Tesla finally updated the emergency rear-door release on its Model Y to allow easier access to the mechanical door release in an emergency. The update was introduced in August for the vehicles built at Fremont and followed in September with those made at Giga Shanghai.
8 photos

Tesla has transitioned to an electromechanical door latch system on its vehicles, which means the doors are not physically connected to the door opening handles. Instead, these are electrical switches that trigger the electric door release system to open the door. Because there is no physical connection between the door handles and the door latching mechanism, it doesn’t work when the 12-volt electrical system is down for some reason.

This usually happens in the case of a crash. At least two car crashes ended with fatalities because people got trapped inside a Tesla. Although Tesla did offer a manual release system for emergencies, it is poorly documented in the car owner’s manual. Even if you know about it and have enough time, it was almost impossible to access without tools like a flat screwdriver or something like that.

Incredibly, Tesla did not consider offering a straightforward way of opening the doors from the inside in case of emergency. In the case of the Model Y, the rear doors have their emergency release handle inside the rear door pocket. To get to it, you must remove the pocket mat and a plastic tab flush with the pocket, making it impossible to remove with bare hands. Underneath it is a manual door release ring, which you need to pull to open the door.

It turns out that Tesla finally decided to offer an easier way to get to the same release ring. The door pocket mat shape has been updated to be easy to grab and remove. Underneath, there’s now a red button that opens the plastic flap. It’s much easier, but it’s still the same approach which, like in an airplane, is meant to discourage people from using it. We’re still unsure what was wrong with the classic manual door release handle, which works in every situation.

According to the updated Tesla Model Y owner’s manual, the new emergency release access has been implemented “for cars manufactured at the Fremont factory starting approximately early August 2022 or at Gigafactory Shanghai starting approximately mid-September.”

Besides the emergency door release mechanism, the Tesla Model Y made in China also improved the rear passengers’ comfort. This is due to bigger rear seat cushions, which are now longer by 30 mm (1.18 inches) on both sides (the center section is unchanged). The change improves leg support and reduces fatigue on long journeys.

Tesla is heading into another scandal, as Model Y Performance owners in the U.S. discover that the rear brakes are not the Performance Brakes they have paid for. The EV maker changed the brake suppliers last summer, pointing to more cost-cutting measures.
photo
Tesla found itself in a tight spot after the demand for its vehicles almost evaporated, and discounts are now in place to keep the metal moving. Luckily, Tesla enjoys one of the highest operating margins in the auto industry, and cutting the prices would not mean selling at cost. After all, Elon Musk famously claimed that his mission is to save the Earth, not to make a profit. Surely lowering the profit to help more people buy an electric vehicle should be high on his priority list, right?

Wrong! As the company sees cutting prices as the preferred way to continue growing, it is looking to cut costs wherever possible. At first, the radar sensors were removed, while Tesla claimed that video cameras are way better. Then, the ultrasonic sensors were sacrificed to help Tesla save a few bucks per vehicle. Now, the EV pioneer seems to take the cost-cutting trend further than it should by skimping on safety features. More specifically, Tesla has quietly downgraded the brakes on the Model Y Performance vehicles sold in the United States.

Tesla still claims on its website that the Model Y Performance comes with the Performance Upgrade, which includes Performance Brakes, among other things. Nevertheless, owners are discovering that instead of the Performance Brakes they paid for, they got regular brakes, meaning the same ones from the Model Y Long Range variant. To make it look like nothing’s changed, the rear brake calipers are covered with a bigger red cover.

To be sure, Tesla changed the rear brake suppliers over the summer, but people only started to notice this change now. Normally, Tesla Model Y Performance came with Brembo brakes on all four corners, and the rear brakes were noticeably larger than those on the Model Y LR. Now, instead of Brembo, Tesla uses Mando brakes on the rear wheels of the Model Y Performance. Nevertheless, on the outside, they look identical to the old ones, that is, until you realize the big brake calipers are actually deceiving.

Take down the red caliper covers, and beneath, you’d find smaller calipers and smaller rotors, identical to the ones on the Model Y Long Range. Well, almost, because the rear rotors are indeed 0.08 inches (2 mm) thicker. The change has been revealed by ZEVcentric, an aftermarket Tesla performance part supplier in California, which took delivery of its own Model Y Performance last month. ZEVcentric shared pictures and videos of the rear brakes, exposing what it believes to be a scam.

