Photo: Tesla
Tesla die-hard fans bash anyone speaking anything bad about the EV maker regardless of how true it is. They also accuse critics of never having tested a Tesla, in a poor authority fallacy attempt. They will not be able to say this about Tim Stevens. The Roadshow editor-in-chief drove all of them more than once. His website even bought a Model Y recently. Stevens wrote a text recommending people not to do the same.
The Roadshow editor did that with excessive precautions. Stevens shared a thread on Twitter trying to avoid the accusations that he does not know what he is talking about or that he is a FUDster, a short-seller, or someone funded by oil companies trying to choke newborns to death with air pollution. We’re sure he knows it was all in vain, but he did it anyway: nothing will prevent those arguments, no matter what he does.
Stevens started his thread by saying this is the first time he recommends people should avoid buying a given car. In the Model Y’s case, he did so because of phantom braking. In his words, it is a deal-breaker not only because it is annoying and tiresome but because it is plain dangerous.
According to the Roadshow editor, he has experienced these sudden braking episodes more than five times in a single hour of driving. And it was not an isolated episode: Stevens said that, in three months of ownership, phantom braking is constant, making Autopilot dangerous. If that system is hazardous, the journalist concludes that the entire car is.
Safety issues are inexcusable, but it gets worse. For a car that cost Roadshow $70,000, the Model Y presents other problems. Before shooting the car for his review, Stevens took it to a car wash. Tesla does not recommend doing so, probably due to the extremely thin layer of paint its cars have. The Roadshow editor did not mention any problems with that so far, but he talked about another known issue in Teslas: water leaks.
When he popped the trunk, he found “a good amount of water had gathered within.” Again, for a car that expensive, it is not something a customer should easily forgive. For a motoring writer, it is something you can’t skip from your reporting. There you have the review and the Twitter thread.
Stevens knows that Tesla may find ways to kill phantom braking with an OTA update. It may remove a radar or put it back without warning. In other words, it is unpredictable and it doesn't communicate. That said, he was careful enough not to say you should never buy a Model Y. He stressed that this applies to the Model Y available in November 2021.
Instead of bashing the Roadshow editor with all the epithets we already mentioned, anyone genuinely concerned with the company’s future should ask it to up its game. Water leaks can be addressed with better quality control, for example. It is a matter of will. If Tesla does not want to offer more reliable products, it is perfectly reasonable to warn customers they should not want them.
Stevens started his thread by saying this is the first time he recommends people should avoid buying a given car. In the Model Y’s case, he did so because of phantom braking. In his words, it is a deal-breaker not only because it is annoying and tiresome but because it is plain dangerous.
According to the Roadshow editor, he has experienced these sudden braking episodes more than five times in a single hour of driving. And it was not an isolated episode: Stevens said that, in three months of ownership, phantom braking is constant, making Autopilot dangerous. If that system is hazardous, the journalist concludes that the entire car is.
Safety issues are inexcusable, but it gets worse. For a car that cost Roadshow $70,000, the Model Y presents other problems. Before shooting the car for his review, Stevens took it to a car wash. Tesla does not recommend doing so, probably due to the extremely thin layer of paint its cars have. The Roadshow editor did not mention any problems with that so far, but he talked about another known issue in Teslas: water leaks.
When he popped the trunk, he found “a good amount of water had gathered within.” Again, for a car that expensive, it is not something a customer should easily forgive. For a motoring writer, it is something you can’t skip from your reporting. There you have the review and the Twitter thread.
Stevens knows that Tesla may find ways to kill phantom braking with an OTA update. It may remove a radar or put it back without warning. In other words, it is unpredictable and it doesn't communicate. That said, he was careful enough not to say you should never buy a Model Y. He stressed that this applies to the Model Y available in November 2021.
Instead of bashing the Roadshow editor with all the epithets we already mentioned, anyone genuinely concerned with the company’s future should ask it to up its game. Water leaks can be addressed with better quality control, for example. It is a matter of will. If Tesla does not want to offer more reliable products, it is perfectly reasonable to warn customers they should not want them.
For the first time in my automotive career I'm outright recommending you do not buy a car. Our Model Y is flawed. For the why, I encourage you to read the full review. Then, before you attack me for being anti-Tesla, I encourage you to read this thread. https://t.co/bMwFpaY32R
— Tim Stevens (@Tim_Stevens) November 26, 2021
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