When something as weird as a roof lifting off of a car happens, the manufacturer should take measures – promote a recall, for example. As you know, that happened to the Tesla Model Y Nathaniel Chien’s family had just received on October 5. Some days later, Brian Sparks warned us Tesla was apparently taking action: it asked Joe Fraga to inspect his two-week Model Y and said its roof would have to be replaced.
Fraga shared that at the Tesla Model Y Facebook group on October 14. We contacted him to learn more about the situation, and Fraga told us that Tesla spontaneously contacted him. In other words, he never complained about any issues with its roof to the company.
“I received an email from Tesla asking me to bring my vehicle in so they could ensure the safety of the roof.”
Surprised about that, Fraga took his car to the Tesla Service Center and received bad news.
“They discovered it was defective, didn’t say what was wrong but said it would take a few days to get what they needed to fix it. That was Wednesday. I have not heard anything yet.”
Fraga is pretty much in the dark about what the issue was. Sharing his story on Facebook made him meet the Tesla supporters that cannot conceive the company could not do anything wrong.
He also saw jokes about the company’s numerous issues with the glass gluing process – with urethane, to be more precise. Even Sandy Munro pointed it out in his Model Y teardown process.
More than anything, the Facebook post helped him learn about other cases of roof issues. Since we did not contact all the people involved, we'll just mention their initials. SC mentioned his car presented leaks and had to have its rear window replaced after only five days of ownership. NM said his Model Y’s roof was replaced due to a stress crack. That is something shattering rear windows in the car are also presenting.
LHP then said his Tesla technician told him the company is recalling “a large group of VINs both before and after ‘the car that made news for losing its roof.’” BO said that Tesla is contacting “60 vehicles before and 60 vehicles after production to check.” That would be a VIN around 551XX.
More News On Tesla Model Y Issues:
We'd contact Tesla to clarify this, but the company does not talk to the press. That said, we need our readers' help to learn more about the situation. If Tesla asked to inspect the roof of your car recently – regardless of being a Model Y or not – get in touch at contact@insideevs.com or through our Facebook page.
Although it is nice to learn that Tesla is taking action, even voluntary recalls demand NHTSA to be informed. We’ll ask the agency if that was the case. If Tesla claims this inspection does not involve safety, that is not what it told Joe Fraga about the problem. The word “safety” is very evident there. And any safety issue demands a proper recall.
Source: Tesla Model Y Facebook group and Brian Sparks