Customer service done right.
Tesla recalls every single Model S car in seatbelt safety probe
If you are fortunate (and rich) enough to own a Tesla Model S, then you'll have to take it in for a checkup, as the automaker has recalled all 90,000 cars because of a problem with the seatbelts. The recall comes after a single complaint from a European Tesla owner, who turned to speak to a back-seat passenger and found their …
COMMENTS
-
-
Saturday 21st November 2015 03:53 GMT Trevor_Pott
Tesla potential safety problem with a seatbelt: voluntary recall.
Other major manufacturers proven problems with hackable cars, braking systems and more: deny for years until the deaths of hundreds or thousands trigger a lawsuit and regulatory investigation.
You know what? Fuck yeah, Tesla! Good show.
-
Saturday 21st November 2015 13:13 GMT Arctic fox
@ Neil Alexander Re: "Customer service done right."
Indeed. In fact my gut feeling is that Tesla's response (both comprehensive and rapid) will in fact not be a PR problem for the company at all. It may indeed do them active good in the eyes of their customers and the public in general. People are not generally totally unreasonable, they know that "shit happens". However, what they do want to see is a company taking them seriously. Tesla is clearly doing so in this case.
-
Monday 23rd November 2015 14:09 GMT Dapprman
On the surface yes, but it's probably as much down to the litigation situation in the US and the blame game. After all Toyota were fined and sued for a lot over the 'sticky accelerator' yet US official testers failed to replicate the problem. Almost certainly all big businesses based or selling in the US must be aware of this,
-
-
-
Saturday 21st November 2015 13:05 GMT inmypjs
"Jesus, trigger finger much?"
Tesla's market cap standing at a ridiculous $1/3 million for each of those 90,000 cars they have made is almost entirely based on sentiment and speculation so yes the slightest whiff of problem or bad publicity will cause a dive.
Of course Tesla will recall them all, their idiot investors gave them $1/3 million to spend on each car if that is what it takes to fend off problems and bad publicity.
-
-
-
-
Saturday 21st November 2015 10:33 GMT Anonymous Coward
I can't find any hard and fast rules about driving with a broken seat belt but I would imagine as long as you were taking the car to be repaired it would be legal to drive (I found anecdotal evidence this was the case). After all you are allowed to take a car that has failed it's MOT to a garage for repairs / testing and you are allowed to take it to be scrapped, in both cases it could have a broken set belt. Either way assuming you were taking it to get serviced I think you'd have to be unlucky to get stopped and double unlucky to be stopped by someone who was having a bad enough day that they booked you after you explained the situation.
-
Saturday 21st November 2015 10:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
You can only drive with no MOT if your car is pre-booked into the garage for an MOT.
If you are taking it purely for repairs then it needs to go on a recovery truck.
The only way you would be allowed to drive for repairs is if the car is also booked into the same garage for an MOT at the same time.
Of course that is only a concern if a jobs worth copper stops you. The tesla owner (if they tested and broke it themselves) could just say that it just happened and they are on the way to the tesla garage. I would imagine the copper would let them get on with it.
-
Saturday 21st November 2015 22:00 GMT the spectacularly refined chap
You can only drive with no MOT if your car is pre-booked into the garage for an MOT.
If you are taking it purely for repairs then it needs to go on a recovery truck.
The only way you would be allowed to drive for repairs is if the car is also booked into the same garage for an MOT at the same time.
If it has failed an MOT you are still permitted a single trip to a point where it can be repaired. If memory serves that is actually more lenient than it is for testing case: that requires you to take it to the nearest test point for the class of vehicle. You can take it to any point of repair after the failure.
-
Sunday 22nd November 2015 18:42 GMT Vic
If it has failed an MOT you are still permitted a single trip to a point where it can be repaired.
It's not quite that simple; from the gov.uk page,
You must not drive the vehicle on the road if it fails the test, even if the MOT hasn’t run out, except to:
- have the failed defects fixed
- a pre-arranged MOT test appointment
You can be fined up to £2,500, be banned from driving and get 3 penalty points for driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition.
[We'll ingore the horrific grammar in that]
The upshot is that, although you might not be committing an offence by driving a car without an MOT, that doesn't mean you can drive anything; some cars are not in an appropriate condition to put on the road, even if you are just going somewhere to repair them...
Vic,
-
Monday 23rd November 2015 11:43 GMT DaLo
"If it has failed an MOT you are still permitted a single trip to a point where it can be repaired. If memory serves that is actually more lenient than it is for testing case: that requires you to take it to the nearest test point for the class of vehicle. You can take it to any point of repair after the failure."
Not true. As long as the MOT is pre-booked you can take it to any MOT testing station. It has been reported that some people have driven hundreds of miles "to an MOT testing station". The police may stop you they may even try to charge you if they feel the distance was unreasonable, doesn't make it illegal though and if you went to court you would most likely win as there as the law is quite clear. Wither way if you aren't driving hundreds of mile no police will attempt to prosecute for taking to an MOT station even if it isn't the closest.
With regards to taking a vehicle for repair - if your vehicle fails its MOT you can only drive it to a place to repair it or another MOT test station with a booked MOT. However there is regulation with regards to construction and use and an unroadworthy vehicle which may supercede that exemption. That exemption is only based upon the need for an MOT certificate but does not invalidate other legislation.
-
-
-
Saturday 21st November 2015 16:30 GMT NotBob
Over here, we have something called a "fix-it ticket" In essence, the ticket is a warning to have your vehicle brought back into compliance. Once fixed, you go to a police station and an officer verifies that the problem is fixed. If you don't do all that within the given time frame (10 days?), it turns into a citation.
-
Sunday 22nd November 2015 00:31 GMT Jon 37
We have something similar in the UK, except that you get an MOT tester to check it was fixed & stamp it with an official stamp, then you post the ticket off to the police.
(Or at least that's what happened to me ~10 years ago - now that MOT certificates are done on a computer, they may have been computerised that process too?)
Of course, it's up to the police officer whether they just talk to you, give you a ticket with time to get it fixed, or just give you a ticket.
-
-
-
-
-
Monday 23rd November 2015 15:48 GMT James Hughes 1
Re: "...on a par with his entrepreneurship."
Hmmm. No profits. Just like Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and most American car makers.
On the other hand, Tesla has a good reputation generally, and actually makes a product, a product designed to sell to rich people in order that funds can be pushed to design and built a mass market electric car. Which will make a lot of money. So, short term profits now, or loads of money later. Musk's choice, but I suspect I know what the shareholders are doing.
-
-
Sunday 22nd November 2015 22:49 GMT Anonymous Coward
Very troubling
...that they can't determine the root cause of the failure yet Elon Musk's SpaceX operation desires to be a space taxi for astronauts? Consumer Reports said there were so many reported problems with the model S, which was clearly rushed to market due to Tesla being cash poor and burning through all of the IPO money yet not having Tesla's model III ready for sale some 2 years late. These are desperate times at Tesla as the shell game is pretty much over. Even with "creative accounting" Tesla admits to losing $4,000 on every model S sold. Do the math.
-
Monday 23rd November 2015 15:44 GMT James Hughes 1
Re: Very troubling
Troll icon for troll.
What has SpaceX got to do with Tesla? They are completely different companies, albeit with the same CEO. Practically the definition of a strawman argument surely?
Whilst there are some issues with Tesla's (which unlike other car, get fixed very quickly - see article) the general consensus from owners is that they would buy another one in a heartbeat. I regard that as a more relevant metric than consumer reports.
-
-