# Brand new Model 3 AWD long range dead in garage after 10 hrs of ownership



## Huzz (6 mo ago)

I received a text that my new ordered car had an issue with the 12 volt battery and I will be notified if the delivery the next day will still be on schedule.
Tesla sourced a battery at another store and I took delivery of my 2022 Model 3 on Wed 06/29/2022 at 2pm and traded in my PERFECT 2019 Model 3 RWD with 46k miles.
Drove it home 45 miles, moved into it and charged it to 80% overnight.
Woke up at 4:30 AM the next day for work and my phone would not communicate, but worked fine for my wife's 2021 Model Y.
Tried the Key Card and that did not work. The 12 volt lithium- ion was stone dead @ .5 volts.
Had it towed back to Tesla Friday 07/01/2022 and there it sits.
Still no diagnosis yet.
Any comments or insights would be greatly appreciated.
I have had ZERO issues with both of my other Tesla's until this. 
I am in NJ and have been in the automotive new car business my whole life as a Tech and currently as a Service Advisor.
One thing I have noticed over the years is that a new car with issues usually ends up with ongoing multiple issues.
That I am worried about and also if they can fix this issue.
This car should have NEVER been delivered to me knowing there was an issue.


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## Luvtordrive (7 mo ago)

Hey Huzz, that’s an awful story. I just picked up my MYP in early June and fortunately have had no issues with it. I‘m in NJ too and I remember that NJ always had a “Lemon Law” covering issues with new cars during the first x number of days of ownership. you could return the car for a refund or replacement I believe. Would it apply to a new Tesla?


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## sonoswen (Sep 13, 2021)

> >>>>>>>>>"This car should have NEVER been delivered to me knowing there was an issue."<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


very sorry to hear of your "problem"
give em hell.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

This is most likely either just a bad 12V lithium battery, or a bad PCS. They will find out quickly enough which one it is.


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## Huzz (6 mo ago)

They allegedly replaced the 12 volt lithium-ion battery just prior to delivery and the car charged normally at home up to 80% with no issues.
The next morning the 12 volt was discharged completely, but the main battery showed the correct 80% overnight charge.
Currently, the Dealer said they are performing a virtual over the air diagnostics and will get the report next week.


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## mrau (Nov 22, 2018)

Sounds like some sort of constant draw on the 12 volt battery. That is probably what killed the first battery before delivery. Of course just changing the battery won't fix the problem and it occurred again. Once Tesla SC figures out what the problem is, then I would not expect any other issues. Seems like your main traction battery is doing just fine.

Sorry you are going through this. On a side not, as a Service Advisor you will have a fresh understanding how some of your customers must feel with their problems. 

Be sure to keep us posted on the final resolution.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

The PCS is inside the main battery and what keeps the lithium 12V charged. If if‘s not doing that - a small lithium battery has a lot of power, and the car has very little 12V draw, so that little battery is probably capable of running the car’s accessories for a day or so before going flat, Which is exactly what yours did.

So it could be they just got a bad lithium 12V battery, but the next best subject would be the PCS. After that might be one of the controllers has an internal fault and does something to consume a lot of power but not enough to trip a soft circuit breaker.


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## TomT (Apr 1, 2019)

Luvtordrive said:


> I remember that NJ always had a “Lemon Law” covering issues with new cars during the first x number of days of ownership. you could return the car for a refund or replacement I believe. Would it apply to a new Tesla?


No, there are a number of things that have to happen to invoke the lemon law and it would not apply to a new car with a one-time problem...


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

You can probably pop the frunk with the emergency opening method and put a charger on the battery. That's not fixing the problem, but can get you back on the road if needed and at least get it out of the garage if they need to tow it.


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

Deep sleep, just resting it’s vision


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## francoisp (Sep 28, 2018)

Does Tesla still have its 30 days satisfaction guaranteed or you get your money back?


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## iChris93 (Feb 3, 2017)

francoisp said:


> Does Tesla still have its 30 days satisfaction guaranteed or you get your money back?


If I recall correctly, it was never 30 days and it doesn’t exist anymore.


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## francoisp (Sep 28, 2018)

iChris93 said:


> If I recall correctly, it was never 30 days and it doesn’t exist anymore.


You're right, it was 7 days and less than 1000 miles.


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## Huzz (6 mo ago)

UPDATE
They still have the car andI had to call for a status update on Friday since they have never called or texted with any updates to at least keep me informed.
I was told the inverter harness needs to be replaced. Power in and no power out. They swapped a harness from another car and it worked, so the part was ordered.
I'll keep my fingers crossed.


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## Huzz (6 mo ago)

OK
Got a text late yesterday the car is ready for pickup.
They found high resistance in the Pyro fuse circuit. They replaced the high voltage controller, pyro fuse and harness.
I picked it up at 6:15 this morning and drove it to my job 15 minutes away.
#1 The white exterior was so dirty from rain and dirt that it looks like a Dalmatian. I need to clean it tommorow.
#2 The windows would not close fully and I had to reconfigure them myself.
#3 The red air bag light came on as I started to drive.
#4 The tech did not road test the car after repairs were completed. It was towed in at 71 miles. Picked it up with 71 miles.
This a a brand new car! I always road tested every car I ever worked on and verified the repairs made. 
Very disappointed in the utter lack of Pride with the completion and delivery process. ZERO Quality CONTROL
This was a perfect opportunity for them to deliver to me a shiny new car after spending 2 weeks in the shop.
Called the service writer who sounded rushed and overwhelmed and didn't even remember my name until I spelled out my car and repair.
He told me the air bag has nothing to do with the the repair they did and I need to set up an appointment with Mobile Service.

