Teslas Have a Minor Issue Where the Wheels Fly Off While Driving, Documents Show

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨tardigrada@beehaw.org⁩ to ⁨technology@beehaw.org⁩

https://1ft.io/proxy?q=https://futurism.com/tesla-flaws-failures-blame-drivers

Tens of thousands of Tesla owners have had the suspension or steering of their vehicles — even in practically brand new ones — fail in recent years. Newly obtained documents show how Tesla engineers internally called these incidents “flaws” and “failures.”

Nonetheless, some of the documents suggest technicians were told to tell consumers that these failures weren’t due to faulty parts, but the result of drivers “abusing” their vehicles, which highlights the EV maker and its CEO Elon Musk’s infamous way of handling customer complaints.

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zaphod@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
You mean the front fell off? Damn, Elon should move into ship building…

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- acastcandream@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Was this tanker safe?
  
  I was more referring to the other tankers.
  
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  - eutampieri@feddit.it ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The ones that are safe
    
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- Quexotic@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I knew I wouldn’t have to scroll down too far to find this comment. Thank you.
  
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  - chahk@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It was towed outside the environment.
    
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megopie@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Frankly, I think we should take this kind of stuff as a moment to consider where we could rebuild public infrastructure to prevent people having to own cars in the first place.

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1984@lemmy.today ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
So much talk about Tesla. It’s like people don’t realize Tesla is not even relevant anymore. They were first with good electric cars, but their cars all have reliability problems and tech problems.

In the mean time, other manufacturers like Kia is eating their lunch without much publicity. :)

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- MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Unfortunately Tesla is still relevant in that you can actually buy a Tesla sedan or suv with very little hassle.
  
  Meanwhile I’ve been on a waitlist for years for a GM EV that has been “launched” but with not a peep about my order.
  
  One of my friends got so dicked around by dealers and waiting he bought a Tesla, and it wasn’t even on his list because of lack of CarPlay.
  
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  - Vodulas@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’ve seen bolts and bolt EUVs in stock pretty readily, but Not sure which GM EV you are referencing. If you are still looking for a small SUV, I really like the Nissan Aryia and VW ID.4, and those should be easy to get. Kia dealers are shit almost across the board, and I have doubts about longevity.
    
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  - 1984@lemmy.today ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Hmm. In Europe nobody talks about GM for electric cars, it’s all Kia now… Do you have Kia around?
    
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- nxdefiant@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  KIA sold 15,000 EV’s in 2023. Tesla sold 1.8 million. That’s about 0.8% of their lunch. I think the publicity is appropriately sized.
  
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  - 1984@lemmy.today ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Didn’t know it was such a huge difference, thank you :)
    
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  - saigot@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    [deleted]
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- hydroptic@sopuli.xyz ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  They were first with good electric cars, but their cars all have reliability problems and tech problems.
  
  So they weren’t, in fact, the first with good electric cars?
  
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  - 1984@lemmy.today ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It’s all relative. When their first cars came, nobody else even had cars that could go that speed and that range. That was considered very good back then.
    
    Now in 2024, a good electric car needs to be reliable and safe. Tesla is struggling with that and have focused the attention on their self driving capabilities, which also has had many issues and accidents.
    
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FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I divested from Tesla years ago.

I still feel great about it.

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Rivalarrival@lemmy.today ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The wheel falls off. It falls off. It falls the fuck off. Turning your Tesla into a tripod, and spinning you into a dimension of pissed off you have never been in before in your life.

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- IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Before or after the steering wheel falls off. https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/8/23630358/tesla-steering-wheel-bolt-nhtsa-model-y
  
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vexikron@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Mhm, knows more about manufacturing than anyone alive on Earth.

I guess it’ll be fun/sad to watch StarShip 3 either detonate on the launch pad or before it passes the Karman Line.

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- MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Rockets are harder than cars, so hopefully this means Elon is too stupid to contribute anything but haughty goals while the actual engineers make sure we don’t blow up any astronauts.
  
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- chahk@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  detonate
  
  The term is “R.U.D.” - Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly.
  
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  - vexikron@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Detonate is actually more precise, implying an explosion that accelerates at or faster than the speed of sound, often causing a visible blast wave in air that is humid and dense enough as the pressure wave compresses the air and squeezes it into visible semi cloud like formations momentarily.
    
