Tesla Quality

[Ehninger1212]

Electrek article on MY Issues:

Model Y diary: Delivery, panel gaps and 1st impressions
https://apple.news/AajLUys9-TVqFD5MIxMLyFQ

Yikes, the Red Y in that linked video.. I feel like Tesla should be trying to catch these things and mending them before ever handing the keys off. Like the Visor and rear spoiler.

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[Frank W]

Agree with you 100 %.

 

[Frank W]

I am really excited about getting a vehicle without paint and the toughness of it and stainless is the icing on the cake!

 

[Mini2nut]

^^^^

Not having paint to maintain in addition to a tough 3mm thick SS exoskeleton is what sold me when the CT was first revealed. Tesla earned my reservation just on those two features alone.

The body of this truck is going to be super durable and will laugh at municipal salt trucks in the winter. Owners can also say goodbye to most hail damage, door dings, etc. The lifespan of the body will be multiple decades, not single digit years.

 

[ricinro]

Quality is a key element, but safety is primary. My college age daughter came home for the Christmas holidays and told me to order a Cybertruck on the expectation it would be safer than my Suburban. I ordered one.

She is right! and you DO live in safety harbor!

 

[ricinro]

Parts can be designed with tighter tolerances and this generally will lead to better assemblies. For a mechanism this is important.
However for body panels etc. sometimes it is more important for assembling using better fixtures for alignment.
This was a Toyota secret. back a few decades it was common to see machined castings used as brackets etc yet a quick look at a toyota and you would see cheap stampings but assembled precisely.
Tesla will learn to improve quality assurance and feedback as they assemble these machines and develop better fixtures and assembly techniques to get their gaps perfect and everything else positioned perfectly.

I notice the charging door on the CT was misaligned. position it where it is perfect then tighten down the screws. This requires a bit more effort from the mechanical designers working with production.

 

[Balthezor]

I can tell right now i can walk any dealer lot of any brand and find cars with imperfections. Lamborghini's, Ferrari's even. I worked down from a guy who did paint corrections on exotic cars and i would always go check out where he would mark them up with tape for fixing. Some of these vehicles had less than 30 miles on them with imperfections, Factory defects. Paint is the most difficult part of production. THIS IS WHY THE CYBER TRUCK WILL NOT BE PAINTED.

Absolutely. My Range Rover Sport 2019, has some issues with color. It's black so very hard to see, but its there. Plastic piece also discolored after 8 months. They fixed it all though.

 

[Ehninger1212]

Absolutely. My Range Rover Sport 2019, has some issues with color. It's black so very hard to see, but its there. Plastic piece also discolored after 8 months. They fixed it all though.

Yeah my LR3 Dash looks like a dry lake bed.. way out of warranty so i just covered it up.

 

[Mini2nut]

Here is the best explanation that I have found regarding automobile paint quality...

“Corrosion protection and paint thickness and consistency would be significantly improved if Tesla used the techniques and equipment that GM used in Lordstown assembly plant, that the Lordstown Motors Endurance will soon be produced with starting in January 2021.

