The Drive: Tesla's $16000 Quote for a $700 Fix Is Why Right to Repair Matters

They are able to. There are loads of YT videos on how to change batteries and screens and such.

However, Apple will not guarantee that the phone will have the same waterproof capabilities as it had originally. So if you drop your iPhone in a puddle and quickly retrieve it but it fizzled out, Apple will see that a non-authorized repair had been done and you will pay.

Apple is actually very generous on their policy. I have seen and heard of many cases where a person brought in a iPhone or other Apple device because something went wrong and walked out with a brand new device.
The Apple Store did that for me in 2010 when I unknowingly dropped my iPhone as I was getting out of my truck at Walgreens, and it was run over by the car in the next space as it backed out, cracking the screen of my iPhone.

Walked in and asked what they could do, expecting them to tell me they could replace the screen for a fee, maybe.

The clerk walked out with a brand new iPhone 4, at no cost to me.

They gained a customer for life!
 
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USA as the beacon for democracy should see how EU enforce all automakers in right to repair. Manufacturer like Tesla must share the schematic, repair manual and parts to independence mechanics. The supplier or OEM must allow to sell parts as aftermarket too.
The greediness of companies like APPLE and TESLA makes me never buy their product and stick with Ford, Toyota, and Honda with their PHEV and Hybrid until EV is not disposable anymore.
At least for any Toyota hybrid, we can buy the bush bar in the battery in case it is corroded, or some cooling parts or fan on the battery unit. We can do many things without special scanner by some sequences of brake and gas pedal pressing for some modes, etc. American and German companies make me sick on how they insult their buyer.
We buy car or electronics, and fully own it and we must have the right to repair and get the parts. We do not borrow it from Tesla or Apple.
I can’t deny that you make some good points.
 
I think it is a little premature to ascribe greed as the reason that Tesla's are not easy for the average DIY'er to get parts for or service.
How about giving them some time to get those things worked out ? My guess is that their resources at the moment are consumed with keeping up with demand and making constant and incremental improvements in their vehicles and production processes.

But in today's society, everyone is quick to claim victim status and assume the worst from corporations or other large entities.
 
The iPhone vs. $120 smartphone sidetrack is interesting.

First of all, Apple quite literally designs their own CPUs. Yes, they use the same basic framework as most others do(ARM), but everything is tightly integrated(SOC) to make it really speedy. The CPU in my laptop is a massively scaled-up version of the one in my iPhone 12, and yes it's phenomenal. Also, the A14 CPU is a 5nm CPU, which is at the cutting edge of chip fabrication and has a ton of real world advantages(more computing power for a given physical size and more energy efficient). Apple doesn't fab their own chips (yet), but instead farms them out to TSMC, although everyone else does also.

Second, when you buy an iPhone, you're not just paying for the phone. Yes, marketing does play into it, but so does the software and ecosystem it ties into. Yearly OS updates that actually function and aren't buggy are a big one. iCloud is another big one. Yes, you pay for a lot of iCloud services, but as an example I have similar amounts of storage in both iCloud and Dropbox(I use both for different things) and iCloud is less expensive by a decent amount. All of that stuff costs money-the programmers designing the OS, the datacenters that handle all of the iCloud functions, and all of the other stuff that comes with the phone.
 
The iPhone vs. $120 smartphone sidetrack is interesting.

First of all, Apple quite literally designs their own CPUs. Yes, they use the same basic framework as most others do(ARM), but everything is tightly integrated(SOC) to make it really speedy. The CPU in my laptop is a massively scaled-up version of the one in my iPhone 12, and yes it's phenomenal. Also, the A14 CPU is a 5nm CPU, which is at the cutting edge of chip fabrication and has a ton of real world advantages(more computing power for a given physical size and more energy efficient). Apple doesn't fab their own chips (yet), but instead farms them out to TSMC, although everyone else does also.

Second, when you buy an iPhone, you're not just paying for the phone. Yes, marketing does play into it, but so does the software and ecosystem it ties into. Yearly OS updates that actually function and aren't buggy are a big one. iCloud is another big one. Yes, you pay for a lot of iCloud services, but as an example I have similar amounts of storage in both iCloud and Dropbox(I use both for different things) and iCloud is less expensive by a decent amount. All of that stuff costs money-the programmers designing the OS, the datacenters that handle all of the iCloud functions, and all of the other stuff that comes with the phoneI
There is no doubt it is a good product but it is a disposable one too. Cars is not electronics that cost only few hundreds. It is meant to be kept for few generations if we can. Accessing the schematic, TSB, repair manuals, parts are important for long-term ownership beyond 20 years. What is the point going green with EV if they are disposable and created tons of waste because of expensive repairs. It is way greener to make 10 PHEV with 1 EV battery but everyone can access and repair it for decades like Toyota, Honda, or Ford. Tesla and Apple are bad companies who screws you for purely profit reasons. Apple does not allow chip supplier to sell their chips to independence repair, they make weird screws for nothing, Torx bit is already the best design. Afterall, it is easier to hack MacOS than Windows or Ubuntu.
 
