Tesla Model Y buyers turn to quality checklists

If Model Y finally outperforms popular Model 3, Tesla has to get the right quality first.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at the Model Y launch in March 2019 that “we will probably do more Y models than S, X and 3 combined.”

That could happen, but anecdotal evidence on YouTube, the Tesla and Reddit forums indicate that the automaker must check quality first. Production of Model Y began approximately in January of this year.

Document and then decide

“The Bearded Guy from Tesla,” who, according to his YouTube videos, loves his Model AND yet felt compelled to post a video, “Tesla Model Y Delivery Checklist” in late May.

“It is really important that when you go to receive the delivery, you point things out. This is your opportunity to document things that you are noticing need to be addressed in the car, ”she said in the video (below).

Among the topics he cited were “knocks on the pillars … holes in the panels … scratches on the windows … the taillights are not positioned correctly” among a number of other items to check. The complete list is here.

“Know what I know now” was necessary to create a checklist, owner Justin Demaree told me in an email.

Other owners of Model Y have done the same or linked to checklists published by other owners.

One owner even rejected his initial delivery of the Model Y, as explained on Reddit in mid-June, though he finally received the delivery.

“There are many people who have complained about the build quality of the Model Y, so I was concerned enough to bring a checklist. I’ve never done that when buying a car before, ”owner Carter Rabasa told me in an email.

Another Model Y owner on Reddit documented the issues with his Model Y in an extensive photo gallery posted on June 27.

However, the opinion on quality issues of Model Y is not uniform

The cases cited above are just a few examples * from a growing list of new Model Y owners with quality issues. (See this post: Media Dings Tesla on Model Y quality issues.)

But there are owners on the Tesla forums who claim that instances of serious quality issues are rare.

A common rebuttal is that there is a “silent majority” that has no outstanding problems and that the people citing problems are a noisy minority.

And other forum commenters claim that Teslas is over-screened and punctuated at the time of delivery and that it can find quality issues with any car at the time of delivery if you look hard enough.

And there are also upbeat reviews of Model Y, like this Edmunds video and this Jay Leno review and this recent installment video.

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NOTES

* Two weeks ago, I heard from a professional car friend who has been trying to advise a close friend (his) on how to tackle a number of problems with a new Model Y.