Tesla Model 3 teardown (by firm that consults with Big 3) Reveals Flaws Like 'A Kia In The 90s'

The fit and finish stuff I get but I'm not sure why I should care about how hard it will be to chop a car apart, that's not my concern as a consumer.

E - Oh I get it, first responder, it's how hard it would be for a fire dept. to cut you out, nevermind.

Given the title, I expected like legit design flaws that make the car unsafe or something.

SupremeWu said:

The fit and finish stuff I get but I'm not sure why I should care about how hard it will be to chop a car apart, that's not my concern as a consumer.

E - Oh I get it, first responder, it's how hard it would be for a fire dept. to cut you out, nevermind.

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It will be your concern when your stuck inside a burning car and the fire dept can't get you out because they can't cut the power.

Edit: Wait the quote was edited even though the post itself wasn't yet o.o

Okay 3 minutes in and this just feels like a pretty shitty video so far.

He start off complaining that it's hard to pop open the hood, but the hood is already open and he only describes the process without actually showing it. Then he complains about opening the door, citing some very specific accident he had onece, causing it to hurt when he presses with his thumb, really now? :|

Trickster said:

Okay 3 minutes in and this just feels like a pretty shitty video so far.

He start off complaining that it's hard to pop open the hood, but the hood is already open and he only describes the process without actually showing it. Then he complains about opening the door, citing some very specific accident he had onece, causing it to hurt when he presses with his thumb, really now? :|

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Yup it's a load of crap. Unprofessional.

Classic jalopnik. They're very anti Tesla.

They love hyperbole.

Wow thats terrible. The tolerences at the tesla factory seem to be equivalent to Joes autobody and repair shop.

Never seen that handle before. Thats the dumbest idea Ive ever seen. Its gonna look like garbage after a year from all the finger nail scratches.

Trickster said:

Okay 3 minutes in and this just feels like a pretty shitty video so far.

He start off complaining that it's hard to pop open the hood, but the hood is already open and he only describes the process without actually showing it. Then he complains about opening the door, citing some very specific accident he had onece, causing it to hurt when he presses with his thumb, really now? :|

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These guys are some of the most professional people in the business. Maybe, just maybe, the Model 3 is built incredibly shoddily?

Huh, my parents were thinking about buying one of these. I'm going to send them this video. Those are some pretty serious safety issues.

INST said:

Given the title, I expected like legit design flaws that make the car unsafe or something.

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Not being able to get out of the back seat of the car if the power fails seems like it might be unsafe.

Rather sensational title, isn't it?

Jalopnik, they've been the biggest Tesla proponent for years! How did this article ever make it passed their editors?!

Vadara said:

These guys are some of the most professional people in the business. Maybe, just maybe, the Model 3 is built incredibly shoddily?

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Yup it's not hard to believe it would be of low quality given their productions issues and them forcing this thing through by any means necessary.

Even if this video a bit biased, Tesla doesn't really have a track record of quality

Vadara said:

These guys are some of the most professional people in the business. Maybe, just maybe, the Model 3 is built incredibly shoddily?

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Car has near universal praise so far, but this video that says it's shit MUST be right.

I don't have any trouble believing that their cars aren't terribly well built.

This info isn't new or surprising. Even Consumer Reports highlighted the problems with Tesla for years, and only recently raised the reliability of the Model S to "above average" late last year.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars-tesla-reliability-doesnt-match-its-high-performance/ from 2015
https://www.consumerreports.org/car...tisfaction/tesla-model-s-model-3-reliability/ last year, also their speculation on Model 3's reliability

Mcfrank said:

Car has near universal praise so far, but this video that says it's shit MUST be right.

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Citation needed?

SRG01 said:

This info isn't new or surprising. Even Consumer Reports highlighted the problems with the Tesla for years, and only recently raised the reliability of the Model S to "above average" late last year.

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Im surprised they bumped it back up after all the drivetrains in the G1 Model S started falling apart

Trickster said:

Okay 3 minutes in and this just feels like a pretty shitty video so far.

He start off complaining that it's hard to pop open the hood, but the hood is already open and he only describes the process without actually showing it.

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um, he's explaining how first responders would have to access the hood in an emergency. To do so he needs jumper cables and a battery. Are you sure you understood the video?

Vadara said:

These guys are some of the most professional people in the business. Maybe, just maybe, the Model 3 is built incredibly shoddily?

