Critics often focus on panel gaps. These are an issue in some of Tesla vehicles, no argument there. If owners notice panel gaps they can get them fixed before taking delivery of the car at no cost. Obviously, having panel gaps is not ideal, but it is not a performance or safety issue, like air bags that kill people or gas tanks that explode upon rear impact. Every manufacturer has recalls, Tesla can and is fixing the touch screen issue on a select number of early production vehicles. This is not even close to VW diesel gate or Takata air bags. I question the objectivity of those who focus on panel gaps while seeming to ignore the bigger picture, which is Tesla is creating some of the highest performing and safest production vehicles on the road. Vehicles that offer a total cost of ownership way below comparable ICE vehicles when you factor in fuel and maintenance savings. Are way better for the environment. Are capable of going 500k or more miles on the original electric drive drain and battery pack, providing more than double the life expectancy of an ICE vehicle. Its silly to say Tesla is making “throw away” vehicles given these realities. Panel gaps is the proverbial tree in the big ole forest.
Panel gaps are a tree in a forest, that's very true. I use them to represent my hesitancy to trust that they can make the rest of the car right. There are countless multiple hour long breakdowns of major issues of Tesla manufacturing. I'm sure you've read or watched them. The panel gaps are a quick reference to the situation as a whole.
And keep in mind, I'm not necessarily saying that Tesla makes a crap car. I'm saying I wouldn't own one, despite really wanting to. And I wouldn't own one because from what I've seen, they cut corners when manufacturing cars. Maybe they are corners that need to be cut, but I'll let others continue to be the guinea pigs on that one.
I'm not sure why you brought up Takata air bags; that recall also affected early model Teslas produced during the recall period.
With this whole conversation, I want to remind that we are not discussing whether or not Tesla is a successful company or likely to fail, we are talking about whether or not Tesla is worth more than Toyota, Nissan, GM, Ford, and Volkswagon combined, which, on the face of it is absurd (to me). Maybe I'm wrong. I don't see it.
So, if panel gaps are a deal breaker, I assume you’ll never buy from:
-Toyota after they had to recall 9.3 million vehicles due to unintended acceleration that killed 89 customers.
-Ford after tire tread separation and sudden blowouts left 271 dead. Or the 823 rollover deaths resulting from the faulty design of their Bronco. Or the 14 million Ford vehicles recalled to due cruise control deactivation switch fires.
-Volkswagen after they cooked the books for the diesel vehicle emissions. Of the 300k vehicles recalled due to fuel pump failure that lead to stalls at speed.
-GM after they recalled 2.6 million vehicles for faulty ignition switches that killed 303 customers.
-Fiat/Chyrsler after exploding gas tanks during low speed collisions resulted in 478 deaths and the company finally recalled 2.7 million vehicles 15 years after the first deaths!
I’m pretty sure a panel gap never killed or injured anyone. Tesla’s don’t have fuel tanks, fuel pumps, ignition switches, or single rollover death that I’m aware. IN fact, all of Tesla’s recalls have been for minor issues and not a single death has been attributed to a Tesla recall.
In 2020, there was a Tesla vehicle fire every 205 million miles. According to the National Fire Protection Association and the U.S. Department of Transportation, there is a vehicle fire once every 19 million miles. But, the panel gaps...
Tesla holds five star safety ratings on all four of its production vehicles. Tesla’s Model Y had the lowest rollover risk of any vehicle ever tested by NHSTA. The Model S, Model X, and Model 3 have all achieved the lowest overall probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by the U.S. government’s New Car Assessment program. Sure, but there’s still some vehicles with panel gaps...
In the 4th quarter of 2020, Tesla vehicles registered one accident for every 3.45 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. For those driving without Autopilot but with active safety features engaged, vehicles registered one accident for every 2.05 million miles driven. For vehicles driven without Autopilot and without active safety features engaged, vehicles registered one accident for every 1.27 million miles driven. By comparison, NHTSA’s most recent data shows that in the United States there is an automobile crash every 484,000 miles. Yeah, but what about the panel gaps!
I’m not trying to convince you to buy Tesla vehicles or stock. I just find it frustrating that all these existing manufacturers seem to get a pass on quality and safety, despite the documented history of issues, deaths, and cover ups. Yet, you are willing to extrapolate that Tesla’s are poorly made or unsafe because some early production vehicles have minor panel gap issues that are easily fixed and not safety related. Ignoring that Teslas have the highest safety and customer satisfaction ratings of any brand and there has not been a single recall related fatality. You free to assume what you want based on panel gaps, but the weight of the evidence/data suggests its the competition that routinely has safety, design and quality issues, not Tesla. Every meaningful and objective measure strongly indicates Tesla has exceptional build quality and safety as laid out above.
Don’t take my word for it. Go watch the tear down video’s done by Sandy Munro. Sandy will point out the panel gaps and express his disappointment that they exist, but then go on to rave about the overall build quality and how he could never have gotten Ford/GM to do the things Tesla is doing in their manufacturing process when he worked in Detroit. He’s constantly raving about Tesla’s pace of innovation and how quick they are to make improvements to their vehicles from one model year to the next.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj--iMtToRO_cGG_fpmP5XQAs for valuation, go look at other recent Tesla threads in this Investor forum, if you like. There are detailed discussions and I and other Tesla investors made our case. I’m not going to rehash it in detail again. I’ll only say, the company that is growing by 40-50% per year should be worth more than the companies with declining sales and soon to be stranded assets and outdated technology.