Sign up for CleanTechnica's Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott's in-depth analyses and high level summaries, sign up for our daily newsletter, and/or follow us on Google News! A new study from the German Automobile Club (ADAC) tells us what we’ve always suspected would be the case — electric cars ... [continued]
A lot of what people have heard about being one of the least reliable cars is from the mandatory inspections in Germany.
If there’s any rust on your brakes, the car fails the inspection. Teslas have some pretty aggressive and good regen/one pedal driving so people don’t use the brakes often. You’re supposed to use the brakes with some heavy braking to help clear it over time. People don’t do this, they take the car in, and it fails since it has some rust on it. Just using the brakes would clear it though.
The earlier Model 3 also had a problem with the front suspension which could cause a fail, there’s a service bulletin on that one.
The Model S also had some air suspension issues, but from my understanding, who doesn’t have air suspension issues (but I might be wrong)
Take those things, add on all the other small quantity issues, and it was ranked one of if not the worst vehicle the 1st year they were coming up to the age inspections were required.
A lot of what people have heard about being one of the least reliable cars is from the mandatory inspections in Germany.
If there’s any rust on your brakes, the car fails the inspection. Teslas have some pretty aggressive and good regen/one pedal driving so people don’t use the brakes often. You’re supposed to use the brakes with some heavy braking to help clear it over time. People don’t do this, they take the car in, and it fails since it has some rust on it. Just using the brakes would clear it though.
The earlier Model 3 also had a problem with the front suspension which could cause a fail, there’s a service bulletin on that one.
The Model S also had some air suspension issues, but from my understanding, who doesn’t have air suspension issues (but I might be wrong)
Take those things, add on all the other small quantity issues, and it was ranked one of if not the worst vehicle the 1st year they were coming up to the age inspections were required.