What's happening YouTube, Josh Teder here from 6 Months Later and today I'd
like to take you through some of the early issues I've had with my Tesla
Model 3, as well as an overall review of the experience for Tesla service thus
far. Now we've already done two videos on the
Model 3, so if you haven't had a chance to check those out, I definitely
encourage you to do so. The first video is an initial impression of the Model 3
and the second video is a comparison between a Model S 100D and a Model 3
rear wheel drive, and why I think the Model 3 is better than the Model S 100D.
We'll link those videos below in the description as well as put some cards up
here on the video for you to click on if you'd like to go ahead and pause this
video and go watch those, definitely encourage you guys to check those out,
but now let's go ahead and get on to the Tesla service experience and some of the
early issues I've had with my Model 3.
Now like with every new car model from any brand you're going to expect there
to be some issues with the first generation of a new car model and the
Model 3 is no exception. I have run into several issues after delivery with the
car, but thankfully none of them are critical issues most of them are pretty
minor, but I want to just go ahead and give you a rundown down the entire list
of everything I ran into post-delivery and then tell you what Tesla service did
to fix the issue and then I'll wrap it up with my overall impression of the
Tesla service experience. So with that, let's start off with the first problem
I've had with my Model 3 which was only a couple days after delivery I noticed a
message appeared on the Model 3's 15 inch touchscreen on the dash that said
charge port door needs service. And what would accompany this message was some
really weird behavior from the charge port door. When the car was in park, the
charge port door would just start opening and closing on its own at random.
This behavior went on for a couple days and then it eventually just kind of went
away, along with the message, but Tesla service went ahead and decided to
replace the entire charge port door assembly. And since then I haven't had
any problems. The next issue I noticed right actually on delivery day, was this
little weird crack, at least it looked liked a crack in the Model 3 screen
I told Tesla Service about this. Luckily all this turned out to be it was just a
polyurethane residue left on the screen, but luckily they were able to just get
that off with some cleaning solution and now the display looks beautiful. Another
thing I noticed, I know there are a lot of people out there that comment on fit
and finish issues with Tesla. Overall with the Model 3 I have not experienced
very many of those. The Model S I drove I immediately noticed all the rattles and
things people talk about with the Model S and X's and so far I've had none of
that on the Model 3, in fact the only thing that I did see that was a fit and
finish issue was actually with the hood alignment. What was weird with the hood
was part of the hood would actually go down and the body panel part
where the headlight was was actually seemed raised up a bit like the hood
should be flush with that, so I brought that up to Tesla's attention because I
thought it could actually screw with the aerodynamics of the car slightly, I mean
it's not gonna make a huge difference but I was just like the hood probably
shouldn't be like that. They agreed they said we can't make any promises but
we'll try to fix it as best as we can and luckily Tesla Service was able to
realign the hood where it was now flush with the body on the passenger side
right where the headlight area was. Unfortunately, when Tesla service did
realign the hood, they accidentally chipped the paint on several areas near
the windshield on the passenger side of the car. I pointed this out to them
within 24 hours of getting the car back and they looked at it and agreed yes,
this was our bad and offered to put the car in a body shop so it could be
repainted. I took them up on that offer and they did put the car in the
body shop it took about two weeks. From what I've read on Teslas two to four
weeks in a body shop is pretty typical. I couldn't complain that much because
Tesla service put me up in a P85D Model S so that was quite a lot of fun to
drive around and made me miss the acceleration of the Model S once I got
my Model 3 back. Those performance version Teslas are awesome. But overall
Tesla service, even though they screwed up, they really went out of their
way to make sure the problem was fixed and made me feel very taken care of and
the repaint on the car you can't even tell it was repainted, it looks exactly
like it did when I got it on delivery day. Now another thing that was missing
from my Model 3 it wasn't really a feature or anything like that it was
actually my little red Model 3 this one out to the day one reservation holders and
unfortunately I didn't receive mine during my delivery process so I
mentioned this to Tesla service they said ah that's really not on us that's
on Tesla sales you may have to go to the sales center and talk to them, can't make
any promises. I was like yeah that's okay I mean she's right up the road I can go
drive over and talk to them. But what I received my Model 3 back from Tesla
service I could see that they actually got me the red
Model 3 and they put it on the dash so I could see it through the windshield and,
it's just a really nice touch for the first Tesla service experience I had as
a brand new Tesla owner. Now another issue I had with my Model 3 involves the
windshield wiper. One day I was just opening up the hood to try to access the
front I felt a little bit more resistance than usual on the hood but
didn't think anything of it and then all of a sudden I heard this scraping noise
as I continued to open up the hood and then I just heard a thing fall off
somewhere underneath the hood, and as I opened it up I realized what had
happened and a giant piece of metal from the windshield wiper flew off. It was
