #5

A lot of early adopters were probably worried that Tesla would go out of business and they wouldn't be able to get parts. Tesla is still in business and there still aren't parts. Hopefully enough of the current Tesla models will end up on the road to make it profitable for aftermarket suppliers to make some parts. So far it doesn't seem like that is happening at very much scale.

Lots of would-be buyers won't purchase until the supply lines and insane repair wait times are fixed. Source: I am one, as are many of my friends in Seattle.

It's s tricky issue to fix - often parts fail due to a bad design (eg. 1 part too weak).

Everyone wants to buy that replacement part, leading to a shortage. At the same time, Tesla doesn't want to increase production of the faulty parts - in fact, they want to reduce production so they can redirect machines to making the new, better part. But it takes time to understand what was wrong and to design and test.

Overall, I think the key to solving it is latency - within days of seeing a part fail, they need to get the redesign out to the factory, so at least new cars with the faulty part aren't still being produced.

Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

#127

Post by Shivetya »

jonknee wrote: post #24
twblalock wrote: post #5

A lot of early adopters were probably worried that Tesla would go out of business and they wouldn't be able to get parts. Tesla is still in business and there still aren't parts. Hopefully enough of the current Tesla models will end up on the road to make it profitable for aftermarket suppliers to make some parts. So far it doesn't seem like that is happening at very much scale.

Parts are hard to come by for their mass market models too, it's crazy.

my only concern about owning the model 3 is what happens when something breaks. However while Tesla gets a bad rap here and in many cases deserves it I have already experienced a similar problem first hand both with VW and Chevrolet. Fortunately for VW the issue I experienced will never resurface because they cannot sell TDI models anymore.

Still I am hoping that by 2021 or at worst 2022 there is a viable alternative to look at. I will be really loathe to give up OTA let alone the simplicity of the interior. Do not under estimate the game changer that OTA is, it is completely contrary to how all other automobile manufacturers operate; one of my peeves that helped convince me to trade my Volt.

Working for the major automotive replacement parts company I am always expecting all manufacturers, from automobiles down to phones, make parts available for third party repair facilities and owners.

Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

#128

Post by benj111 »

pjc50 wrote: post #123
ianai wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are owners supposed to do? Are there any indications these cars fail so rarely?

It's smartphone engineering: when it breaks, you're supposed to throw it away and buy a new one. /s

From one angle this isn't so unreasonable.

If your car never breaks down, why fix it when it does. There are already plenty of sealed units in a car. If your 2nd gear went, you'd replace the whole box.

Id be interested to know what proportion of phones actually break (except user imposed damage) before they reach the end of their useful lives, I would guess very few.

Re: Keeping Tesla Roadsters Alive Is Serious Work

#130

Post by mschuster91 »

userbinator wrote: post #55
jandrese wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the parts on your car are just GM parts. Auto manufacturers don't design a new pump/bearing/condenser/etc... for every make and model of their vehicles, they take one off of the shelf. When it breaks you can find a replacement because there are dozens or hundreds of cars that used the exact same part and supplying one supplies them all. Even when the manufacturer stops making that part (because the last car t…

GM and the Big Three in general have a huge aftermarket and good parts availability likely due to the prevalence of the modding/tuning culture at the peak of the "car era" (1950s-70s). In fact you can still buy all the parts for the running gear of the stereotypical American car (V8, 3-speed auto/4-speed manual, RWD, IFS) entirely from the aftermarket, and they'll perform just as well if not better than the original…

> ...unless it's a German car. Or so the stories go...

VW has extremely decent availability for spare parts, speaking from experience here. That, and I am not joking here, even extends to sausages - try ordering part # 199 398 500 A ;)

Post reply on HN