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There's plenty of things about the model 3 build quality that has been pointed out by many, especially the inconsistencies of the panel gaps. So I'm not disputing that, or saying that the car is a miracle of the god king Elon Musk.

I do however think that if you are gonna release a video of you being hyper critical, then you should document it properly so you don't come off as a being biased if you aren't. If you are gonna tell me that the hood is super troublesome to open, why not show, rather than tell? And similarly for the door handle, if you are gonna make a general critique of how hard it is to open. Maybe don't use some old injury that you have as the only reason.

Yuri_G said:

Jalopnik, they've been the biggest Tesla proponent for years! How did this article ever make it passed their editors?!

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Jalopnik didn't even make the video. Its from someone else (autoline?). They are basically linking to it so the internet can see their headline and get mad and click click click!

Not surprised at any of this, though. Tesla has never really demonstrated they are really good at putting the rest of a car around their drivetrain and batteries

As someone who works in QC manufacturing, this video is hilarious.

What's their process like? lmao

The lawsuits are going to be lovely.

marrec said:

As someone who works in QC manufacturing, this video is hilarious.

What's their process like? lmao

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We've all read about the production issues causing backups of the Model 3 line - ill bet you money that this car was set up by hand in many places, and i'll bet that's why there's QC issues.

Not surprising considering Tesla's history & the rush to get these things out.

While I think this video exhibits clear biases against Tesla, the tolerance stackup issue is...glaring, to say the least. An efficiently-run design team knows that tolerancing is one of the most important things to get right during the design process. How could they be so sloppy?

I work for a major british manufacture and I can say the difficulty making a vehicle like the Model 3 AND making it profitable comes with these sacrifices.

The interior and exterior finish on Teslas is garbage tier for this very reason

For those who actually follow the auto industry (not just cars but the industry as a whole), this is not that surprising. I've heard a ton of complaints about quality issues on the Model S/X; typical fit and finish issues as well as gremlins. In a way it makes sense, because as genius as some of Tesla's technology is, in the grand scheme of things their cars are very different and far simpler than your typical ICE vehicle. The simplicity of an electric drivetrain both make things very easy for Tesla to do, while exposing their inexperience at other things. Rather than engineering from scratch a hugely mechanically complicated vehicles with thousands of parts and making them work together like conventional automakers have to, electric car designs are much easier. It's more akin to a modern coachbuilder building a coach that rides on top of the battery and electric motors, rather than engineering a more thoroughly mechanically complex ICE vehicle. This offers certain advantages for Tesla (like their high crash safety ratings, and the relative ease of spinning up a massive heavy industry company), but it also exposes a lot of issues that the more experienced automakers aren't really making.

I think a lot of casual observers believe Tesla is just going to come along with futuristic electric cars and autonomous technology and dominate the world with them. The truth is though that the next 5-10 years are extremely uncertain for Tesla, and there are major obstacles to success they will need to deftly traverse. Quality issues, a still juvenile service network, and a still slow adoption of recharging stations are still major potential challenges. In addition, every one of these problems, and every delay and slowdown in getting production moving is just opening the door for the established automakers to get ahead and eat Tesla's lunch. They are very far from a sure thing.

My post may sound cynical or hostile to Tesla to those who are fans of them, and I really am not. I do hope they succeed. But the auto industry is by far the most volatile out of any of the heavy industries, and there's been a lot of people caught up in the hype for the vision of the future, and the reality is a lot more uncertain than people realize.

A few things might seem a bit nitpicky, but this car does seem to have a bunch of real issues. The safety ones are the biggies of course (how the hell can you not have a mechanical way to open the back doors?), but also the seemingly questionable quality control. Guess they had to cut a few corners to make it... "cheap"?

This is why electric and automated cars won't replace what we currently have for a very long time.

If this was about a BMW or Toyota people would be saying the cars are absolute rubbish and should be avoided.

If Tesla wants to claim to be part of the top tier and claim they do things better they're going to get criticized. The Tesla/Musk defense force and Musk himself are so quick to demonize any criticism of the brand.

Tesla are the face of electric cars.

I have a Model S. Are there a few fit/finish issues? Yeah. They're easy to overlook though when driving the car makes you feel like you're in the future.
That said, they definitely need to shore up that part of their manufacturing.

It's almost like the guy's never seen a Tesla before. I doubt anyone buys a Tesla for the small detail build quality.

They will get the small issues ironed out in the future but their main priority is affordability first.