either a chunk of metal or it was just the, the black paint on the windshield
wiper. It was probably just the paint it looked like it sheared off a chunk of
metal just when you looked at the windshield wiper this was because there
was a bolt in the hood that sheared off the windshield wiper and what it
actually happened to cause the windshield wiper to get damaged was the
bolt that holds the driver's side windshield wiper in its place, the
plastic cap over that bolt had popped off during this event and then I could
see that that bolt was incredibly loose, like I could tighten it with my fingers
or loosen it with my fingers it was so loose. I went ahead and tightened it with
my fingers got a wrench to really tighten it down and I could also tell
that the windshield wiper was loose because usually the windshield wipers
like this this being the middle of the windshield wiper during this event, it
was like bent up and off the windshield so that's how it got scratched. It also
in this process scratched the inner lip of the hood as well. I contacted Tesla
service, let them know about this what Tesla service ended up doing was they
just replaced the entire windshield wiper assembly including the arm giving
me a new one, they touched up the paint on the inner part of the hood lip, as
well as make sure that that bolt was tightened down for me. Now the last issue
I had with my Model 3 early on, I can't tell if it's a fault with the steering
wheel, or if it's just a fault on my end, but the Model 3 steering wheel seems
much more susceptible to scratching than the Model S or X steering wheel. And I
know I've now driven a Model S for three weeks since
I've had my Model 3 at the service center and then in the body shop, and in
the time I've driven the Model S, again I'm wearing the same clothes, same watch
same everything, the steering will did not scratch at all. But somehow the Model
3 steering will just get scratches on the bottom half, I can't tell I thought
was my work badge, I stopped wearing that it would still accumulate scratches, I
thought it was fingernails, I started just trimming those down, it would still
get scratches. I just have no idea how it kept getting scratches on the
bottom, it even came back with an additional scratch from the body shop
and Tesla just went ahead an offered to replace the steering wheel which went
just above and beyond what I thought they'd do. The first time I told
asked them about it, they went ahead and just repaired the scratches with a
leather guy who comes to the service center, which I thought was very nice of
them because they didn't actually charge me for it. And I told them when I got the
car back from the body shop, I can't tell you if the guys at the body shop did it
or it was me, because I've had it happen before and they were just like just
don't worry about it we'll just replace the steering wheel, but the steering
wheel material does feel different then on both the Model Ss I've driven,
because the Model S is at least from what I can tell again I didn't have a
very new one the 100D was only, well it was maybe a couple months old, but it
seemed to still be a leather steering wheel as well as the P85D I definitely
know that one was a leather steering wheel and my guess is that it's just not
as durable as the material they used for the Model S & X steering wheels. Having
all these small hiccups happen to my Model 3 was not unexpected. I've
been someone who's watched Tesla videos for years, I've seen the owner forums and
I kind of knew what to expect going in, so none of this really rattled me and
they were all pretty small and minor things that happened. None of them were
really critical failures or issues with the car. So overall I have to say that I
have felt very taken care of by Tesla service. I felt that they've just gone
above and beyond the call of duty to really make me feel like a valued
customer and make me feel very taken care of. I mean they've repaired a
steering wheel that I scratched that they didn't do anything and then the
next time a scratch appeared they're like you know we'll just replace it for
you, they've they've just gone above and beyond with just things like that,
putting in a little Model 3 in the dash, just some really nice touches as a
customer that make me feel very appreciated and I know Tesla now, you
know look Tesla's not the small company they used, in the relative terms of
the car industry, yeah they still are a small company, but the customer base is
just growing exponentially now with the Model 3 production ramp well underway
and on its way to 6,000 cars a week. So for them to be able to still keep this
experience that I've read about from other Model S and X owners, as someone
who's now model 3 owner, the service experiencem look it may not have been
perfect, they may have scratched or chipped the paint on my car while they
tried to fix something, but they went ahead
they made it right, and they made me feel incredibly well taken care of. And it
just made me proud and made me feel that I really did make the right decision in
getting a Tesla Model 3, the two years was well worth the wait, the car
experience is amazing and luckily the Tesla service experience has lived up to
the fantastic expectations that I have come to see on owner forums and watch on
YouTube videos, and reviews from other owners. Well that's it for today, we'll be
making more Tesla videos so please make sure you subscribe to the channel if
you'd like to see more Tesla videos like this one. We've actually already done two
others, a Model 3 first impressions video as well as a comparison between a
Model S 100 D and a Model 3 rear wheel drive. So check out that video
if you'd like to see why I think the Model 3 is actually a better car than
the Model S 100 D, especially when you consider the price of the Model S versus
the Model 3, so definitely check out that video if you're interested in that. Well,
that wraps it up for today, thanks so much for watching.
I'm Josh Teder for 6 Months Later.