As Consumer Reports suggests, this is totally understandable. Straight from CR:<p>> The Tesla wasn’t the only high-performance vehicle that fell below average in reliability. Others include the BMW X5 and 5 Series, and the Chevrolet Corvette.<p>> When automakers roll out new technology, be it infotainment, transmissions, or engine variations, it often has a deleterious effect on vehicle reliability. Tesla is not only the poster child for a new type of high-performance, high-mileage EV, but it also has been adding complex new variations as assembly-line updates, such as all-wheel drive this year. So it’s not surprising to see problems continue to crop up.<p>> Despite the problems, our data show that Tesla owner satisfaction is still very high: Ninety-seven percent of owners said they would definitely buy their car again. It appears that Tesla has been responsive to replacing faulty motors, differentials, brakes, and infotainment systems, all with a minimum of fuss to owners.<p>The CR article is here: <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cars/tesla-reliability-doesnt-match-its-high-performance" rel="nofollow">http://www.consumerreports.org/cars/tesla-reliability-doesnt...</a><p>It's not easy to accidentally slip on a banana peel and buy a Tesla, so I think most owners would understand the risks of buying a brand-new car company's product loaded with brand-new tech. For some that's part of the appeal. I suspect the market is over-reacting a little.
I got my P85 in July 2013 and I can absolutely confirm what Consumer Reports is saying.<p>My car has (and continues) to have all sorts of small fit-and-finish issues. While I've never had a drivetrain issue or any major problem, I have had some wireless and door handle issues that required as new Master Control Unit. Sadly, the work replacing the MCU introduced even more squeaks in the dashboard area :(<p>That all said: I <i>still</i> love the car and I expect I'll buy another Tesla some day in the future.
Interesting that this important line was omitted from the LATimes article:<p>“Despite the problems, [CONSUMER REPORTS] data show that Tesla owner satisfaction is still very high: Ninety-seven percent of owners said they would definitely buy their car again."<p>That is a direct quote from the CS article and featured in other prominent media. (1)<p>I get that a negative CS article could potentially influence brand perception for non-owners but seems somewhat irresponsible to report only the negative side of the story especially when the Tesla LITERALLY ranked #1 in Consumer Reports 2014's Automotive Satisfaction.<p>(1) <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2015/10/20/teslas-perfect-score-from-consumer-reports-doesnt-mean-its-100-reliable-far-from-it/" rel="nofollow">http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2015/10/20/teslas-pe...</a><p>(2) <a href="http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1095745_tesla-model-s-tops-consumer-reports-customer-satisfaction-index-again" rel="nofollow">http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1095745_tesla-model-s-to...</a>
Comparing Tesla to existing car companies misses the point entirely. Telsa is an energy platform company that is investing in delivering (Supercharger network) and storing (Gigafactory) energy. Cars are certainly the current "killer app" today, but are likely to be followed by many other applications in the future.
I had a conversation with a (recently-departed) Tesla mechanic the other day (who has had experience working with every other type of car), and he said, "I knew every Tesla owner in the tri-state area on a first-name basis. Everything breaks." He did say that it's getting better with the newer models.
My 2013 Model S has had its share of issues. My car is on its third drivetrain. Am I unhappy about it? Nope. Was it a hassle? A little. Was it a show-stopper? Nope. Did Tesla always take care of the issues to my satisfaction? Absolutely. Would I buy another Tesla? Not only YES but I cannot imagine ever buying anything else ever again.<p>Tesla's huge weakness continues to be communication between company and customer. That is and always has been my number one area of concern. Not reliability. Except in terms of communications reliability. They are terrible at managing expectations. At providing quick and timely updates. At explaining functionality (ESPECIALLY in the age of autopilot) for not only safe driving but also simply maximizing enjoyment of all the car's capabilities. Tesla as a company is a shambles when it comes to communicating. It unfortunately continues to be a low priority to fix it. I wish CR would ding Tesla for lousy communications. Because customer complaints about their weakness as communicators go unheeded.<p>But I would still buy a Tesla again and plan to.
After you drive a Tesla, you feel everything else is outdated.<p>Today I drove a conventional car and it just feels so clunky and slow.<p>On the other hand, I prefer a normal key for opening my car, a simple, proven tech that works. Tesla has all those "someone had this idea and incorporated it in the car" that is typical of startups.<p>Everything has to be new and this makes reliability suffer in little stupid things, the basic experience is far superior to anything else.<p>The same happens to Apple in new products, you pay extra and you are the Guinea pig on anything new they include, think on ghost screens with retina display.
That is kinda expected. This is a new company after all, with new technology.<p>What I didn't see in the article was: how are they handling the failures?<p>It is one thing to have a car that's unreliable, but that you can then take to a dealer and get it back a couple of days after with everything fixed. It is another if you have to fight the company every step of the way to get it fixed or, even worse, pay for their mistakes out of your own pocket.
