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Comment by bastawhiz | Hacker News Reader

> Because this looks like a very unprofessional error to have made for a company that has done well up until now.

I can't tell if this is a serious comment, because in the past there have been many weird problems, like wood trim in Model Ys:

https://www.thedrive.com/tech/36274/tesla-model-y-owners-fin...

(and yes, I know it's not exactly the same, but it's certainly still very bad to be using home renovation materials in the face of part shortages)

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Or the Cybertruck's wheel covers coming off, or the lack of ridge next to the windshield that causes any moisture on the windshield to hit the side windows (and intrude if they're open), or the extremely failure prone Model S door handles, the cost optimizations that have lead to stalk-less steering columns, etc. You could write a book about all of the quirky little problems that Teslas have.

Incumbent manufacturers have most of this stuff figured out; Tesla seems to want to "be different" on the most minute and boring of things. They keep stubbing their toe along the way.

Don't forget saving a few dollars on a rain sensor... Tesla tried to use the cameras to detect rain in the early model S. The result was no automatic wipers for a long time.

The rest of the industry all use a standard sensor that works well.

Older model S cars have horrible intermittent wipers.

Turn them on, and invariably slow intermittent, becomes slow continuous, becomes annoying fast continuous. Really really just needed manual intermittent.

They're relearning the lessons of the auto industry they're trying to disrupt just like crypto is doing with banking, albeit slightly faster due to actual regulations to protect the public from the vaporware

When you consider who's running it, it makes perfect sense.

Only a moron of the scope of Musk would own an EV company, and then become a literal Nazi online alienating the left leaning people, you know, the kind of people interested in climate change, technology and EVs, and cater non-stop to right wingers, the kind of people who think climate change is a hoax, "EVs are for pussies", and love coal rolling.

What's the problem with using trim? It doesn't seem like it'd have any impact at all, aside from being funny.

Would you be okay with your child driving a car where critical systems were assembled with whatever ad-hoc materials were available in local home renovation stores?

Given that I've never heard of an issue with that particular part after years of extended use...

Yes.

Are you willing to bet the safety of your family on the efficacy of some wood trim that someone bought at Home Depot to meet their manufacturing quota just because none of them have spectacularly failed yet? Really?

Given my knowledge of the part involved and the materials used, absolutely. I'd be doing it in the same way that I'm betting "the safety of [my] family on the efficacy" of the cheap little shim that I bought to make water bottles fit in the cup holders better.

Despite the high language involved here, there is no risk.

Although if you want to take up a career as a service advisor at a dealer, you might make good commissions from that style of rhetoric.

"Given the benefit of hindsight, I sure would!"

Gee good point.

How confident are you that you not hearing about such a failure means they haven't happened? How confident are you that this is the only component that's been hacked together like this?

Oh, there's plenty of cobbled together stuff. But we were talking about strain relief. That's boring compared to some of the dumb stuff that I've seen come out of that factory. :-)

My question was literally asking if/why this was unsafe.

> The trim appears to be providing some strain relief for the strap holding the LCC in place, perhaps to keep the tension from providing unnecessary stress on the condenser during vibration or flexing, or to prevent any sharp corners from severing the strap itself.

Can you explain to me why wood trim would be less safe than plastic for this?

Are the performance characteristics of that (presumably) random piece of wood well-established for a usecase like this?

If so: Sure, no problem!

If no: Then that's why.

A key part of engineering pretty much anything is understanding the characteristics of the materials. Plastics are extremely highly-engineered and well-understood (which is why they're everywhere now). Wood can be the same, but by default is not, especially in mass-production contexts where performance can vary dramatically between individual pieces of wood, which is one of many reasons you don't see it used in these contexts.

This could be totally fine, but there's absolutely no reason that should be the default assumption, especially when we know for a fact that was not the typical assembly plan and this is a company and culture known for cutting corners.

Trim has different heat tolerances than automotive-grade plastics, especially those physically attached to heat sources.

Also, the glue used in wood trim has a fairly low combustion temperature...

Whether or not you're comfortable with it, it shows that they bent their own manufacturing standards by using nonstandard parts that weren't purpose-built. When I buy a new Dell computer I don't expect to open it up to find parts taped together with electrical tape and wire nuts on connections. I similarly don't expect parts in my new Model Y to be made from materials that someone bought at Home Depot.

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