What they do, is after body in white building is completed, ie all the parts are spot welded together, before drivetrains and interiors glass and rubber and tire, and trim, is to immerse the entire body into a pool of Zinc Chromate primer and rock it side to side to release any trapped air pockets in the roof, then lift it out and let it dry. In a steel body, every spot weld is a point where corrosion can begin and this process cold galvanizes the entire body and all the spot welds and primes it to ensure paint adherence. Inspectors are looking for defects that can be worked out before the base color coat of paint is applied and will divert car bodies off the main line where correction and touch up is done prior to painting. Those that pass, or are properly reworked, go into the paint booth. This is where they use an overhead, set of three sprayers called bell shakers, the bells, rock back and forth, and the paint particle laden vapor falls toward the car. The magic is the paint and the car are electrostatically charged that forces the paint to attract evenly to all painted surfaces until evenly coated, even defying gravity, so the bottom has the same paint thickness as the roof, right down to painting inside frames by going through frame holes! Since all of the paint is electrostatically attracted to the body of the car being painted, the paint booth does not collect paint particles as dust, and it’s walls and ceiling remain clean. This means the vehicles passing through this area and the paint drying facility, stay clean, which is a problem noted by Munro and Associates that the model Y they analyzed had dirt under it’s paint! They use a 50,000 volt, low current power supply to accomplish thus without paint booth fires and explosions. That is just the color base layer, inspectors are watching for defects after the color is laid down and is shiny while wet and divert ones to rework as necessary for perfecting, and once satisfied, they rejoin the main line, the next step is to put the cars through the next set of electrostatically charged three bell shakers, paint booth where the clear coat stage is applied, once again the cars are dried and inspected and correction done to perfect the finish with sanding, reapplication if necessary, buffing and being inspected again, finally, after all that, installing all the glass, rubber seals, wiring, drive components, interiors, dashes, electronics, wiper motors, running lights, door handles wheels and everything else to complete the assembly. All along, they are inspecting in case someone makes a dent, scratch, etc, that would bump the car off to a rework line where finish repair can be accomplished using the same lot it base color /clear coat being used in the paint booths so color and finish are closely matched. All molded soft rubber bumper and facia covers are chemically composed to not react to the paints and eventually stain through the color base coat. Assuming, Lordstown Motors picks up with Pittsburgh Paint and Glass and GM’s Supplier of Molded rubber and vinyl facia pieces in making the Endurance Pickup, they will come away with a world class corrosion protected and finished, durable, long lasting truck.

I have seen that Tesla uses paint spraying robots that paint their cars, close in, like an after the collision, body shop would have to do. This close in spraying precludes using high voltage attraction methods of the 15 foot high, three Bell Shaker consistent paint distribution booth systems, GM no doubt uses at all its plants. This is why Munro and Associates, has good reason to criticize the inconsistencies of the paint on the Tesla products that they have torn down and thoroughly analyzed. I don’t know why Tesla is not using this same technology the bigger auto plants use, other than they don’t want to pay the price to license the most likely patented technology behind the safe, electrostatically controlled paint system!”

 

[Frank W]

I came across an article before in the past that indicated that because of California’s regulations regarding certain chemicals usage is another reason why they have issues with the paint. I am not in the industry so whether the article was true or not I don’t know. Looking forward to getting a TX vehicle with no paint.

 

[Bigvbear]

I came across an article before in the past that indicated that because of California’s regulations regarding certain chemicals usage is another reason why they have issues with the paint. I am not in the industry so whether the article was true or not I don’t know. Looking forward to getting a TX vehicle with no paint.

if it was only the paint that was at issue, i would agree. But the lack of consistency in the assembly of the vehicles is very concerning. I would love to talk to a few tesla field techs about how many times they are having to adjust body/door panels to line them up right. These are things the QA section of the plant should be catching before they leave the factory. Especially on a vehicle with this pricetag.

It makes me wonder if the body panels are not assembled correctly, what else is there that i cannot see that is also not assembled correctly?

 

[Frank W]

I will have a vehicle check list at delivery and make sure that I am satisfied with it before I accept it but I am not going to be concerned about it until then. I have faith that they will get it right!

 

[Crissa]

Was this from an article? Is there a link, @Mini2nut ?

...But the panels are assembled correctly, they're just tweaked a little,

And California had the most places you couldn't drink the water due to industrial contamination, hence our pretty tight rules. Our weather patterns and dependence on shallow groundwater... And our history of mining and industry...

Anyhow, it just means you have to be more careful.

-Crissa

 

[Bigvbear]

I will have a vehicle check list at delivery and make sure that I am satisfied with it before I accept it but I am not going to be concerned about it until then. I have faith that they will get it right!

the sad part is you have to HAVE a checklist in the first place......

 

[Frank W]

It’s a big ticket item so I feel anything that costs as much needs one much like a home inspection prior to closing. Humans make mistakes even though QC is in place.

I will add also that there are various check lists for each vehicle Tesla manufacturers and a quick search brought up this one. I had one saved that was pretty comprehensive however I can’t seem to find it right now. I would also look on YouTube.

https://www.torquenews.com/1/tesla-model-3-delivery-checklist