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Comment by timenotwasted | Hacker News Reader

I know Tesla and the various models have their issues but the Cybertruck and the rest of the Tesla models seem like they are made from two completely different companies. Every time I see one of these driving around trim pieces are missing from them which I don't recall seeing from any other brand.

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For all the initial PR they got, they've always had quality issues that rarely plague other manufacturers. Elon has just done a great job of creating a reality distortion field around the cars. Once he started getting into politics and the veneer started wearing off, people started asking questions.

I think people forget the Model 3 literally had the bumper falling off from driving in rain. And it took Tesla a LONG time to admit to it being their fault.

https://www.jalopnik.com/tesla-finally-admits-model-3-bumper...

Fit and finish is wildly variable. Panel gaps on the 3 and Y can be huge! I can tell which model in my office parking lot is mine solely based on the trunk and rear quarterpanel gaps.

Only for US made Tesla's. I live in Australia. We get Chinese made Tesla's here, and they have better fit and finish than the BYD's (as good as most other cars you care to name).

It's odd. The USA can make quality cars. Not Lexus quality, but cars you would be happy to own if they weren't so expensive. USA Tesla is the counter example. It makes you wonder about those self promoting stories from Elon about he saved the USA Tesla manufacturing operation by roving the manufacturing plants, making tweaks here and there. Maybe his tweaks wasn't the great boon he made them out to be.

> The USA can make quality cars. Not Lexus quality

Lexus makes cars in the US. They have Lexus quality by definition. :P

It's easy to get quality manufacturing in the USA.

It's easy to use waste disposal systems that comply with the clean water act.

It's easy to provide a safe working environment and worker's compensation for people who get injured on the job.

It just costs more, so Tesla doesn't do it.

They literally went from an exoskeleton based truck bent into shape to an aluminium truck whose interior frame shatters on impact instead of the panels absorbing the hit - so instead of having to replace cheap plastic trim and collision absorbing metal bars, the energy gets dissipated inside the (almost unrepairable) aluminium frame.

Additionally, they didn't manage to find a satisfactory solution to attach the steel panels to the frame so they glued them on.

I suspect the 'parts falling off' has something to do with the inflexibility of both materials as well as the different thermal expansion coefficients.

On normal cars, bodywork is either made of flexible plastic, or is attached via spring joints so that the vibration doesn't damage them - that's why you have panel gaps - so they can move around a bit.

If you fix them rigidly, they're going to shake off eventually.

A monocoque design could be really cool. Like the original Mini. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini

Were I in charge, I'd've started with a kei car or city car. Or something (size wise) like Telo. https://www.telotrucks.com/

Definitely would not have started with an off-road vehicle.

It doesn't help perception that the last time I saw a cybertruck in SF, it was broken down the middle lane with the driver slowly walking sideways parallel to traffic alongside the truck... presumably to reattach or reset something? Why anyone would pay $$$ for this POS is beyond me.

That's because Musk personally oversaw the design of the Cybertruck and likely rejected all pleas to make sensible decisions. Musk did not design the other models.

Just like how SpaceX and Tesla and Twitter seem like they have three different CEOs; the degree of their competency is inversely proportional to the amount of day-to-day feedback Musk has into their operations.

He was happy enough to be able to spell s3xy with those cars. Maybe they could have come up with something extremely juvenile for him to do while they designed a rivian

Like make the integrated voice-activated AI have a setting to swear at and insult you while driving

Idea: A car that detects when there's only one occupant, and shouts expletives through the audio system when the driver narrowly avoids hitting something at high speed.

Call it a model 69 and be done

Or maybe model 6/7 would be better for him nowadays

You do see glimpses of it in the other models. Eg. The removal of the indicator stalk likely saved <$100 (if that!) but it's a non-starter for many buyers. That has to be Musk's doing right?

> You do see glimpses of it in the other models. Eg. The removal of the indicator stalk likely saved <$100 (if that!) but it's a non-starter for many buyers. That has to be Musk's doing right?

"all input is error" - elon musk

wdyt? From where I'm sitting anyone with that position would deprecate the input devices...

Musk's superpower is cult-building. His fatal flaw is that he has no idea that is his superpower.

He actually shares a lot in common with his former(?) friend Kanye West. Both crave the validation of others, but when they get it, instead of being satisfied, they become even more needy and insecure. So they pursue anything except what they're actually good at because then if they fail at the thing people actually value them for, it would be too painful. And they surround themselves with yes men who tell them how great they are. All these factors make them more and more isolated and insecure. Combine that with drugs, alcohol, and sex and you have a toxic brew.

You may say this armchair analysis is unfair, but both these men have been so candid, veiled by the thinnest layer of irony, that it's impossible not to see how fragile they are.

I don't think this is unfair at all. I mean this literally has to be one of the three oldest stories ever? And I mean that literally. There is no more timeless a story than: "man gets powerful enough to eliminate negative feedback, becomes stupid/ineffective/self-damaging"

Kanye made some incredible music in his day, at least. I still listen to College Dropout and Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Kanye's beat/producer credits are also amazing.

"No idea" doesn’t sound right.

I’d say he thinks he has many superpowers, but maybe in reality just has one.

His cult is a very specific type of person. The general public finds him repulsive as demonstrated by his time in government.

He's a cult leader with surprisingly horrible political instincts

> as demonstrated by his time in government

Without actually getting into the specific actions he took while in government, I dare say that what he did during that time was material to people's revulsion and that a different version of him who took different actions would have been differently popular.

For sure but deciding what to do is part of political instincts. He rolled in, threw some "roman salutes" fired tons of people in an insanely chaotic way while waving a chainsaw around on stage then showed up in the Whitehouse with a black eye he blamed on his toddler

He did better at hiding his worst instincts. I honestly think the Ketamine has destroyed his ability to hide his worst instincts.

Not saying there weren't leaks that he was a huge asshole. Just saying that I could forgive people for over looking it early on.

That's a requirement, part of being in a cult is being rejected by "outsiders" so that you think you have no other options other than staying in the cult.

Classic abusive behavior.

Yeah, most cults are repulsive to most outsiders. Their power is completely derived from the intensity of the in-group's commitment.

I have a Tesla Model X and the front door and rear door aren't even latitudinally aligned.

My model Y leaks from the trunk and is about to go in again to see if they can fix it. Not even a first run Y either.

I've never seen a cybertruck with a missing trim piece, and there are usually a few at my local super charger. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's certainly not some ongoing common issue like you're implying

Call the NHTSA and tell them to cancel the recall then.

I don't disagree that it happens/happened, just that I disagree with the implied frequency, as I've never seen it in person and I see a lot of cybertrucks at my local chargers.

Also this recall is for the lightbar, the trim piece was recalled in March.

The recall for a dealer-installed light bar that gets glued onto the glass windshield isn't the same as panels falling off, yes.

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