Energy
Monday, August 29th, 2022 7:59 am EDT
Details are scarce, but it seems as if a number of Tesla buyers in Norway, fed up with ongoing customer support and vehicle quality issues, have called a hunger strike in a bid to get Tesla CEO Elon Musk to fix their cars.
Like, that’s literally the plan. The website reads:
HELP US GET IN TOUCH WITH ELON
We are a group of dissatisfied Norwegian Tesla owners.
We believe that if Elon Musk is made aware of our troubles, he will solve the situation. Please help us get his attention.CONTACT US AT:
teslahungerstrike@gmail.com
Depending on how far this thing eventually goes, it will be the latest in a growing line of criticisms regarding service against Elon Musk’s pioneering EV brand, which Consumer Reports named the second-worst brand overall in consumer reliability surveys last year (and that was before customers began complaining about their cars’ steering yokes disintegrating with fewer than 30,000 miles on the clock).
only 12,000 miles on my Plaid Model S and this is already happening? @Tesla @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/mlz2tdZKdu
— jf.okay (@therealjfokay) August 23, 2022
For their part, the people behind the website do seem to have legitimate complaints, as it’s not the first time I’ve read several of the complaints issued in the laundry list of issues the group is asking Musk to fix. Though, clearly, not all of these issues affect all customers, or even most customers. However, presumably, at least some of the owners engaging in the hunger strike have had these issues. To wit, that list includes:
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The car won’t start in cold weather
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Door handles won’t open in cold weather
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Intense squeaking noise
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Car won’t start in warm weather
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“Bubbles” in seats
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Loose front seat
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Trunk lid filled with rain water
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Autopilot does not work properly
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Internet is slow and does not work as it ought to
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The wipers do not work (well enough)
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The car creaks when you pass speed bumps and other bumps in the road
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Decorative moldings loosen
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The lights do not work properly
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The doors stop working properly
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Doors that open by themselves
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The computer does not work
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Yellow edges around the display screens
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Windows that do not close completely
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Systems reset on their own
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Problems charging
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Reduced power
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Rust problems on new cars (especially Model 3)
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Poor paint quality means that the car has to be repainted
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You were promised free charging throughout the car’s lifetime, but the new charging stations do not fit the car
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Lower battery life than Tesla claims
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Problems with the air conditioner
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Not all problems are solved when the car is serviced
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Tesla promise to contact you, but you do not hear from them
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You have to wait on the phone for a long time before Tesla answers
“Norway is by far the number 1 Tesla country in the world,” reads the website, drawing attention to the country’s status as an EV market leader. “We are the canary in the coal mine.”
Whether or not you believe that is up to you. For my part, I feel like a hunger strike is a serious thing — even if it’s only threatened. Besides that, it seems like a pretty excessive answer to a problem that could be easily resolved by buying another car. Sort of like the “If you don’t like what’s on TV, change the channel” argument — you know?
As such, my inclination is to give this one a 60/40 against being a real hunger strike. And, frankly, I’d given it worse odds of being real (close to zero) until Elon started tweeting about the supposed health benefits of fasting, which a Redditor going by u/pdq believes might be an effort to search-optimize the hunger strike.
On advice of a good friend, I’ve been fasting periodically & feel healthier
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2022
I’ve emailed the teslahungerstrike@gmail.com address asking for more information, but don’t know how long I should wait for a response. I thought about calling the Tesla PR department for comment, but that’s quite famously not a thing. So just trust that we’ll update the post as soon as there’s there’s some kind of official comment and/or we hear back from Tesla/the strikers.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think of all this. Is it real? Is Erlend Mørch (the apparent voice of the group) a parody account? Even if these guys are serious, should they be taken seriously — or is this a level 5 freak-out in response to a first-world problem? Scroll on down to the comments and let us know what you think.
Tesla Buyers in Norway Call a Hunger Strike
Source | Images: Tesla Hunger Strike.
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