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

Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

caranddriver.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 173 posts

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#91

Post by ogre_codes »

teachrdan wrote: post #52
ogre_codes wrote: post #29

I was very disappointed that the author's idea of Catastrophic was far less interesting than what I pictured in my head. It's definitely not the only time an expensive car has failed in the first 6,000 miles of use. Also, the author's assumption that ICE cars don't fail while parked is a bit of hairsplitting. This isn't much different from any of the dozen or so times I've driven somewhere and discovered my car won't…

I am honestly surprised by your blasé reaction. To make an apples to apples comparison, have you ever had a: 1. New car, 2. Which cost almost $60,000, with 3. Fewer than 6000 miles, 4. Suffer a catastrophic failure (i.e. couldn't start with a jump), 5. While parked, 6. And had the manufacturer not communicate the source of failure, 7. Or how long it would take to fix? That, to me, seems almost unbelievable. I have en…

How many tens of thousands of Tesla Model 3s have been sold?

That ONE Tesla failed with fewer than 6,000 miles is not surprising or remotely concerning.

No, I haven't had a car fail with fewer than 6,000 miles. But if I'd bought a Model 3, that would almost certainly still be the case as well because of the tens of thousands sold to date this appears to be fairly uncommon or we'd have heard about it by now.

I'm not certain what the big deal about it failing "While Parked" is. A breakdown is a breakdown.

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#92

Post by neuro_image3 »

Whilst Tesla's engineering is impressive, their customer service is terri-bad.

As just one example, I was unable to start my new model 3 on a cold morning after owning it for 3 months (which in itself is horrendous). The entire system shut down and would not start. This was particularly problematic for me as I am required to get into the hospital in under 30 minutes in order to treat stroke patients. As such I ended up having to use an uber to make it to my surgical list.

As is typical for uber, it was impossible to get hold of a human to resolve the situation and the replies (from whatever it is that replies to you on their app) refused to help me unless I waited at my car for their service to show up.

When I finally got hold of someone I was told that in order to prevent this, I should prewarm the car using the app prior to using the car. No-one ever explained this to me prior to this happening.

I would like to say this has been the only incident but there have been innumerable problems at every point as a new owner.

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#93

Post by alphabettsy »

jessriedel wrote: post #61
remmargorp64 wrote: post #2

On the flip side, how cool is it that cars are now smart enough to diagnose themselves and prevent you from driving before what could potentially be an unsafe situation has a chance to occur?

The fraction of serious accidents that are caused by mechanical failure is just 12%. Of mechanically induced accidents, two-thirds were caused by the failure/degradation of the tires, wheels, or brakes. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/... So for diagnostics other than tires, wheels, and brakes, we are talking about a system that can prevent at most 4% of accidents, and probably much, much…

In what world is preventing 4% of serious accidents trivial? That’s likely hundreds or thousands of crashes per year given the numbers involved.

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#94

Post by MBCook »

bigcloud1299 wrote: post #81
MBCook wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did the focus cost $57k?

No. Point was that cars do have problems. And we can’t separate out one car mfg from Another. Regardless of price paid. Let’s not forget Gm sold cars with known ignition issues and Toyota with known air bag issues. At least Tesla are jeopardizing human lives as the former two did and probably do.

The price paid matters for the quality of the service. If you’re paying $60k you should expect a loaner or at lest help with a rental. Other brands provide that at that price range. Why doesn’t Tesla? Why is it ok for them to cheap out?

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#95

Post by alphabettsy »

dehrmann wrote: post #8

>...the pyrotechnic battery disconnect... What the?! Sounds sorta awesome.

BMW has been using them for 20 years or more. When the Airbags are deployed the primary battery connection servers power to fuel pump, etc. leaves only the lights and some other accessories working.

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#96

Post by jessriedel »

alphabettsy wrote: post #93
jessriedel wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fraction of serious accidents that are caused by mechanical failure is just 12%. Of mechanically induced accidents, two-thirds were caused by the failure/degradation of the tires, wheels, or brakes. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/... So for diagnostics other than tires, wheels, and brakes, we are talking about a system that can prevent at most 4% of accidents, and probably much, much…

In what world is preventing 4% of serious accidents trivial? That’s likely hundreds or thousands of crashes per year given the numbers involved.