I love Tesla's but something is truly wrong on the service end at least in this dealer.
It's a high quality classy Brand and the service end needs to reflect that. 
If it's too much of a work load, extend the hrs or run a 2nd shift and make quality control a priority.

I am off tomorrow and will be moving back into my car.
The air bag will be looked at next Thursday unless the fix it over the air wave.

It does run and handle great.
Hz


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

A bad pyro fuse? I guess at least you had a _new_ issue...

The air bag light could just be because they let the 12V battery die completely when they had the HV system disconnected. Air bag systems tend to not let go of transient errors.


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## Huzz (6 mo ago)

I have the car totally cleaned up and it drives great. The air bag light turned off and I am debating if I should still keep the Mobile Tech appointment this Thursday.
On a side note:
I received a message from Tesla to fill out a survey on my recent service visit and since I kind of vented all my frustrations on this site, I don't have the heart to
send in anything but a good score. I do have my car back finally which I am grateful for and I also learned what it is like being on the other side of the counter as a customer.
It was a learning experience which can only help me at my current job as a Service Advisor.


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## Klaus-rf (Mar 6, 2019)

Huzz said:


> OK
> Got a text late yesterday the car is ready for pickup.
> They found high resistance in the Pyro fuse circuit. They replaced the high voltage controller, pyro fuse and harness.
> I picked it up at 6:15 this morning and drove it to my job 15 minutes away.
> ...


Welcome to Tesla. Where "Customer Service" isn't even in the top twenty list.
Wish I could say your poor experience is unique, but it's not.


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## francoisp (Sep 28, 2018)

Huzz said:


> I received a message from Tesla to fill out a survey on my recent service visit and since I kind of vented all my frustrations on this site, I don't have the heart to send in anything but a good score. I do have my car back finally which I am grateful for and I also learned what it is like being on the other side of the counter as a customer.
> It was a learning experience which can only help me at my current job as a Service Advisor.


Giving a good note for crappy service is one reason why Tesla Service isn't improving.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

francoisp said:


> Giving a good note for crappy service is one reason why Tesla Service isn't improving.


They don't even read the feedback anymore. None of the companies that send them out do, they just keep sending out the feedback requests because everyone else does.


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## francoisp (Sep 28, 2018)

JasonF said:


> They don't even read the feedback anymore. None of the companies that send them out do, they just keep sending out the feedback requests because everyone else does.


I'm not sure about "everyone". A company I used to work for did review the surveys and discussed the results in meetings. Do we know for sure Tesla isn't looking at them?


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## iChris93 (Feb 3, 2017)

francoisp said:


> Do we know for sure Tesla isn't looking at them?


No, but they certainly seem to fall on deaf ears.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

francoisp said:


> I'm not sure about "everyone". A company I used to work for did review the surveys and discussed the results in meetings. Do we know for sure Tesla isn't looking at them?


I really doubt they do, unless they read them in meetings at the service center to laugh at them. If it actually affected anyone’s job or whether the service center gets a corporate review, they would have someone call to ask why you were unhappy.


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## iChris93 (Feb 3, 2017)

JasonF said:


> I really doubt they do, unless they read them in meetings at the service center to laugh at them. If it actually affected anyone’s job or whether the service center gets a corporate review, they would have someone call to ask why you were unhappy.


So, I actually left a 1-star review for my last service appointment for several reasons including they sent me home without fixing the issue. Since the issue isn’t fixed, I still have to deal with this service center. They’ve actually called me to talk about the issue instead of just messaging me through the app. Just getting someone on the phone makes me think they’re responding to my dissatisfaction.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

iChris93 said:


> So, I actually left a 1-star review for my last service appointment for several reasons including they sent me home without fixing the issue. Since the issue isn’t fixed, I still have to deal with this service center. They’ve actually called me to talk about the issue instead of just messaging me through the app. Just getting someone on the phone makes me think they’re responding to my dissatisfaction.


I guess that shows that some of the service centers still care. It hasn't been the story with a lot of them, though. And if you get a survey from Disney, Spectrum, Comcast, or Home Depot, nobody even reads them or cares.

The Orlando service center did care the last time I was there, but they had a major problem that they even complained about _to me_ - that there is only one service center for the entire metro area, and they're buried deep in a 2 week minimum backlog. I don't mean they'll fix the car in 2 weeks, I mean it will sit there for 2 weeks before anyone even looks at it (and they only have 2 loaners, both of which are in high demand). They were nice enough to discourage me from going there and changing my service request so it qualified for mobile service instead.

Ironically what makes me most nervous about that (which is funny considering I'm out of warranty now) is if my windshield glass gets damaged. Safelite still can't seem to get ahold of Tesla windshields, and getting Tesla to replace it would mean _leaving the car with them for 2 weeks with no loaner_. Or taking the chance that maybe the Melbourne or Sarasota service centers are less busy, but that's quite a distance away and would require renting another car to get home (Uber credits won't help you when the drivers don't want to go that far).

My point is I do understand the difference between a service center that doesn't care, and one that is stuck neck deep in mud and just can't do any better.


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