Is this a sad commentary on Tesla's quality, a testament to its ingenuity, a disappointing cash grab, or a little bit of all three?
- Persistent quality problems: Tesla's EVs continue to suffer from a variety of quality issues, including misaligned panels, unpainted parts, and defective interior parts.
- New owner concerns: The prevalence of these problems has caused anxiety among new Tesla buyers and prompted the creation and sale of pre-delivery inspection checklists.
- Profit from the problem: One Tesla owner is capitalizing on these concerns by selling printable checklists to help buyers identify potential defects before taking delivery.
It's no exaggeration to say that Tesla's relationship with quality control has been rocky. Quality issues have become so common that Tesla owners are now selling a delivery checklist to help new owners inspect their cars and make sure nothing falls off on the way out of the showroom. ing.
This checklist is for sale on Etsy and was created by Tesla owners to “reduce the stress of searching for what needs to be fixed,” according to the product information section.
Each checklist costs $4.99 and comes as a printable PDF with photos to help new owners identify errors and defects. The seller, EverydayChrisTesla, offers listings for the Cyber ​​truck, Model X, Model Y, Model 3, and even the newest Model 3 “Highland.”
Read: New Model Y owner finds Tesla's lack of quality control
Journalist EW Niedermeyer points out that these checklists are actually not new. In Tesla's early days, when it only sold the Model S, forum members would hand out checklists to help each other. As Niedermayer points out, the list was originally created at a time when “everyone thought these quality issues were 'teething problems.'” Years later, the quality issues persist, and at least one Tesla owner is now trying to profit from them.
Credit: EverydayChrisTesla/Etsy
I think it's a bit opportunistic to sell the list, but it's easy to see why people would buy it. We've covered a variety of quality issues in recent years, including a Tesla Model Y with a door seal in the wrong place, a model with an unpainted door jamb, and a Model S owner who found numerous pieces of trim that were poorly installed. I did. Even the company's newest vehicle, the Cybertruck, has been affected by misaligned panel gaps and other issues.
The company's CEO Elon Musk has previously acknowledged that quality issues need to be addressed, and more recently Tesla has taken responsibility for eliminating “reasons why cars need servicing.” I was looking for a manager. However, the company's history of customer care is not very good.
Tesla has previously hired teams to divert calls about range issues, showing it is more interested in avoiding responsibility than helping customers, blaming them on their driving habits. It is said that the company had known about the suspension design problem for some time.
No wonder buyers feel the need to perform their own quality control checks.
H/T to Jalopnik!