Smaller calipers and smaller rotors no doubt lead to degraded brake performance. Tesla fans quickly dismissed the issue with a “nothing to see here,” considering that most owners would use regenerative braking most of the time anyway. Nevertheless, the situation changes for the worse for those who take their Model Y Performance on the race track. Smaller brake parts can lead to brake overheating and fading, potentially causing safety issues during high-speed driving.

Even for those who do not go racing, paying for the advertised “Performance Brakes” and receiving regular brakes with a fancy cover should still be considered outrageous. It’s like ordering a new iPhone and receiving one of those cheap Chinese knock-offs running Android. After all, they do pretty much the same thing, why would anyone bother, right?

Tesla used to have steering wheels on the Model S, but replaced them with a yoke. After negative feedback on the idea, it brought back the steering wheel, so it may sound surprising that another Tesla lost its steering wheel. However, what happened is more literal than it may seem. A recently delivered Model Y unit lost the steering wheel while the car was driving.
8 photos

This is not the first time something like this has happened to a Tesla product. On April 26, 2020, Jason Tuatara also tweeted that he had his Model 3 for just over a month when the steering wheel fell off. He tagged Elon Musk and wondered if the rest of the car would “fall to bits too.”

The owner of the latest Tesla to lose its steering wheel identified himself only as prerak on Twitter. Like Tuatara, the first thing this Tesla customer did was to tag Elon Musk to show him how bad the situation was. His Model Y had just been delivered, and he said his family was excited to get the EV on January 24. Driving back home on the highway, the steering wheel just fell off. The electric SUV owner said he was lucky that no car was right behind him and that he managed to pull over on the highway divider.

The pictures prerak shared show the vehicle still had a temporary license and that he got delivery of his EV in New Jersey. As usual, he also had to defend himself from the Tesla investors who challenged him as a FUDster or someone just trying to throw shade at the company. The Tesla customer shared a screenshot of his discussion with Tesla Service. There, we discovered his name is Prerakbhai.

In the message, the Tesla customer said that it was a “horrific experience” and that he was in the middle of the highway when everything happened. He adds that he was with his family in the car. The answer from Tesla Service was an apology and the information that the company was looking into his car.

This is a typical quality control issue. The steering wheel was loose on the steering column, and workers must have forgotten to tighten it or did so in a way that the nut eventually fell off as well.

It would be nice to hear how Tuatara solved the problem back in 2020 and how Tesla will compensate Prerakbhai for what he has gone through while driving with his family. Above all, it would be fantastic if Tesla created controls that avoided such embarrassing manufacturing flaws. Luckily, that did not happen with a steering yoke, which would probably be more challenging to put back in place.

The same day that IRS changed classification rules, making all Tesla Model Y trims eligible for the $7,500 tax credit, Tesla raised the prices in the U.S. This is the second price hike following Tesla’s shocking January decision to cut prices across its entire lineup, in some cases by more than 20 percent.
7 photos
Good things never last, wise men say, and this couldn’t be more true for Tesla’s price cuts. The January decision surprised everybody, not because of its timing, but because it was so radical. The Model Y saw its prices lowered by a whopping $13,000, representing 21 percent off the original price. The demand for the electric crossover immediately surged, which prompted Tesla to add $500 to the base version in a move considered rather symbolic.

Tesla has signaled that it is willing to adjust prices more actively based on demand, and many expected that current prices would not last. After the Treasury Department changed classification rules, Tesla Model Y suddenly became more enticing. If you remember, the previous classification pushed the popular five-seat Model Y versions into the “other vehicles” category, which has a $55,000 price cap. This excluded them from the list of eligible models, although the seven-seater versions still qualified.

The new rules were announced on February 3, and Tesla immediately acted on the news. Hours after the Treasury changed the classification, Tesla hiked the prices of the Model Y in the U.S. This time, the increase was more sizeable, at $1,500 for the Model Y Long Range and $1,000 for the Model Y Performance. This represents a 2.8% increase and a 1.75% increase over the previous prices.

The Tesla Model Y Long Range now starts at $54,990 (was $53,490), while the Model Y Performance costs $57,990, up from $56,990. It’s the second price hike in less than two weeks for the Model Y Long Range, after the previous increase of $500 on January 23. The Model Y is still eligible for the IRA tax credits, thanks to the new price cap of $80,000. The IRS move cleared the hurdles for Tesla to adjust the prices freely without worrying that the Model Y might not qualify for a tax credit anymore.

Despite the recent price cuts, things aren’t going as well with the Model 3. Tesla decided to further lower the price of the Model 3 RWD by $500 while keeping the price of the Model 3 Performance unchanged. The Model 3 Long Range variant, which Tesla promised would become available “in 2023,” is still not available for order. The Tesla Model 3 now starts at $43,490, or $349 per month, if you opt for the 36-month lease plan. This is $50 per month less than before, while the downpayment remained at $4,500.

