Imagine a situation where you are locked out of your car and can only open it once and if you pay its high repair cost. Well, this is what exactly happened to a Tesla owner from Canada where he got locked out of his electric vehicle due to a dead battery, leaving him with a staggering bill of $26,000 for a battery replacement.
This incident has sparked a debate about electric vehicles’ high maintenance costs, especially for a brand like Tesla, known for its EV innovations and sometimes criticized for its high repair costs.
Canadian Got Locked Out of His Tesla Car
A Canadian Tesla owner, Mario Zeleya took his TikTok account to post a video highlighting some very serious issues with his Tesla Model S vehicle which he purchased in 2013. Since Tesla cars rely heavily on their battery pack system, not just to power the motor but also to operate other car functionalities like unlocking doors, this left Mario in a very frustrated state. He said that he bought the vehicle for $140,000 and now it is a ‘piece of trash’.
The video went viral with almost 19 million views. Mario said that the battery replacement would cost him another whopping $26,000. The frustrated owner captioned his video “$26K for a new battery. Locked out of the car. Recalls are needed.”
Cause of Problem
In Zeleya’s case, the battery failure appears to be a design flaw in the 2013-2014 Tesla Model S models. The owner said that he bought his vehicle in 2013 and there were issues with the Model S vehicles produced in that year and in 2014 where fluid from the air conditioning system could leak onto the battery pack, potentially causing the damage.
This issue has been reported by many other Model S owners which shows that it is not an isolated case but a widespread case. Zelaya admitted that he had been in touch with other Tesla owners who have experienced a similar issue.
Zelaya said: “I got Transport Canada involved, and they actually did an investigation on the car. Not only did they do an investigation on this car, they’re gonna be doing one that Tesla doesn’t realize is coming up.”
Owner Decided to Sell His Car
Zelaya was done with Tesla vehicles. He said that he contacted Tesla and expressed his frustration, but he didn’t get any satisfactory response from the customer service of Tesla. He said: “Tesla’s trying to sweep it under the rug. They won’t give them any explanation of why their battery died.”
The response from the after-sales service of Tesla made him even more frustrated and he said that when Tesla owners get their vehicles serviced, the battery is not checked. Moreover, he even claimed that the Tesla service guys didn’t have any intention to check the batteries.
The frustrated owner adds: “I’ll never buy another Tesla again,” That’s the long way of me saying stay the f**k away from Teslas. They’re brutal cars, brutal manufacturing, and even worse, they’re a 10-year-old company.”
Ultimately, Zelaya decided that selling his car was the only option left since he was not ready to pay such a staggering price for battery replacement. But things didn’t go as planned. In an unfortunate situation, he found that the ownership documents are not with him but it is inside that locked car. This forced him to make another copy of those documents for $30.
Eventually, Zelaya was able to sell his vehicle to an owner, he revealed in a follow-up video on TikTok. He said “That’s going to be the end of my Tesla journey. It’s out of my life. Keep it out of yours.”
Conclusion
As EV technology grows and becomes more popular, battery technology will also continue to improve with longer lifespan and low replacement costs. However, incidents like this show that there is still a long way to go to convince consumers about electric vehicles.
Zelaya has publicly stated that he will never buy another Tesla, criticizing the company’s manufacturing process and after-sale service experience. This has sparked a social media discussion among many other Tesla owners who might also be facing similar issues.
Tesla should come forward and address this issue as its manufacturing defect and get it solved with the particular owners to give them peace of mind.
This will not only improve its brand recognition but will also help in building confidence among consumers to invest in electric vehicles.
