this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024
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Tens of thousands of Tesla owners have had the suspension or steering of their vehicles — even in practically brand new ones — fail in recent years. Newly obtained documents show how Tesla engineers internally called these incidents "flaws" and "failures."

Nonetheless, some of the documents suggest technicians were told to tell consumers that these failures weren't due to faulty parts, but the result of drivers "abusing" their vehicles, which highlights the EV maker and its CEO Elon Musk's infamous way of handling customer complaints.

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[–] 1984@lemmy.today 31 points 10 months ago (26 children)

So much talk about Tesla. It's like people don't realize Tesla is not even relevant anymore. They were first with good electric cars, but their cars all have reliability problems and tech problems.

In the mean time, other manufacturers like Kia is eating their lunch without much publicity. :)

[–] MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca 26 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Unfortunately Tesla is still relevant in that you can actually buy a Tesla sedan or suv with very little hassle.

Meanwhile I’ve been on a waitlist for years for a GM EV that has been “launched” but with not a peep about my order.

One of my friends got so dicked around by dealers and waiting he bought a Tesla, and it wasn’t even on his list because of lack of CarPlay.

[–] Vodulas@beehaw.org 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I've seen bolts and bolt EUVs in stock pretty readily, but Not sure which GM EV you are referencing. If you are still looking for a small SUV, I really like the Nissan Aryia and VW ID.4, and those should be easy to get. Kia dealers are shit almost across the board, and I have doubts about longevity.

[–] MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca 8 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Bolt is too small, the ID4 can’t fit 3 car seats comfortably either, and the Aryia is too small and is a sad excuse for an ev, especially given the legacy of the Leaf.

The Buzz comes close but isn’t widely available, the EV9 would fit the bill were it not for its excessive size. That size also rules out the R1T.

What I want is essentially a lifted full-sized wagon, which in ICE terms is like an Outback or Sorento.

Enter GM with the Lyriq/Blazer/Prologue. Perfect dimensions, reasonable range.

Except they haven’t shipped them, and they announced they are stripping CarPlay starting this year.

Lucid has an SUV that might do if I was rich.

Or I can walk into a Tesla store today and buy a model Y with more range, less weight, a great charging network with a future proof connector, and a more proven platform than the unproven and rather piggish Ultium platform. I could buy the Y, put my fucking child car seats in and be done.

Now I’m not buying a Tesla because fuck Elon and fuck not having CarPlay, but you can see why they are so relevant.

There are simply too many unfilled niches in the EV market.

[–] ebc@lemmy.ca 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have 4 kids and I don't want to pay over 100k for a car. Believe it or not, there is currently no EV option on the market. It's looking like the EV9 will be the first...

[–] MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago

Yeah I feel ya. Funny thing is as soon as the EV9 starts selling Tesla is gonna drop model X price. They’ll also undercut the Escalade IQ with that same stroke.

The honest truth is only VW has what it takes, but they have to commit.

[–] Vodulas@beehaw.org 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I had not considered that many kids. Yeah, not really much on the market. Subaru needs to get their shit together

[–] MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Subaru’s EV future is tied to Toyota, and Toyota is fucking around.

They don’t have the capital to pursue an EV on their own unless it’s a rebadge or repackage, maybe in 5 years when EV components get more commoditized.

[–] abhibeckert@beehaw.org 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

They don’t have the capital to pursue an EV

Yes they do. It's just they're choosing to spend all of it on hydrogen, which the Japanese companies still think is better than batteries.

Supposedly hydrogen cars are a solved problem now, all the investment is going into infrastructure. The ability to fill your tank in a few minutes is useless if there's nowhere to fill up.

[–] MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I was referring to Subaru not having enough capital.

But in terms of Hydrogen, it is either a product of fossil fuel extraction via natural gas, or a product of electrolysis at a huge cost of electricity which is better spent charging an EV.

It’s never gonna be widely adopted(which is why Toyota is pivoting after their ceo stepped down).

[–] Radiant_sir_radiant@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago

Have you looked at a Volvo XC40/XC60 or even EX30, if available where you live? They're not perfect, but spacious, very pleasant to drive, generally very reliable, safe, with decent range and CarPlay (though not Android Auto).

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Hmm. In Europe nobody talks about GM for electric cars, it's all Kia now.... Do you have Kia around?

[–] MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The local Hyundai/KIA dealer dicked me around when I went to test drive a car. They also add absurd markups to the EV6. There are already headlines about KIA asking dealers not to do similar markups on the EV9.

Also the reliability track record for Kia is mixed for ICE cars, they made defective oil-consuming engines and tried to cover it up.

Their EVs show a similar pattern.

https://m.carcomplaints.com/Kia/EV6/2022/ https://m.carcomplaints.com/Tesla/Model_3/2022/

Tesla being mediocre doesn’t mean Kia isn’t shit-tier.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah I know, Kia is absolutely not perfect. But feels like better then Tesla to me. They have been knocking it out of the park lately with great designed cars that look like from the future. But yes there are some reliability issues still with them too.

[–] MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Yeah I went to the Kia dealer due to those designs.

The real missing player here is Japan. But as the saying goes, Japan has been stuck in the year 2000 since 1980.

[–] sonori@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago

It frustrates me to no end that the automakers who are known for their boring but practical cars and who’s customer base is the most likely to want an EV are instead still messing around with hydrogen becuse the Japanese government sunk a lot of money into a nuclear hydrogen plant and can’t stand the idea of just using it for industrial applications.

Like even if it works, produces masses of cheap hydrogen and makes it cost competitive, you would still need to license and build dozens of new plants in each market you wanted to export to, which means maybe the cars become viable for export by 2030, by which time your not competing with gas vehicles but electric ones.

Once people get used to the convenience filling up for cheap at home, I suspect it will be really hard to get them to go back to going out and spending five to fifteen minutes every single week driving to the gas station.

[–] erwan@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Europe is large and diverse, what country are you talking about?

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