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

Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

driving.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 231 posts

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#91

Post by wlesieutre »

ex3ndr wrote: post #50
brianwawok wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Tesla owner, I think it’s not a great rental car. A lot to learn.

I think it is clearly opposite: media in mazda is insanely hard to learn.

Mazda gives you CarPlay / Android Auto and has buttons for things like climate control, I haven't driven one but I imagine it's a lot easier to drive without bothering to learn how the screen works at all.

EDIT: though IIRC Mazda's screen isn't a touchscreen, so you need to figure out how to control CarPlay with the knob. Interaction is more like an old iPod than an iPhone. Perhaps less intuitive as a new user, but better for muscle memory so you can keep your eyes on the road?

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#92

Post by root_axis »

ALittleLight wrote: post #20

I drove a rental Tesla recently. We were parked in a long line waiting to board a ferry and I was playing chess on the main console. When the line started to move, I tried to too and car just wouldn't go or start. People stuck behind me started getting impatient and honking while I was trying to figure out what had happened, turning off and on again, pressing random buttons, accidentally popping the trunk, etc. It to…

To your point about changes with software updates, since I've owned the car, if you attempt to drive while the game is open it will just automatically close the game.

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#93

Post by slg »

rsync wrote: post #90
slg wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tesla has the most complex infotainment system in the industry. More complex software generally has more issues and complaints. People are going to have more issues and encounter more problems when using Microsoft Word versus Notepad. Word would therefore perform worse in a survey like this. That doesn't mean Notepad is a better piece of software or that Word users would want to switch to Notepad given the option. So…

"Tesla has the most complex infotainment system in the industry." ... which is a major design flaw.

That is 100% a matter of opinion. To use the example from the first comment, the Tesla Spotify integration isn't perfect. That doesn't mean it is a better choice to simply not integrate Spotify into the infotainment system. It also doesn't mean that non-Tesla drivers simply aren't using Spotify. They might be fiddling with the playlists on their phone which is even more dangerous than fiddling with the playlists on the infotainment system.

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#94

Post by AngryData »

Ive hear the wheel bearings are garbage because they use special ceramic ball bearings, rather than roller or spindle bearings which are like a bajillion times better at handling wheel loads and shocks. Maybe they have changed it in newer versions but I havent heard anything about it since.

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#95

Post by ardy42 »

giarc wrote: post #58
aeternum wrote: post #3

The survey is meaningless if they do not disclose the questions.

You could also argue that Tesla is misleading since it won't allow customers in 15 states to fill out surveys.

> You could also argue that Tesla is misleading since it won't allow customers in 15 states to fill out surveys.

What? Can you go into more detail?

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#96

Post by dkonofalski »

netsharc wrote: post #48
ALittleLight wrote: post #20

I drove a rental Tesla recently. We were parked in a long line waiting to board a ferry and I was playing chess on the main console. When the line started to move, I tried to too and car just wouldn't go or start. People stuck behind me started getting impatient and honking while I was trying to figure out what had happened, turning off and on again, pressing random buttons, accidentally popping the trunk, etc. It to…

If the car doesn't display a warning along the lines of "Exit game to drive car", then I would consider it poor design. My car has a little "dot matrix" display that displays warnings like "Door open", I'd expect the many displays of a Tesla to be able to display such warnings...

This was quickly fixed in an update. If you shift into drive now, the entertainment/toybox sections of the display automatically exit.

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#97

Post by brookside »

kbenson wrote: post #76
codazoda wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also useless in time frame. This is over the first few months of ownership. I've owned two of the cars that rank near the top of this list and it's problems after 5 years that I care about. That's when you start to pay out of pocket and the problems get big. Most cars, now, don't survive ten years, but I want a car that's reliable from year 5 to year 10.

It's not useless, it's just targeted at a specific audience. Some people only keep cars for 5 years and then get a new car. I buy used cars about 3 years old and keep them for 5-6 years, so reliability ratings over later years is more important for me (which is why I generally buy Honda or Toyota for my minivan/car needs), but it might not be for those people. Consumer reports has traditionally been good about showin…

Consumer Reports relies on elective responses to their reliability survey. Doesn't this make their rankings problematic and statistically invalid?

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#98

Post by screye »

devy wrote: post #82
screye wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who used to be an automobile engineer working for a big automaker in the a previous life, J.D power rankings are a complete farce. Their surveys are designed so that a particular automaker will win (overrating certain metrics for no reason) and then make money by charging automakers to use those awards. They have a vested interest in giving awards to automakers that are more in need of them. (not German or…

So technically this is a pay-for-play kind of shenanigans?

Yes and No.

What JD power does is make a massive number of categories to give awards in. They then choose metrics for the survey that prioritize certain traits of the vehicle.

The surveys themselves are conducted in a fair manner and awarded companies truly deserve those awards. But, in some sense, them winning it was a foregone conclusion the second the metrics were selected.

It is like conducting a strongest man competition that prioritized height over anything else. Then the competition was conducted and people from Netherlands won handedly. By the metrics, Netherlands has won the competition fair and square. But, using height as the main metric for strength made their victory a foregone conclusion. Same thing.

Their surveys are free. But, they charge automakers money to use the awards in marketing. Honda or Toyota doesn't quite care for JD power awards because they win a lot in other comparisons. But, American manufacturers rely on these awards to look better, because frankly they don't have much going for them.

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#99

Post by kbenson »

ex3ndr wrote: post #73
gambiting wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet that Mazda is stupidly easy to get into, start, put it in gear and drive though, and I bet it will behave predictably on the road like a normal car would. Everything else is secondary. Teslas definitely have a learning curve if you have never driven one.

No, tesla behaves just like a normal car. Changing gear is the same as Mercedes, default settings makes tesla same as any other car. If you will change it's settings to something different than it is have to learn something. Chill Mode + No recuperation + no "one pedal driving" and you will get typical Mazda behavior. The biggest issue with tesla is that it is freaking powerful if you are moving from other car.

> Chill Mode + No recuperation + no "one pedal driving" and you will get typical Mazda behavior.

And how likely are you to get exactly that after receiving a rental that someone else has played with all the settings for? My guess is that the combined effect of rental agencies not taking the time to reset settings (bluetooth pairing is never empty on anything I rent) and people wanting to play with all the extra settings Tesla gives you means you more than likely receive a Tesla rental in a configuration that is not entirely the same as driving other cars.

Re: Tesla worst for reliability in American driver survey

#100

Post by sandworm101 »

wlesieutre wrote: post #83
FireBeyond wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for several other manufacturers, the infotainment system is also the single largest source of problems, not "faulty brakes" or similar, so it's not like Tesla is being singled out here. > design issue in which everything works as intended but the learning curve might be too steep. It could be entirely argued that a design with a too steep learning curve, _especially when intended to be used in a moving vehicle_ i…

Though when you stuff everything except the engine and brakes into the infotainment system, it does put you in a worse spot when your infotainment system locks up. How many other cars do you need to learn a button combination on the steering wheel to reboot the infotainment screen when it crashes while driving, and then while it reboots your turn signals stop making sounds and you don't have a speedometer?

Last time I drove a rental car I left the airport driving with only one figure on a burning hot steering wheel. There was no switch. It took me pulling over at a rest stop to break out the PAPER manual to learn how to disable to fire, which was a good thing because by that point my backside was also starting to cook. I'd call that a significant design flaw.
Post reply on HN