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Comment by zionic | Hacker News Reader

My parents bought a brand new BMW X5 once. One of the back doors wouldn’t open and they didn’t find out until they got home.

Somehow the car was built, shipped, etc and no BMW employee ever tried to open all 4 doors. BMW had to replace the entire door.

Of course, stories like that never hit the front page of hackernews.

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Did it take going to a third party and paying them to prove that there was an issue with the door, or were they able to go to a dealer? Did BMW refuse to pay for said third party? Did BMW refuse to give her a loaner and instead gave them cab vouchers? Did BMW refuse to accept the car as a return and give your parents their money back? Did BMW, after refusing to give your parents their money back delay at least 3 times to return the fixed car because they don't have insight into their own parts supply line?

Was the BMW produced using automated methods hailed as the future of car manufacture?

Because I doubt any of those are true and those all, especially in total, contribute to why this is on the ground page.

Did BMW tell your parents that the door not opening was normal and expected behavior?

This is just a lie. The Tesla rep said it sounded normal but that they would confirm so when the vehicle was brought in for the appointment. They never said a missing brake pad was normal and expected.

Except it isn't factually correct to say that a grinding sound is normal. Either the rep wasn't honest, made a call they should not have, or isn't trained correctly.

Tesla brake grinding to a certain extend is actually normal or my car is also has a defect. Since I use my brake so rarely. It happens all the time that they rust and I need to brake a bit to have the grinding disappear.

I could imagine the rap thought that was what the owner was hearing.

your car doesn’t sound like this. squealing is normal, this is clearly metal on metal.

rust buildup is also removed within the first few applications of the brakes.

if your car sounds like this get it checked before you have problems.

You are correct. I should have such such a grinding sound in a new car warranted a second look.

Or the crappy audio from the smartphone video didn’t portray the sound well and isn’t a good tool for diagnosing vehicle issues.

no, it’s quite clear from the audio that there’s metal on metal contact. even with metallic brake pads they don’t sound like this.

Missing a brake pad would be like shipping the car without that door

no, you can easily buy a brake pad. you shouldn’t have to, but it’s still a consumable. a door is another question.

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