Afterall, it is easier to hack MacOS than Windows or Ubuntu.

I'd like to see a reference for this. The only one I could find myself was a 10 year old article with someone saying basically "Yeah, I know how to do it, but I'm not going to tell you."

In general, *nix OSs(and macOS is UNIX) are very secure just thanks to basic concepts like even standard administrator accounts not having root access by default.
 
The good news is, I don't think the actual lessee of the Tesla is who repaired it. Hopefully the guy who put the pipe nipple on disguised it with some black JB Weld or silicone. Anyone who doesn't think Tesla wouldn't have repaired or parted out & resold that used battery pack is dreaming!
 
What is the point going green with EV if they are disposable and created tons of waste because of expensive repairs. It is way greener to make 10 PHEV with 1 EV battery but everyone can access and repair it for decades like Toyota, Honda, or Ford. Tesla and Apple are bad companies who screws you for purely profit reasons. Apple does not allow chip supplier to sell their chips to independence repair, they make weird screws for nothing, Torx bit is already the best design. Afterall, it is easier to hack MacOS than Windows or Ubuntu.

First off, it is a Tesla problem because of their non standard parts and non standard supply chain, non standard service and repair procedure. They screw up, just like any other small volume producers who changes its design and parts "just in time" and optimized for manufacturing instead of serviceability. VW is famous for this, Mercedes is famous for this, my GE microwave made in Malaysia is the same as well (defective touch pad design and a replacement that is integrated with stainless steel panel, leads to a $5 touch pad costing $180).

As my microwave example above, it is GE's fault, not "microwave in general are designed wrong".

Tesla if they design gasoline car would have the same problem as their EV. A Toyota Prius didn't have the same problem, nor would a Toyota EV that is mass produced and sold around the world.

Apple is a fashion company first and an engineering company next. If you want repairable products you should buy products from other companies famous for that instead. It has been nearly 10 years since Apple went in this direction, you should already know by now, there is nobody to blame if you keep buying their products knowing the problem and then complain about it later.

Fortunately most likely with the increasing volume of Tesla there will be aftermarket replacement, even Apple's will have replacement although they may be salvaged parts from dead iPhone or MacBook. Volume always lead to solutions.
 
The good news is, I don't think the actual lessee of the Tesla is who repaired it. Hopefully the guy who put the pipe nipple on disguised it with some black JB Weld or silicone. Anyone who doesn't think Tesla wouldn't have repaired or parted out & resold that used battery pack is dreaming!
For small volume odd things like this, manufacturer do toss it in the trash / recycle it instead of repairing it. The liability is there, the labor saving is not in such a small scale. They may save some cell and modules for test and engineering but for their own use only, it is not worth the time (you need to pay people to do odd work like this and it is expensive) if you make them in house anyways.

I probably toss away enough computer parts to run a library. Sometimes they are just not perfect and sometimes they are just old, but functional. It is not worth my salary to fix them all and then put it in the lab when they are all "odds" and cannot be cloned to each other for the same disk image.
 
Why wasn't the leased car insured? If it is insured then shouldn't insurance cover the repair?
From the article:
“To make matters worse, the owner's insurance policy didn't cover comprehensive claims from road debris, meaning he would be on his own to foot the five-figure repair bill.”
 
From the article:
“To make matters worse, the owner's insurance policy didn't cover comprehensive claims from road debris, meaning he would be on his own to foot the five-figure repair bill.”
As I understand it it's not that his comprehensive insurance didn't cover the claim, it's that he didn't actually have comprehensive insurance at the time of the accident.
 
Remember, there is no option buy a Model 3 at lease end; you have to turn it in.
He may be on the hook for some big bucks. Who knows?
How would they enforce it when the lease end? It would likely be bad PR and / or more costly to sue him in court to collect it.
 
If the owner of the Tesla didn't have adequate insurance coverage on a $50,000 vehicle, then he's a dope and will likely learn a valuable lesson.
I'm surprised that there wasn't a provision in the lease agreement that the car be insured in such a manner that Tesla assumes no risk.
Or maybe there was. In any case, this is not the fault of Tesla, but rather the fault of the owner.
 
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