Cybertruck

[Morris Minor]

The surface is not brushed like stainless steel appliances.
Lifting fallout contaminants from normal paint surfaces is best done with a clay mitt (clay bar if it's really bad). It would be interesting to see how well that would work on the Cybertruck.

Or you could let it patina. Haha.

[565]

https://youtu.be/os6x0MC72Vg?feature=shared

[veeman]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2024/04/22/tesla-cybertruck-recall-electric-truck-sales/73416419007/

The Cybertruck recall showed that 3878 were sold since it came out in November. This compares with (1st quarter sales) 7743 Lightnings, 1688 Hummer EVs, and 2399 Rivian RIT pickup trucks.

It's very early in the production run.

Very hard to predict how it will play out in 2025.  100 thousand sales?  Probably too expensive.

[giant_mtb]

Yes. Most vehicles that are talked about for years and highly anticipated usually sell less than 4,000 units within six months and then suddenly sell 100,000 units the next year.

[veeman]

Yes. Most vehicles that are talked about for years and highly anticipated usually sell less than 4,000 units within six months and then suddenly sell 100,000 units the next year.

The base model isn't available yet. Base model has a starting price of $61 grand. As of February 2024 they were only delivered to 4 states. If you go to the Tesla website right now and try to order one, the earliest delivery of any version of the Cybertruck is 2025 which is 8 months from now.

So no I don't think it unfathomable that they sell 100 thousand a year in 2025.

I don't think they will (mostly because price is still too high and probable supply chain issues).  My guess is 1/3 that number.  More than the Rivian R1T and Hummer EV. 

[Morris Minor]

The vestigial door mirrors are laughably bad. The Feds should drop the "it has to be mirrors" mandate, as they did in Europe a few years ago.

[giant_mtb]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6th4AvMaxZ/?igsh=OGsybm5xcWtzZ3Rw

[veeman]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6th4AvMaxZ/?igsh=OGsybm5xcWtzZ3Rw

It's amazing to me Tesla can do an over the air update to address this with better sensing on the frunk enclosure. 

The amount of things Tesla can successfully address with over the air updates in many ways shows how advanced their product is compared with everyone else. That they let these oversights get through prior to releasing the car, to Mr. H's arguments, show they're also too reckless. 

[CaminoRacer]

Similar to video games nowadays. Before consoles were connected to the internet, games had to be tested and fixed before the launch, but now they just launch it and figure they can patch any issues later.

[r0tor]

Why use a carrot to test when you can loose a finger on Instagram and become instafamous

This world just continues to reward complete assholes

[giant_mtb]

Similar to video games nowadays. Before consoles were connected to the internet, games had to be tested and fixed before the launch, but now they just launch it and figure they can patch any issues later.

Yup, I was thinking the same thing.

I don't want to buy a car that needs updates and DLC. I want something fully fleshed outta the box. (aka, a Toyota )

[Morris Minor]

Yup, I was thinking the same thing.

I don't want to buy a car that needs updates and DLC. I want something fully fleshed outta the box. (aka, a Toyota )

How does Toyota get updates out there if it needs to fix something, or improve/add functionality?

[MrH]

How does Toyota get updates out there if it needs to fix something, or improve/add functionality?

They validate design and process before selling them to customers.  Crazy idea, I know.

[Laconian]

You can feel the difference with MS Windows. They laid off a lot of their QA team and now they just let the "insiders" find the bugs on their home computers for free.

[Morris Minor]

They validate design and process before selling them to customers.  Crazy idea, I know.

How do they fix it if the validators fuck up? Or if they figure out something new or better post-product launch?

[giant_mtb]

How do they fix it if the validators fuck up? Or if they figure out something new or better post-product launch?

I believe it's called a recall.

[565]

I believe it's called a recall.

Ironically out of the 4 new vehicles my family purchased in 2022 2023, the Cadillac, the BMW, and the Tesla all did not need a major safety recall that couldn't be done over the air.  Only my father's Toyota, 2022 Tundra, had a major safety recall.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-recalls-defects/toyota-tundra-pickup-recalled-for-fire-risk-a3546900499/#:~:text=Toyota%20is%20recalling%20over%20168%2C000,installed%20near%20metallic%20brake%20lines.

Apparently they used some flimsy plastic fuel line that wears through and causes fires.  They didn't have the parts for months, so the trucks were brought in for some temp fix which I think was some zip ties until they could actually fix it.

Also the Toyota needed it to have it's driver's seat plastic panel replaced due to a known issue with it cracking.

It also needed a transmission tuning recall for a known and widespread hesitation issue.

[MrH]

How do they fix it if the validators fuck up? Or if they figure out something new or better post-product launch?

There isn't a job called a validator, and it's just how good that individual does that determines whether there will be an issue or not with a vehicle later on.  There are multiple root causes to why something could fail in a car: was the design bad to begin with?  Was the assembly process not repeatable?  Were the quality checks in the process insufficient?

If there's something wrong with a vehicle, it could result in a recall, a TSB, or just general repairs the customer eats throughout ownership.  Most cars tend to have some sort of common issues for the model.  How common is it?  How expensive is it to fix?  Is it dangerous if it does happen?  This is the idea behind how you construct different types of FMEAs (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis).  There are multiple types of FMEAs in manufacturing: design, system, process, etc.  You work through how every single thing could fail, the severity of the failure, and the occurrence rate.  Based on that, you build controls to prevent the failures from occurring.

There's a whole career called validation engineering, but they only own a portion of the process (typically they are guiding the org on how to validate that a good part can be made). But every aspect of engineering are involved to get a successful validation.  Design/product engineers live in the Design FMEA world, manufacturing engineers live in the Process FMEA world, etc.

This isn't a singular person who makes or breaks the whole thing.  This is all built into the corporates processes, procedures, standards, and culture.  It IS the company! And Tesla absolutely sucks at it.