I'm definately waiting to see how things go. Almost put a deposit down but it feels like buying a 1.0 version. software program

Worst case I'll have a Bolt or a Leaf in 2020 although it would suck to not have access to Superchargers.

Not the first or last time you'll see panel gaps on a Tesla. It is pretty inexcusable IMO, just shows a complete lack of finish. These misalignments and gaps aren't from a $35k Model 3, these are on a $150k Model X:

Tesla's build quality has always been bad. But they are a new company and still learning lessons. Even if they hire the best talent, you still have to put in the time to get your process right.

Not surprising at all. Tesla have zero mass manufacturing experience. They need to get better before I'd ever buy one.

Some of the things seem nitpickey — but panels misaligning, gaps, safety and mechanical issues are obvious major deficiencies and safety concerns....amazing how some people are marking it down as just "Big 3 Bias". Scary how nonchalantly they push it aside. If you're stuck in a car after an accident, with no quick way to cut the power or mechanically open certain doors, that is class-action lawsuit territory.

ITT people need to go see a newer production Model S (2017+). Is it as luxurious as some $75k ICE vehicles? Nope, but it is getting pretty close - the fit and finish and overall build quality is leaps beyond where it was even a couple of years ago. Our MS has great build quality throughout even if slightly lagging similar priced ICE from from Mercedes or Audi.

I used to think that Tesla would be undone because they weren't car makers and that other manufacturers would be able to implement electric drive trains and infrastructure before Tesla could match their car-making ability. With the huge leaps I've seen in the Model S I am pretty sure I am/was wrong on this - Tesla build quality will match other manufacturers' build quality before those manufacturers hit the technological benchmarks Tesla has set (and continues to push forward).

offtopic said:

ITT people need to go see a newer production Model S (2017+). Is it as luxurious as some $75k ICE vehicles? Nope, but it is getting pretty close - the fit and finish and overall build quality is leaps beyond where it was even a couple of years ago. Our MS has great build quality throughout even if slightly lagging similar priced ICE from from Mercedes or Audi.

I used to think that Tesla would be undone because they weren't car makers and that other manufacturers would be able to implement electric drive trains and infrastructure before Tesla could match their car-making ability. With the huge leaps I've seen in the Model S I am pretty sure I am/was wrong on this - Tesla build quality will match other manufacturers' build quality before those manufacturers hit the technological benchmarks Tesla has set (and continues to push forward).

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Tesla and Toyota partnered on the batteries and drivetrain for 6 years up until last year when toyota got out of the agreement.

I can't speak for the Tesla Model 3, but I was actually temped to get a Model S, but after doing some research as well as asking a couple of Model S owners I know (one of whom also owns a new 7 Series), they both said essentially the same thing, that it's a great car, but that I probably shouldn't get one just yet. Apparently they still have too many niggles and reliability issues.

So yea, I can't say the results of this video surprise me. Tesla is still a young company. It'll be a while before they match the other big brands in these other areas.

Those gap issues are tragic.

Watched the video. Appalling on the part of the expert.

- The engine leeds thing seems legit.
- The one hand operation thing was purely his preference and didn't seem hard at ALL, not sure why this was brought up in a tear down, seemed unnecessary.
- Why are they grilling the car for not having a second release in the rear when pretty much no othercars have a secondary release in the first place? Then they use the hyperbole of them having to crawl through the trunk (which, again, not every existing car has that as an option either), while also ignoring that they could go through the front, too?
- Criticizing closing effort of the trunk for escaping.. which is not the same as the release which is what you will be using when you try to get out?
- He doesn't know anything about the emergency cut-through areas about the car, but presents his opinion anyways.
- Random jabs at bodywork too far in some places, too close in others, etc.

It's not just biased, it's pretty flagrantly so when they're making such dumb arguments. Even if you hadn't told me these guys consult for the Big Three, I'd begin to suspect it.

The back seat thing kind of spooks me out. What are you supposed to do, kick the door down? The gaps are also kind of weird. This is what happens when you rush.

NYR said:

Not the first or last time you'll see panel gaps on a Tesla. It is pretty inexcusable IMO, just shows a complete lack of finish. These misalignments and gaps aren't from a $35k Model 3, these are on a $150k Model X:

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Yea, see to me that really is inexcusable. Not just for a $150k car, but even anything much cheaper.

Yeah, if you're considering a Tesla, you should probably go in knowing their manufacturing experience is still very limited and there's going to be issues. Depending on the type of person you are, these could be totally liveable or complete deal-breakers.

Can't wait for my 3.