Tesla seatbelt problem and trader ignoring emails

melb

many thanks for all your further comments and advice.  My partner loves the car and so do I and if it wasn't for this problem we would be highly delighted with our purchase. 

As it happens this hasn't occurred for the last couple of days. 

 As far as not wanting to pay for the Tesla main dealer to see if there is a problem, it is hardly within their best interests to say so. The internet is full of people who have bought new Teslas (back in 2016) and have had exactly the same problem so it's nothing to do with being an old car as someone said.  They all seem to get fobbed off by Tesla with excuses ranging from 'it's supposed to work like that' to some garbage about fitting car seats in the States.  Well if this car was in the states the passenger seat would be on the other side so I highly doubt it.

My point is why would we lie about such an issue?  We could have rejected the car within the 14 days had we changed our mind - the reason we didn't is because we thought the seller would arrange to fix this potentially dangerous issue.  We emailed the seller within a couple of days of the car being delivered.

Thanks for the suggestion about a seatbelt extended but I have read these can impact on the function of the seatbelt.

Thank you Nologo i will give that a try.

[DELETED USER] I didn't realise they had so many design flaws and durability issues.  Can you give me any ideas of what we should be looking out for?

Norman_Castle

melb said:

The internet is full of people who have bought new Teslas (back in 2016) and have had exactly the same problem so it's nothing to do with being an old car as someone said. 

If its a common problem is there a known fix?

Try asking on the consumer rights board.

melb

No there are lots of forum posts but none have a resolution apart from one where the man's wife spoke to Tesla herself(presumably it was a brand new car), gave them a piece of her mind and they fitted a new seatbelt!

melb

so this is the response we have evetually received

Thank you for getting in contact with us regarding your Tesla Model S seatbelt. By all means we will replace or repair your seatbelt under warranty if it is found to be faulty. However, from what you have described this sounds like normal behaviour for the type of seatbelt fitted to the Model S.

As per page 18 of the Tesla Model S Owner's Manual;

"Both the driver and passenger seats are equipped with three-point inertia reel seat belts. Inertia reel belts are automatically tensioned to allow occupants to move comfortably during normal driving conditions. The seat belt reel automatically locks to prevent movement of occupants if Model S experiences a force associated with hard acceleration, braking, cornering, or an impact in a collision."

The seatbelts are designed to pull tight when they experience any decent forces and will then stay tight until slack can be introduced. Sometimes this may require unplugging the seatbelt to introduce some slack at which point the belt will return to normal operation. If you have a look online at forums etc. you will see this is a normal operating process for the Model S seatbelt. Eg: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/seat-belt-tightens-and-then-doesnt-release.93619/ 

If you would like your seatbelt to be investigated, this is something we can book in for you. If the seatbelt does have a genuine fault, then of course we will be happy to repair or replace the item however if the part is functioning correctly and is found to be fault free there may be a charge for the labour time incurred.

I hope that this information is helpful for you. Please let us know if you have any further questions and we will be happy to help.

So apparently it's normal for a passenger to be rendered immobile by a seatbelt!  We had previously pointed out that while travelling at 24 mph the seatbelt tightened itself twice within 5 minutes.

Any advise as to how to respond to this? thanks

AdrianC

That's not what it says...

They have not seen the car or the problem, so are making no commitment neither way. Yet.

They will happily look.
if it's normal, you pay for their time.
if it's not normal, they fix FOC.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

[Deleted User]

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melb

hi sorry to resurrect this old post.  The seatbelt has behaved correctly during the last 2 weeks which is good news.  The selling garage are still willing for the seatbelt to be looked at by Tesla but as it is a random fault there is a chance they will not find it faulty in which case we would be liable for labour costs apparently.

They have asked us to make a video to show the fault but obviously we can't if it is behaving as it should.

I just came back as I wanted to ask AdrianC if there is something I can quote in consumer law about the clock stopping as soon as the fault is notified to the seller, which in our case was on day 2 after delivery.

This is because we would like to reply that we would not like to avail ourselves of their offer for Tesla to look at the seatbelt but we wish to reserve the right to do so in the future (obviously within reason) should the fault reoccur.

thanks

AdrianC

melb said:

I just came back as I wanted to ask AdrianC if there is something I can quote in consumer law about the clock stopping as soon as the fault is notified to the seller, which in our case was on day 2 after delivery.

This is because we would like to reply that we would not like to avail ourselves of their offer for Tesla to look at the seatbelt but we wish to reserve the right to do so in the future (obviously within reason) should the fault reoccur.

The relevant time is the time of notifying the supplier.

But that doesn't mean you can indefinitely delay because you think it's OK now. If you've flagged the issue, then proceed through getting it checked.

It's a seatbelt. It's a car that's still £40k at 5yo. It's a hundred quid.

melb

yeh you're right AdrianC and thanks for replying.  

born_again

melb said:

hi sorry to resurrect this old post.  The seatbelt has behaved correctly during the last 2 weeks which is good news.  The selling garage are still willing for the seatbelt to be looked at by Tesla but as it is a random fault there is a chance they will not find it faulty in which case we would be liable for labour costs apparently.

Wonder if it had not been used much and got a bit gummed up, as such not working as it should. Now its been used more it cleaned itself up and works properly.

BTW. It's nice to have a update. As for old post... A couple of years before it gets there 👀