As we previously reported, Tesla owner Prerak Patel was driving his brand-new Model Y electric crossover when the steering wheel came off in his hands. After some back and forth, Tesla has decided to replace the entire car. However, the interesting part is how the whole story unfolded.

The Tesla Model Y owner only had his new EV for about a week before the steering wheel detached on its own while he was driving his family on the freeway. Fortunately, he was able to pull over safely, and no one was hurt. However, needless to say, the Tesla needed to be towed away.

Sadly, it seemed the Tesla Service Center was going to hold Patel responsible for the problem, initially charging him over $100 for the repair. He tweeted at Tesla CEO Elon Musk and included screenshots of his interactions with Tesla service, as well as the initial bill. The service center did eventually reverse the charges for the repair.As the story goes, while Tesla service looked into the Model Y in greater detail, Patel continued to stew over who should be responsible for such an issue, and how it should be handled. He was also worried about the safety of the car, in general. According to Teslarati, Patel told NJ.com:
“My main intent is really to make sure this doesn’t happen to any other family, what happened to us. They should investigate this and make sure what they did wrong doesn’t happen again.”

Patel proceeded to put out a poll asking people on Twitter to choose whether he should accept the Model Y back with the steering replaced, or expect Tesla to provide him with a brand-new car. Of course, Twitter users voted for the new car, and it wasn't even close.

Tesla did end up replacing the Model Y with a brand-new one. The EV maker also sent Patel a letter, explaining that it was going to repurchase the Model Y that had the steering wheel fall off. However, Tesla says there was no defect or non-conformity, and that it actually isn't liable, but it's acting in goodwill. There has not been any related recall.

Patel's new Model Y will come eventually, and Tesla promised to prioritize it. That said, at the time of writing, the company hadn't yet provided him with any details regarding a potential delivery date.

It is not news that Tesla Customer Services are broken. I wrote on January 2022 about the issue, and nothing has changed so far. However, a recent example shows just how damaged the company's model for repairing its vehicles is. Bishal Malla's Model Y caught fire on May 6. When he called a Tesla Roadside Assistance to have an explanation of what happened, they told him to tow the vehicle to his "Tesla recommended servicing center."

Malla first shared his story on Reddit. He wrote there that he was close to South Sacramento, driving on a ramp toward Highway 99, when he heard a noise coming from the bottom of the BEV. Soon after that, "the car started shaking really bad." Malla's guess was that he had the fourth flat tire in a year, so he pulled over to check what was wrong with his Model Y.

"The moment I opened the door, I saw the smoke coming from the bottom. Apparently, I've read multiple stories of Tesla being on fire. So that came to my mind, and I quickly ran over to the safe place and called 911."

The Model Y owner shared a picture of the fire, but the moderators erased it – a decision that was harshly criticized. Malla shared he has been trying to find an explanation from Tesla for what happened since the blaze destroyed his car. Aware of how active Elon Musk is on Twitter, some commenters suggested that the Model Y owner told his story there and tagged the Tesla CEO. As Malla did not have a Twitter account, he created one on May 18.

That was enough for the usual investors and advocates to claim that it was a fake account. They also said the Model Y owner did not exist or was just a FUDster, short seller, Big Oil advocate, and all the old list of pretense insults these guys coined to discredit anyone with something bad to say about the BEV maker – including fellow owners facing hairy problems like Malla.

As the Model Y owner told KCRA 3, he was running errands and was about to pick up his wife, 3-year-old, and 1-year-old children when everything happened. Although he was shocked, he was glad his family was not in the Tesla with him, a car that he thought would be safer for him and his family.

On Reddit, some other commenters told him that he had nothing to worry about because the insurance company would take care of the problem. That was not the question for Malla: the car was predictably totaled, and he will receive the money to buy another one. However, he wants Tesla to help him understand what happened to his Model Y. On Twitter, he wrote this:

"Is my life so cheap that it keeps happening, and they just simply don't care and hold no responsibility(?) I'm physically exhausted and mentally devastated and traumatized."

What adds insult to injury is an agent from Tesla Roadside Assistance telling the Model Y owner to take the remains of his car to a Service Center. Ironically, some of the Reddit commenters loved the suggestion and urged Malla to do precisely that. One of them told him he'd better not put it inside Tesla property but rather right in front of it. Would the company care about the bad publicity the charred steel skeleton would provoke and try to give him the answers he seeks? Perhaps not, but even Malla thought it was worth a try if it was not already too late for that.

