SecondaryDAO

I wanted to share a scary experience I recently had with my Tesla, both as a warning to other owners and because I’m extremely disappointed with how Tesla handled it afterward. I put my dog in the car and ran back inside for a minute to grab something. When I came back out, the car suddenly would not recognize either my phone/mobile key OR my Tesla key card. I had no idea what was happening and tried quickly searching online for a solution. It was about 85 outside and probably around 95 inside the car. My dog was locked inside with no air conditioning. We called the police and Tesla Roadside Assistance around the same time. Roadside eventually connected me with someone who remotely checked the car and told me that the low-voltage battery had died. I had received NO warning that the battery was about to fail. By this point, my dog had been trapped in the hot car for close to 30 minutes. The police were unable to get into the car through the lock, and Tesla did not provide us with a way to quickly access it. Given the temperature and the risk to my dog, the Tesla representative agreed that breaking a window was the appropriate thing to do. So that’s what we did. Later that day, I had the car jumped and drove it—with a missing window—to the Tesla Service Center. Between replacing the low-voltage battery and the broken window, the repair was approximately $1,200. What bothers me more than the repair bill is Tesla’s response. I contacted Roadside Assistance again, spoke with the Chesterfield Service Center and its manager, and contacted Tesla customer service after paying for the repairs. Tesla offered no assistance or reimbursement. I understand that batteries fail. What I have a much harder time accepting is that a low-voltage battery can apparently fail without warning, disable normal access to the vehicle, and leave an animal (or potentially an infant) trapped inside without an obvious quick method of entry. In my opinion, that is a serious safety/design issue. I’m sharing this primarily so other Tesla owners know this can happen. If you regularly travel with children or pets, I would strongly recommend learning NOW what your options are if the low-voltage battery dies and neither your phone nor key card will unlock the vehicle. You don’t want to be trying to figure it out on Google while someone you love is trapped inside a rapidly heating car. I’ve owned the car and supported Tesla, but I was extremely disappointed by the lack of ownership or accountability after this happened. After this experience, particularly the way Tesla handled it afterward, my next vehicle will probably be a Rivian. Hopefully sharing this prevents another Tesla owner from finding themselves in the same situation. Via Larry Weinberg