I'm not the most mechanical guy, but I have my moments when I may need to do repairs to a vehicle. I think we all have this manly urge to go out and putter around. This has been a part of growing up, old cars and apple pie., Make that apple pie and ice cream.
But I can't help but notice how we as owners are starting to be pushed back from being able to do much with our newer cars.
I just ran into this article about John Deere Tractors and how JDeere wants the farmers to be hands off of the equipment.
https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-farmers-right-to-repair/
I am reading report after report about how TESLA has had this policy for, well, just about forever. The TESLA reports back to the factory through the interweb and if any of those reports hint that the owner has made a change to the car without an "OFFICIAL TESLA TECHNICIAN" having done the work, the car is rendered "UNCHARGEABLE". I did read one report where TESLA actually shut the cars down, they won't even start.
--- There is a video blog on You Tube about a guy that buys crashed TESLAS and rebuilds them back to on the street status. He points out that as long as the Tesla has not reported back to the Tesla factory that it has been in a crash event, the car can still be driven. But if the car has reported a crash event, The car cannot be driven until the factory does a very expensive routine to check and reset systems on the car. The factory will not let out any of the information for a mechanic outside of TESLA to do any of this work and they will blatently shut that car down and the user is unable to get it to run again without TESLAS intervention.
-- It is reported that the first line of TESLAS out of the factory will soon be coming out of warrentee. The warrentee has been the only cusion to protect the owners from the great costs of repairing a TESLA. With the "Look only, don't touch" policy, Teslas will be hitting the used market in large numbers, and for good reason. You cannot repair them yourself.
My interest in the VOLT is always there. This is the most sophisticated car I have ever owned. And it does report status back to GM which as far as I can see, is just that, it reports status of the car. I haven't had a problem with that since GM hasn't tried to apply the "Well TESLA DOES IT" hammer to Volt owners, but it probably should be a concern.
The VOLT, and its sister the BOLT, and probably all the hybreds out there all have their varied levels of sophistication. I have not read a lot of reports where owners have done really heavy repairs to the VOLT. Most likely this is because of warrentees and recalls but can we be locked out as well??
On the hardware side, the VOLT is basically a mechanical thing, just like the old cars barring any updated parts that are unique to the electric vehicle. however the electronics are getting really technically advanced for most owners. I had a speed sensor go bad and asked to have it returned. They said no, it had to go back to Detroit for analysis. Reports of varied repairs come in for the VOLT but in most cases, the repair is always delayed because the parts have to be shipped in from Detroit. They don't keep a large supply of parts for the Electrics in the shop parts coffers. I like to think this is because of the cost of parts but I have found more and more that the dealers simply don't want to be that involved with the electrics, or is it just that it is a new device on the market and it takes time to the knowlege out there, slowly draining down from the GM factories??
- The point is, other than basic mechanical parts in the GM Electrics, and in our case, the VOLT, these basic parts may be accessible to the owners for replacement, if not parts from the dealership (expensive) or parts from the Mans Mall (Lesser Expensive), from a crashed VOLT. As far as I know, the electronics are not user repairable, and we cannot get the tool needed to program the electronics. Up to this point, I have not heard anything about being locked out of the VOLT if an owner attempts his own repair but in the back of my mind I am wondering if GM can actually do this to the volt.
In my mind, no matter how nice the TESLA CONVERTIBLE looks, this lock out feature deems any TESLA a hands off deal. For the cost of a TESLA, I guess you should expect that, or you can afford, to let TESLA do all the work, but to be locked out of any repairs yourself simply doesn't fit the way most would like to deal with car repairs.
Any thoughs????
No, this isn't a poll, no voting.
But I can't help but notice how we as owners are starting to be pushed back from being able to do much with our newer cars.
I just ran into this article about John Deere Tractors and how JDeere wants the farmers to be hands off of the equipment.
https://www.wired.com/story/john-deere-farmers-right-to-repair/
I am reading report after report about how TESLA has had this policy for, well, just about forever. The TESLA reports back to the factory through the interweb and if any of those reports hint that the owner has made a change to the car without an "OFFICIAL TESLA TECHNICIAN" having done the work, the car is rendered "UNCHARGEABLE". I did read one report where TESLA actually shut the cars down, they won't even start.
--- There is a video blog on You Tube about a guy that buys crashed TESLAS and rebuilds them back to on the street status. He points out that as long as the Tesla has not reported back to the Tesla factory that it has been in a crash event, the car can still be driven. But if the car has reported a crash event, The car cannot be driven until the factory does a very expensive routine to check and reset systems on the car. The factory will not let out any of the information for a mechanic outside of TESLA to do any of this work and they will blatently shut that car down and the user is unable to get it to run again without TESLAS intervention.
-- It is reported that the first line of TESLAS out of the factory will soon be coming out of warrentee. The warrentee has been the only cusion to protect the owners from the great costs of repairing a TESLA. With the "Look only, don't touch" policy, Teslas will be hitting the used market in large numbers, and for good reason. You cannot repair them yourself.
My interest in the VOLT is always there. This is the most sophisticated car I have ever owned. And it does report status back to GM which as far as I can see, is just that, it reports status of the car. I haven't had a problem with that since GM hasn't tried to apply the "Well TESLA DOES IT" hammer to Volt owners, but it probably should be a concern.
The VOLT, and its sister the BOLT, and probably all the hybreds out there all have their varied levels of sophistication. I have not read a lot of reports where owners have done really heavy repairs to the VOLT. Most likely this is because of warrentees and recalls but can we be locked out as well??
On the hardware side, the VOLT is basically a mechanical thing, just like the old cars barring any updated parts that are unique to the electric vehicle. however the electronics are getting really technically advanced for most owners. I had a speed sensor go bad and asked to have it returned. They said no, it had to go back to Detroit for analysis. Reports of varied repairs come in for the VOLT but in most cases, the repair is always delayed because the parts have to be shipped in from Detroit. They don't keep a large supply of parts for the Electrics in the shop parts coffers. I like to think this is because of the cost of parts but I have found more and more that the dealers simply don't want to be that involved with the electrics, or is it just that it is a new device on the market and it takes time to the knowlege out there, slowly draining down from the GM factories??
- The point is, other than basic mechanical parts in the GM Electrics, and in our case, the VOLT, these basic parts may be accessible to the owners for replacement, if not parts from the dealership (expensive) or parts from the Mans Mall (Lesser Expensive), from a crashed VOLT. As far as I know, the electronics are not user repairable, and we cannot get the tool needed to program the electronics. Up to this point, I have not heard anything about being locked out of the VOLT if an owner attempts his own repair but in the back of my mind I am wondering if GM can actually do this to the volt.
In my mind, no matter how nice the TESLA CONVERTIBLE looks, this lock out feature deems any TESLA a hands off deal. For the cost of a TESLA, I guess you should expect that, or you can afford, to let TESLA do all the work, but to be locked out of any repairs yourself simply doesn't fit the way most would like to deal with car repairs.
Any thoughs????
No, this isn't a poll, no voting.
