2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test

As the miles pile on, the creaks have started to creep in. Currently, it's the steering rack that seems to be making noise.

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markinnaples_

Will you be ending this test at the 1 year mark like your other tests, do you all think that maybe this vehicle warrants a little longer testing period due to the innovation it presents?

kirkhilles_

I agree, I'd love to know what the 3+ year reliability would be like. What will this car be like at 100k? What will the maintenance costs be?

Could it be this (sorry I don't have a login to verify):

http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/steering-click

cjasis

Totally agree with the suggestion of keeping this car longer.

BTW - nice curb rash! You guys park like crap.

drcomputer

Yes, this is a known issue. The service center can fix it in about 15 minutes. The sound makes it seem like a bigger problem than it is. It just requires some re-torquing of some bolts.

s197gt

keep it for the warranty period and then sell it.

dunning15

If they paid $2500 (now $4000) for the extended warranty when they bought it the warranty period for a P85+ is 100K miles or 8 years. At 20K miles the first year they would need to keep it 5 years before it would be out of warranty. Everybody is correct - this is a known problem and can easily be repaired. The car should be able to find the Service Center on autopilot by now.

duck87

@drcomputer: "no big deal, we just need to torque some bolts. I mean yeah, if the ball joints separate on the highway you're probably going to lose control and lose a wheelhub, but it's no big deal. *wrench *wrench. There, done."
@dunning15: Th

fordson1

There seem to be a lot of issues with wheel and suspension mounting and alignment adjustment, and steering rack threaded fasteners on the Model S. For the mounting fasteners, either the specified torque figures are insufficient to maintain clamping force or they were not torqued to spec in assembly, and with both the mounting fasteners and alignment adjustment hardware, in addition to the two possible causes above, there seem to be instances in which the actual design of the hardware itself leads to things loosening up in use, even when they are torqued correctly - seeing instances of redesigned toe-control adjustment nuts, redesigned lug nuts, etc. If there are issues with adherence to assembly work instructions, then I would suspect there are as many over-torqued fasteners as there are under-torqued ones, which will show up later...but they will show up. I would also caution that while it's better to have a known issue (with presumably a known solution) than an unknown one, it's not the same as having no issue.

fordson1

And I agree with others that they should keep this car for another year or even for the remainder of the warranty period...I see a disturbing trend of major parts and assemblies being not only replaced, but replaced twice (touchscreen, 12V battery, powertrain module), which looks like a dancing-as-fast-as-they-can scenario to me. I would want evidence that not only is there a new rev going in, but that the new rev has a greater life expectancy than the original rev item. When you have a powertrain going out at 9600 miles, and then the replacement one goes aafter...9600 more miles, that's not good.

diigii

When my previous car had those "creak, creak, creak" noise you just described while turning the wheel lock-to-lock, it was the ball joint on the right suspension. The ball joints have started to lose their lubrication so the "creak, creak, creak" sound you hear are the metal parts rubbing against each other. Better have them replaced before they break off on you while on the highway. Your Tesla's resale value will not be much.

desmolicious

Is there a car in the Edmunds test fleet that has not been driven into a curb?

diigii

@desmolicious: We can call it real-world testing.

redxsage

It might also be a good idea to see what happens if during a longer test drive period, you gradually have one person drive it for longer periods. Two weeks at a time (for a couple of months), a month at a time (for three-to-six months), three months at a time (for the last year), until you decide to end the long-term test... That way we can see if the issues are brought on by there being a variety of driving styles, as different people hop in and out of the car each week.