As with everything Tesla, this means heated debates, accusations of bias, and the most interesting theories regarding some owners’ willingness to lie and expose themselves to public ridicule, just so they can drag Tesla’s good name through the mud. This time, it involves a 2019 Tesla Model 3.
Julie McCuen tells Inside EVs that her Model 3 has had issues before, but nothing this severe, unexpected, and potentially dangerous. On February 2, she was driving on 55 Freeway in Orange, Southern California, when she heard a crack and saw the rear mirror on the passenger side shattered. Next thing she knew, it had flown fallen out into traffic.
“I heard a faint cracking sound behind me and when I looked back the entire rear passenger window was shattered. I immediately started to try to make my way to the slow lane to exit the freeway. I hit a bump while transitioning from the number 3 lane to the number 2 lane and that was enough to dump the shattered window out of the car and onto the freeway,” McCuen explains.
The window didn’t come apart because it had tint film on it, and she’s happy it did because, otherwise, the glass would have been everywhere inside the cabin while she drove at 70 mph (112.6 kph). Since she was close to the Tesla Service Center in Santa Ana, she drove herself slowly there to have the problem fixed.
This part of the experience was perhaps worse than the actual shattering of the glass, she claims. At first, they wouldn’t believe her that the glass had broken and fell out on its own, insisting she must have hit or been hit by something. Footage recorded by the car proved she was telling the truth. Then, they tried to delay fixing the issue, which she couldn’t allow for since she didn’t want to be traveling by Uber for the next few days.
Eventually, the issue was fixed but, as it happened with other similar incidents, it left McCuen with a bad taste. “It's really sad because, overall, I love my car, but the service side of Tesla has been a disappointment. They have no idea how to properly treat a customer at that location,” she says.
Again, as it’s happened before, the incident and particularly the owner’s decision to publicize it has generated quite a mixed reaction. The proof is probably in the pudding – and in the video below.
“I heard a faint cracking sound behind me and when I looked back the entire rear passenger window was shattered. I immediately started to try to make my way to the slow lane to exit the freeway. I hit a bump while transitioning from the number 3 lane to the number 2 lane and that was enough to dump the shattered window out of the car and onto the freeway,” McCuen explains.
The window didn’t come apart because it had tint film on it, and she’s happy it did because, otherwise, the glass would have been everywhere inside the cabin while she drove at 70 mph (112.6 kph). Since she was close to the Tesla Service Center in Santa Ana, she drove herself slowly there to have the problem fixed.
This part of the experience was perhaps worse than the actual shattering of the glass, she claims. At first, they wouldn’t believe her that the glass had broken and fell out on its own, insisting she must have hit or been hit by something. Footage recorded by the car proved she was telling the truth. Then, they tried to delay fixing the issue, which she couldn’t allow for since she didn’t want to be traveling by Uber for the next few days.
Eventually, the issue was fixed but, as it happened with other similar incidents, it left McCuen with a bad taste. “It's really sad because, overall, I love my car, but the service side of Tesla has been a disappointment. They have no idea how to properly treat a customer at that location,” she says.
Again, as it’s happened before, the incident and particularly the owner’s decision to publicize it has generated quite a mixed reaction. The proof is probably in the pudding – and in the video below.