Okay, I'll be sure to dial back my 'traditionalist' bent when it comes to vehicles and technology, it doesn't help make any points.<p>...but with the Model S as the 2nd iteration of a Tesla vehicle, and their first "ground up" model, how does this bode for the often stalled release of the Model X? It very much reminds me of issues faced by software companies, but there's some leeway being given to Tesla I don't think is really deserved. As in, if the last release was really buggy over the course of several years of fixes and patches (and the occasional feature removal like the swappable battery packs), then should expectations be tempered?<p>Anyway, I'll keep an eye on the company and what its products mean for the industry as a whole.
I still think we should give Tesla the benefit of the doubt. This article feels like a hit piece, again. At the very least, it's a media organization gleefully taking a hit at an innovative company. I support Tesla less because it has great cars, but because it's really trying to build a better car.
Seeing as how the battery system is primarily what makes electric cars expensive, I really wish automakers would start delivering plugin hybrids that have, say 75 - 100 mile range on battery (to keep cost down), along with a very low horsepower gas engine. (Most plugin hybrids give you about 20 - 30 miles on battery).<p>The way it would work: the battery would drive the front wheels, and you would use the battery for most of your driving -- but when it got down to 20% charge, the gas engine would kick in to power the back wheels. The battery could provide acceleration, and the gas engine (about 20HP?) would maintain highway speed (and trickle charge the battery when running off gas). That way, you are using electric for most of your daily driving, but won't get range anxiety.
Shares reportedly[1] down 10% due to report.<p>[1] <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/news/2840766-tesla-lower-after-consumer-reports-cites-model-s-reliability-issues" rel="nofollow">http://seekingalpha.com/news/2840766-tesla-lower-after-consu...</a>
So some sales figures from random unchecked websites<p>Tesla: 10k/qtr or 40k cars pa
BMW: 26k/mth or 312k car pa<p>So BMW sells 8x tesla (lots of hand wavy around figures), and tesla is selling at 13x BMW<p>Seems like a good bet - Tesla just needs to replace one of the worlds major brands. VW just imploded so there is room in the market without any major shifts.<p><a href="http://jalopnik.com/tesla-is-finally-giving-us-sales-numbers-but-not-the-o-1695499966" rel="nofollow">http://jalopnik.com/tesla-is-finally-giving-us-sales-numbers...</a><p><a href="http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1122009" rel="nofollow">http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1122009</a>
I've read most of this stuff before and am still excited to get a Tesla once a more reasonably priced one comes out. One thing keeps bugging me, though: If I wanted to get up tomorrow morning and drive across the country in a gas car, I could do it no problem. When I run out of fuel after ~325 miles, I just stop for 10 minutes at a gas station and head back out on the road. With a Tesla, I need to carefully plan out charging stations <200 miles apart and stay there for what, at least an hour at a time? Do Tesla drivers just not go on road trips?
This is where if companies were honest they'd send out cards<p><i>"Thank you for beta testing"</i><p>as maybe a 10th generation owner someday, I say thank you to all previous owners too for spending the money to work out the bugs
"automatically retractable door handles". Forgive me for being ignorant about this, but as soon as I read this (that not only it exists, but is a "signature feature") I couldn't help but wonder why...<p>Does anyone here know why such a feature would exist? Sure it makes one ooh and ahh when they're about to buy it, and probably the first few months after, but does anyone think if this feature does not perform perfectly, it could only possibly cause more buyer's remorse than anything else?
On the one hand, they're a new company relative to the others; they are taking many risks, and they won't perform flawlessly - so I give them a lot of slack for trying and mostly succeeding.<p>Also, they are very good at fixing things when they screw up.<p>On the other hand, their stock price is WAY over valued. Hopefully we will get gentle ratchets to bring it back down to earth, such as this.
Oddly, I was just thinking the other day about how Tesla had a reputation for being a bit prototype-y but I hadn't heard anything about it recently, so I concluded they'd massively improved.<p>Based on this they're better, but still not great.<p>Was it not Consumer Reports that had a string of issues with their first model S, or was that another car magazine?
Is interesting how much influence Consumer Reports wields relative to other publications that review and rate products.<p>Don't own a Tesla, or have an opinion on their reliability, but wonder sometimes if we don't need a Consumer Reports for Consumer Reports.
I'm a Tesla fan and I actually expect this from a new car company with their first product from the ground up. They need to figure this out if they want the Model 3 to be mass market though. I want to buy it and it doesn't even exist yet.
I wonder how many CR editors shorter Tesla stock before this was published. It wouldn't even be considered insider trading. I don't really put much stock in CR, unfortunately, the markets did -- quite unfairly actually since most folks buying Teslas aren't doing comparison shopping using CR.