Apparently, even Tesla advocates suggest that the fire was caused by road debris hitting the battery pack from underneath. If that was really the case, that is also something Tesla allegedly addressed in the past and did not solve.

After writing about armoring Tesla vehicles, I discovered that the company installed a "triple underbody shield" on the Model S after it got involved in two fires in 2013. Elon Musk announced the measure on Tesla's blog without mentioning that the company did that to dismiss an investigation the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had opened to probe the fire risk they could offer. It worked: the safety regulator ended the investigation right after that.

In the blog post, Musk said that the "two extremely unusual Model S collisions resulted in underbody damage that led to car fires." He also seemed surprised that "these incidents, unfortunately, received more national headlines than the other 200,000 gasoline car fires that happened last year in North America alone." That was seemingly unfair to him because "the occupants walked away unharmed," and Tesla had "a track record of zero deaths or serious, permanent injuries since our vehicles went into production six years ago." If that were true at the time he wrote that, it definitely is not the case anymore.

From the top of my head, I can remember two crashes in which people were burned alive in Tesla vehicles. The first happened on April 17, 2021, and killed William Varner, 59, and Everette Talbot, 69. As the police did not find a body behind the steering wheel, they suspected Autopilot could be involved. National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) investigations confirmed someone was driving due to deformations on the steering wheel. The most robust explanation for that is that the driver moved to the back seat when trying to evade the car, but that was not possible. The second one killed Nicholas G. Garcia, 20, and Jazmin G. Alcala, 19, on September 13, 2021, after the Model 3 Garcia was driving hit a tree in Coral Gables. Sadly, many more people died in these circumstances.

Ton Aarts keeps track of all fires and their victims on Twitter. In his last update, there were 462 blazes and 67 deaths. The website Tesla-Fire has different numbers: 182 fires and 53 casualties. Aarts compared that with how many people died in Ford Pinto blazes (27), and Tesla was "winning" by a large margin. To make matters worse, Elon Musk said on October 4, 2013, that "no fire ever entered the passenger compartment thanks to internal firewalls integrated within the battery pack."

On March 14, when he announced the triple underbody shield, he elaborated even more on that. According to the Tesla CEO, the "onboard computer warned the occupants to exit the vehicles" that caught fire in 2013, "which they did well before any fire was noticeable." Musk also argued that "even if the occupants had remained in the vehicle and the fire department had not arrived, they would still have been safely protected by the steel and ceramic firewall between the battery pack and the passenger compartment." It is as if the Tesla CEO was not familiar with how pans work: if they are put in a heat source, anything inside them will cook. That's precisely what happens to a BEV if the battery pack catches fire: flames will come from underneath it and engulf it.

From what Malla shared, he was not warned to leave his car by the computer: he just decided to stop to check the damage. An over-the-air (OTA) update may fix that, right?

Tesla fans noticed that the base-version Model Y AWD has mysteriously disappeared from Tesla's US website. Built with a 4680-cell structural battery, the Model Y AWD was likely sacrificed to redirect the 4680-cell supply to Cybertruck production.
6 photos

With the Cybertruck start of deliveries fast approaching, Tesla is likely to need all the 4680 cells it can produce. Tesla kept quiet about its progress on the battery front, which makes me suspect there's not much it can brag about. The EV maker poured significant resources into the development, although the results are underwhelming. Not only the production of 4680 cells is insignificant, but the cells are still inferior to the trusted 2170 cells used in other Tesla models.

Tesla designed the Cybertruck to use 4680 cells in its structural battery pack, and not having enough of them is a serious issue. I can confidently say that the new cells are the most important reason the Cybertruck production has been delayed. As Tesla improved its 4680-cell manufacturing process and performance, it became more confident that it could launch the Cybertruck by the end of this year.

The Model Y AWD was the only Tesla model using the 4680 cells, and reports showed that its battery was still not on par with 2170-based models. The 4680 cells charge slower and are less energy-dense than their counterparts. That's why Tesla sold the Model Y AWD with these cells as a base version, with a retail price of $47,740. The lower price was its most important quality, although the same 4680 cells that contributed to this also brought to its demise.

As Tesla prepared to start Cybertruck deliveries, the Model Y AWD competed with the Cybertruck for the 4680-cell supply. Because the Model Y AWD mysteriously vanished from Tesla's US website, it's clear that the Cybertruck won. The most affordable Model Y you can configure in the US right now is the Long Range variant, retailing for $50,490 before incentives.