See "probably much, much less" (since diagnostic systems have many false negatives, and only work on some subsystems) and my argument about wet conditions (which causes greater than 4% of accidents). Furthermore, the absolute number of accidents is not a sensible number to look at unless you're also totaling up the absolute number of drivers inconvenience. Both the absolute number of accidents and the absolute number of downsides (wasted time, driver frustration, unnecessary repairs) will be proportional to the number of cars, so you should divide out by the number of cars.

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#97

Post by newnewpdro »

LoSboccacc wrote: post #86
newnewpdro wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation from the 2003 SL55 AMG owners manual under "what to do if ... the yellow check engine indicator light comes on" Have the vehicle checked as soon as possible by an authorized Mercedes-Benz Center. An on-board diagnostic connector is used by the service station to link the vehicle to the shop diagnostics system. It allows the accurate identification of system malfunctions through the readout of diagnostic trou…

> Have the vehicle checked as soon as possible by an authorized Mercedes-Benz Center. what do you think that means? there are four conditions listed, more or less the same as indicated above, emission trouble or ignition trouble. are you going to play roulette with your car because you're engine light doesn't differentiate which is which via blinking like modern cars do? or are you just grasping straws? because two c…

I pasted the only section speaking to handling the check engine light, it's not cherry-picked.

If you read my comment, it clearly states that few parts of the manual explicitly recommend towing. But some do, and none of them are surrounding CELs. Which makes it rather clear that a CEL condition doesn't warrant an immediate tow, unlike the brake system light or dangerous tire wear/damage where they do recommend a tow.

A charitable interpretation of my comment would accept that nowhere else was there a section about blinking lights recommending towing. Grasping at straws? Are you kidding? You suggested I look in an owners manual, that's precisely what I did, and you're unhappy with what it states.

Instead of making me do the legwork of disproving your claim, the onus is really on you to back it up so why don't you materialize an owners' manual explicitly recommending towing when a check engine light starts flashing?

> no wonder they had to add the blinking failure mode, there's truly irresponsible people out there

I don't appreciate your borderline personal attack, are you implying I'm an irresponsible person?

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#98

Post by alphabettsy »

Michigan is a bit of a unique situation in Michigan, not having the ability to do many repairs in state due to laws meant to favor traditional automakers.

The fact that loaners are not available as readily is probably an unfortunate side effect of the Model 3’s success; however, many companies don’t offer loaners for vehicles in the price range (starting Obviously being an electric car it fails as gracefully as an ICE car with a fuel system issue.

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#99

Post by alphabettsy »

ariwilson wrote: post #84
bigcloud1299 wrote: post #7

Recently my bothers Ford Focus had service engine light that had come on and vehicle was shut down. He had it towed to ford. which let him know that they recently had a recall on the model and they knew the exact issue. He was neither given rental nor Uber or loaner etc. he had to talk to his insurance company which also did not include recall as a clause so he had to rent. This sort of shit happens to all cars. Alth…

The point of TFA that the car failure / bad service happened to CarAndDriver's long term test drive Model 3 early on its lifespan and they have never had this happen before for any of their long term cars. "This sort of shit happens to all cars" misses the significance of this event due not applying basic statistics. Simply put, readers of this article have far more cars than the writers.

I’m fairly certain this single data point is statistically meaningless.

To me the story is about reliability, the changing nature of automotive problems and how they handle customer service.

Re: Our Tesla Model 3 Suffered a Failure While Parked

#100

Post by alphabettsy »

jessriedel wrote: post #96
alphabettsy wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what world is preventing 4% of serious accidents trivial? That’s likely hundreds or thousands of crashes per year given the numbers involved.

See "probably much, much less" (since diagnostic systems have many false negatives, and only work on some subsystems) and my argument about wet conditions (which causes greater than 4% of accidents). Furthermore, the absolute number of accidents is not a sensible number to look at unless you're also totaling up the absolute number of drivers inconvenience. Both the absolute number of accidents and the absolute number…

Probably much, much less is meaningless since it means nothing.

I’m pretty sure if there are 20,000 serious accidents per year and some lines of code alone prevent 100 (0.5%) that’s noteworthy.

Post reply on HN