Our long-term Tesla Model 3 broke down on Christmas Day. While parked.

This is the first time we've ever had a long-term car suffer a catastrophic failure while parked, and also the first time we've been alerted to our being stranded by a push notification from a mobile app.

Although the tow truck was extremely quick to arrive, we're now in an unknown holding pattern waiting for parts.

UPDATE 1/2/20, 5:00 p.m.: Tesla's repair facility diagnosed our Model 3's problem as a short in the rear inverter. They replaced the entire rear-motor assembly, along with the blown fuse and the 12-volt battery, and the car is back on the road. Here are full details of the fix.

UPDATE 12/31/19, 10:00 a.m.: Although it’s possible the timing is purely coincidental, the service department at Tesla’s Toledo, Ohio, facility contacted C/D within three hours of this story's initial publication, offering a loaner car, a rental, or $100 per day in Uber credit while our Model 3 is in the shop. They also said parts are on the way and the car will be ready for us on Thursday (January 2). We will provide full details of the outcome of the car's repair and its return to our long-term fleet as they become available.



Whatever you call the opposite of a Christmas miracle befell our long-term Model 3 last Wednesday. Our staff photographer, Michael Simari, was at his parents' home for a holiday gathering in suburban Detroit with the Model 3 parked outside when he received an ominous push notification from the Tesla app that the car had "suffered a failure and will no longer drive." Welcome to the connected, digital era of automobiles?

Car and Driver

Not only is this the first time we've ever had a long-term car suffer a catastrophic failure while parked, it's also an extraordinarily rare case of any car leaving us stranded, something unacceptable for any new vehicle, particularly one that costs $57,690 and with merely 5286 miles on the odometer. Even our problem-prone Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio was at least able to limp to the dealer following each one of its numerous issues.

Impressively, even on Christmas Day, Tesla roadside assistance got a tow truck to us in about a half hour, which brought the car to the closest service center: Toledo, Ohio, because Tesla isn't allowed to operate company-owned service centers in Michigan. That's only about an hour away from our Ann Arbor, Michigan, headquarters, far closer than when we had a long-term Model S in 2015 and 2016, which had to be serviced nearly three hours away in Cleveland, Ohio. However, the dramatic increase in Tesla's sales since then has no doubt worked to degrade the service experience. Back in those days, the flatbed to pick up our car would be carrying a loaner Model S to drive while ours was away for service. This time, there was no offer of a loaner or any kind of temporary transportation, such as the Uber rides that we've heard have been proffered to some others in similar situations.

Michael Simari Car and Driver

Our opinion on the service experience hasn't improved much in the subsequent days. We heard back on the afternoon of the 26th that our car was in the queue to be diagnosed, but there was no time frame given for how long that might take. After a two-day wait, we were informed that there are issues with the rear drive unit, the pyrotechnic battery disconnect, and the 12-volt battery and that they are waiting for parts. Again, no estimated time was given for when we might be able to cease scrambling for backup transportation.

Notably, there had been no earlier warning messages that anything was amiss prior to the failure. The only oddity was that when at a nearby Supercharger earlier that day, the car was charging at only 50 kW, which is far lower than the usual 150-kW peak. Initially, we were sharing a stall with another car, which reduces the charging rate, so we moved to an empty one to see if the power level would increase. But it didn't. We were just about to download the latest software update (2019.40.50.1) but hadn't yet done it, so that didn't have anything to do with it.

After that slow-charging experience, the car was driven 10 miles to the holiday party where it sat for about an hour and a half before the notification of doom.

We'll keep updating this story through our car's repair and return.

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