Tesla launched the AWD Model Y with 4680 cells as an inventory-only model in April 2022 and only added it to its Design Studio this April. Its career was brief, as Tesla removed it after only five months. That is unless it continues to supply the 4680-cell Model Y AWD through inventory, as it did in the beginning.

The base model built with 4680 cells can still be ordered from inventory, with hundreds of units still available at the time of writing. Tesla is also keen on getting rid of them as soon as possible because they are sold with a hefty discount of $4,000-$5,000, depending on the configuration. If you want to get one while stock still lasts, this is your last opportunity.

Although some claim the Tesla Model Y AWD was sacrificed to stock the 4680-cell production for the Cybertruck, this might not be the case. During the second-quarter earnings call in July, Tesla's VP for powertrain and energy engineering, Drew Baglino, said that Tesla will use second-generation 4680 cells for the Cybertruck with improved specifications. This indicates that the cells built into the Model Y would not make it into the Cybertruck. Unless Tesla is really desperate and the yields are abysmal

Tesla has just introduced a new entry-level, rear-wheel-drive version of the Model Y in the United States, with a very attractive starting price.

The new Tesla Model Y RWD jumps into the lineup in the spot vacated by the recently removed Model Y AWD (equipped with 4680-type cylindrical batteries).

The price of the base version is $43,990 (plus a $1,640 destination and order fee), which after deducting the available $7,500 federal tax credit, translates into an effective cost of $38,130. That's $3,750 less than in the case of the retired Tesla Model Y AWD (4680).
Together with some local state incentives, the new Tesla Model Y RWD might be very affordable and for sure one of the top models in terms of value in the all-electric crossover/SUV segment.

It will be interesting to see whether it will affect the Model 3 sales because it's less expensive than the Model 3 Long Range AWD ($47,240 + DST), and just a bit more expensive than the Model 3 RWD ($40,240 + DST).
The new Tesla Model Y RWD has an estimated range (according to the manufacturer) of 260 miles when equipped with base 19-inch Gemini wheels, or 242 miles with the optional 20-inch wheels.

That's slightly less than in the case of the retired Model Y AWD version, which was rated at 279 miles (269 miles with 20-inch wheels). The difference is 19 miles or 6.8 percent compared to the AWD.

We assume that the Tesla Model Y RWD is equipped with a different battery than the retired Model Y AWD. The manufacturer does not reveal details related to batteries, but we noted that it has the same peak charging rate of 170 kilowatts as the entry-level Model 3 RWD, which is equipped with LFP batteries. The Model Y AWD (4680) was able to charge at up to 230 kilowatts, while the Long Range (2170) battery packs accept up to 250 kilowatts. This fact, combined with the range ratings, strongly suggests to us that this is the LFP battery (potentially 60+ kilowatt-hours, compared to the unofficially estimated 68 kWh in the Model Y AWD).

Additionally, the weight of the Model Y RWD is 4,154 pounds (209 lbs lower than in the case of the AWD or LR AWD versions). A similar difference (172 lbs) is noted between the Model 3 RWD and Model 3 LR AWD (3,862 lbs and 4,034 lbs).

The new entry-level Tesla Model Y RWD has only one electric motor in the rear, which is the main reason why it has noticeably slower acceleration. It goes from 0-60 miles per hour in 6.6 seconds, compared to 5.0 seconds in the case of the retired Model Y AWD. The Model 3 RWD is also noticeably slower than the Model 3 LR AWD (5.8 seconds vs. 4.2 seconds). Nonetheless, for an average electric vehicle driver, this still sounds like a pretty good number.

According to Tesla's online design studio, the estimated delivery time of the Model Y RWD is October-November.The introduction of the Tesla Model Y RWD brings us questions about the AWD version, which is equipped with 4680-type cylindrical cells.

Tesla removed it, while at the same time, the automaker is preparing the launch of the Tesla Cybertruck, which suggests that at least temporarily, there might be not enough batteries for both the Model Y AWD and the Cybertruck. However, this move means that there is no Tesla EV with a structural battery pack on the market right now. There could be also other reasons, like an intention to launch a different 4680-powered version of the Model Y (Long Range AWD).

Another question is where the Tesla Model Y RWD will be produced - potentially in California. By the way, the Tesla Model Y RWD in Canada is slightly different and directly imported from China.

Anyway, many EV buyers will be very happy with the introduction of the long-awaited RWD version of the car. Tesla previously offered a RWD version a few years ago but dropped it after Elon Musk criticized its insufficient range of 244 miles (below 250 miles, which appears to be Tesla's internal minimum target).