New Video - Tesla's Competitors Can't Do This Until 2020!?

[David Green]

Christmas 2009 we had the first report of a Gen-3 Prius brake problem. It was intermittent so we started gathering facts and data in January 1, 2010:
Poll: Are Prius brakes a problem? | PriusChat

The question about Prius braking has occupied 2-3 threads with variable degrees of opinions and little or no metrics. This poll is to count, to get a metric, of who and how many have any experience with it. This is not to change impressions but just to measure how the community sees the problem.

Please, only those who have or have owned a Prius should vote. It is an open poll. Pick either "no experience" or two answers for either the 2010 or 2004-09 Prius.

I picked "no experience" for our 2010 Prius because I've only seen something like it once and I had to steer for a pot hole. This is less than once per month, in fact, only once since May 27, 2009. I can't complain about something that isn't happening in my observation.
. . .​

Within 2-3 months, the Gen-3 Prius community had figured out how to quantify and replicate the problem. At that point, Toyota had announced a fix that required spending time at the local Toyota Service center. Knowing how to replicate the problem, we quickly verified this obscure problem was fixed:

This problem took ~12 weeks of user initiated problem analysis until Toyota came up with a brake controller, software patch. In contrast, the Tesla problem was well documented by Consumer Reports and fixed in 1-2 weeks.

If others unfamiliar with problem diagnosis and fixes thinks this is outrageous, don't buy a Model 3. But to me, a life-long operating system and network engineer, this is like breaking the sound barrier.

Well done Tesla and Elon's team!

Bob Wilson

I agree... Great job Tesla, of course I agree with Consumer Reports that thorough testing of the car should have caught this before delivery, just like the wind noise, and back seat... but Tesla was able to dump those Beta models and now can make the car better for new customers. Sorry to the folks that bought the ones without the sound insulated windshields, and uncomfortable back seats... It does not always pay to be first in line...

 

[bwilson4web]

It does not always pay to be first in line...

Tesla does something else foreign to the usual suspects ... they update their cars on the line and do not wait for the next model year.

Bob Wilson

 

[David Green]

Tesla does something else foreign to the usual suspects ... they update their cars on the line and do not wait for the next model year.

Bob Wilson

I would rather buy a car that is throughly vetted, and updated before production runs, things like insulated laminated glass, and uncomfortable back seats, should not have been missed on production 001... This is why I have no problem buying I-Pace, I know jaguar did their homework, there will not be any glaring problems right off the get go. Jaguar for the last month has had hundreds of journalists driving I-Paces's throughout Europe and listening to feedback, they are also holding back the first produced models so they can make last minute fine tuning before delivery. This is the way the real companies do it when they want to have a smooth launch. Won't be 10K people with crappy seats, or an uninsulated windshield.

 

[Martin Williams]

Tesla does something else foreign to the usual suspects ... they update their cars on the line and do not wait for the next model year.

Bob Wilson

In fact, conventional car companies do this all the time. If they find - say - a door-lock motor can be obtained at lower cost from a new supplier, they go ahead and change it on the line. The individual vehicle's database is updated to reflect this so that should it fail, your dealer will be able to access this and be sure of getting you the right replacement. It may not be obvious to the driver, but cars of the same model are NOT necessarily identical.

If you think about it, making them absolutely identical would be pretty near impossible. Companies making door-lock motors or any of a thousand other component manufacturers might well go out of business, and what would you do then? I suppose you could buy all the components you'll ever need and store them in a warehouse, but all that capital tied up doing nothing would cause any accountant to weep openly!

Incorporating changes during production is well known to conventional manufacturers and they all do it. Rather better than Tesla from what I can make out, too.

I am slowly coming to the conclusion that Tesla has cut far too many corners in its attempt to grow rapidly. From what seems to be a rather poor Autopilot, to batteries which are likely to ignite if badly damaged, inability to meet - even downwardly revised - production targets, and variable quality the chickens are coming home to roost.

It is worth noting, by the way, that manufacturers of all sorts of machines sold in millions are keenly interested in the failure rates of the components used in them. If a component has a zero failure rate, it is overengineered, and a less expensive replacement is sought. Ideally, you want an acceptably low (but not zero) failure rate for ALL the components in the equipment you are selling.