2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test
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2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test
The touchscreen in our 2013 Tesla Model S was replaced less than a week ago, but now we've experienced another anomaly.
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I'm looking forward to see how the car is to live with once it's taken away from the coastal/temperate Supercharger network environment...like to the mountains, with cold, inclines, etc.
Buying a first year model from a fairly new car company would have even more risks.
Buying a first year model from a fairly new car company with very low production numbers that is loaded with a large amount of software makes you a beta tester. Imagine if windows had to be rolled out by a specific date to coincide with another product and the sales were in the below 7,000 a year range. That would be beyond buggy. Heck, imagine if they were only going to sell 6,500 iphones a year, you'd likely end up with one you couldn't hold normally and make a call at the same time being released to the public at some point
Just like with any computer.
Twitter: @Edmunds_Test
1. Whatever is wrong, I probably can't fix it myself.
2. Any time I want, I can pop into the dealership to ask questions - almost surely they won't be able to fix the problem on the spot, but they'll determine what level of repair is required and then schedule the appropriate amount of time for a future repair.
On the other hand, there's not much hardware to go wrong in the Tesla drivetrain, and any issues are much more likely to be software. This allows a much more convenient approach:
1. I can call the Tesla 800 service line and report my problem/question at any time no matter where I am (without having to drive across town).
2. While I'm on the phone they can immediately access my car's computer to trouble-shoot the problem.
3. If there's something flakey with the screens, I can IM them a photo of it right then.
4. Once they've looked at the car's logs, they can either have me restart the computer or download a software patch to handle the problem on the spot.
4. In the (much) less likely case that a hardware fix will be required, they can immediately book my appointment at the Service Center.
How cool is that! Personally, I find this approach to auto service much more streamlined, convenient, and logical than driving all they way across town to first chat in the service drive with Zeke the service writer at the gas auto dealer, then another day go back, leavw the car, and drive a loaner for a while before returning yet a third time to pick up my internal combustion car.
That's THREE trips across town instead of NONE (or maybe just one). What's not to like about that? :-)
I know a lot of people have issues where they are doing the reset thing on a regular basis too. I agree with you, Dan, that they should get to the bottom of the issue even if the reset fixes it temporarily.
I still think these gremlins will be worked out as they continue to update the software regularly, but, no doubt, we'll see more of them as more "apps" emerge for the car too. I wonder where people are in their acceptance of bugs in their car user interface vs. the convenience of having upgrades available without buying a new vehicle?
I'm two weeks away from delivery of my MS, and fully expect some of these to continue to surface - and will handle them as you are with going to the service center for support.
Jason
That said, I totally agree with you that we need to not accept rebooting our software as a routine thing, and I appreciate that you wanted to be able to reproduce the problem for them. Most often I hear things like, "Oh I saw this bug, and there was an error message that I didn't understand and didn't write down, but then I restarted and now I can't reproduce it. I demand you fix it!".
Going to the service center while the bug was still reproducible was absolutely the right thing to do if you want the bug fixed. I understand you feel inconvenienced, and I would to (getting sick of reporting bugs to Ford for MySync personally) but I encourage you to judge them on their responsiveness to fixing the bug, not on the fact that you found one.