    RUD is a general term that can cover any number of events which cause a craft to generally lose structural integrity in a small amount of time.
    
    For example, a craft could hit max q either at a non optimal angle, or due to structural integrity flaws, more or less violently tear itself apart.
    
    Or, a craft could enter the atmosphere at a non optimal angle, or at too extreme a velocity, and be ripped apart, again, violently and quickly. This is generally referred to as ‘Burning Up’.
    
    Or a craft could have a parachute or landing system related problem and impact the ground at such speeds it disassembles itself. Jokingly referred to as ‘lithobraking’.
    
    Or, a craft could have an accidental triggering of some kind of abort system that results in the craft tearing itself apart.
    
    While many of these more specific chaina of events have more specific terms to describe them… they are /all/ Rapid Unplanned Disassemblies.
    
    All that that term means is for some reason your craft went from being more or less one piece to more or less a large number of pieces very quickly.
    
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- FaceDeer@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Starship's ITF-2 launch already got well above the Karman line.
  
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  - vexikron@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Well, the booster exploded below the Karman line (i think), and the orbiter blew up above the Karman line.
    
    My prediction for 3 is that again at least part of the craft will blow up below the Karman line.
    
    The full static test fires they recently did damaged the craft because the test stand wasn’t designed for that level of the amount of force they’re currently testing with it, and because for some baffling reason they are not using a flame trench or proper diversion channels.
    
    My guess is that, combined with the defects and flaws seen from the first two launches, these full power static fire tests will have damaged the craft more than they are able to repair properly in time to follow Musk’s recklessly fast launch timetable, and the whole thing will blow up or have significant trajectory problems from multiple non catastrophic engine failures before the hot staging, and/or when the booster tries to do the belly flop maneuver, the fuel tank(s) or lines will rupture as happened last time, and if the abort system engages properly it’ll then basically fall to the ground, or if it doesn’t, it’ll detonate spectacularly in midair again.
    
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SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
‘Minor’

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Nougat@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
"Front wheel fell off" could mean a bunch of different things here. If the wheel actually became wholly separated from the vehicle, at 15,000 miles, that would most likely be due to incorrectly torqued lug nuts after a tire rotation. Those torque specs are important, and undertorqued lug nuts can work themselves loose, putting undue stresses on the lug bolts, which snap, and there you go. Such a situation would not be Tesla's fault, rather the fault of whoever rotated the tires.

Or, "front wheel fell off" could mean something like a ball joint or tie rod end failure, which could cascade into a very unusual wheel position, easily described as "fell off," while still being connected to the car by the strut mount. That kind of failure would be Tesla's fault, and would align with the mentioned "collapsed suspensions."

In any case, the car would make incredibly horrible noises and vibrations well before a catastrophic failure. These kinds of mechanical suspension parts do not go from "perfectly fine" to "completely failed" in the blink of an eye, even if they do fail far before they should. I'm not putting the blame for the failure on the driver of the car, but I have no problem blaming the driver for letting a situation like that get to the point of catastrophic failure on a brand new car.

Edit: @TheChurn - care to tell me what I said to deserve your downvote?

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- snooggums@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  His exuberance came to a “grinding halt” one day later, with 115 miles on the odometer, Jain told Reuters. As he drove with his wife and three-year-old daughter, he suddenly lost steering control as he made a slow turn into their neighborhood. The vehicle’s front-right suspension had collapsed, and parts of the car loudly scraped the road as it came to a stop.
  
  Jain is one of tens of thousands of Tesla owners who have experienced premature failures of suspension or steering parts, according to a Reuters review of thousands of Tesla documents. The chronic failures, many in relatively new vehicles, date back at least seven years and stretch across Tesla’s model lineup and across the globe, from China to the United States to Europe, according to the records and interviews with more than 20 customers and nine former Tesla managers or service technicians.
  
  You got a downvote from me for making shit up about something other than the issues being reported.
  
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cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
they also have a minor issue about bursting into flames

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toothpicks@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Hilarious headline

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millie@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
What if it is stinking inside?

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NegativeLookBehind@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Backlog it, low priority.

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ulkesh@beehaw.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This just makes me chuckle.

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Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I remember the first year the that Tesla’s weren’t ranked dead last on the JD Powers Initial Build Quality list the editor made a special note that it wasn’t because Tesla had gotten better just that Polestar was worse.

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