State of Repair is Motherboard's exploration of DIY culture, device repair, ownership, and the forces fighting to lock down access to the things you own.
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The issue highlights the fact that Tesla is not bound by the same rules when it comes to repair as other auto manufacturers. Tesla is not party to a memorandum of understanding signed by other auto manufacturers in 2014, in which they agreed to sell parts to independent repair shops.As a result, there are very few independent Tesla repair professionals, acquiring parts to repair Teslas is very difficult, and finding or making aftermarket parts is also difficult. Many parts used by independent repair professionals are salvaged from wrecked Teslas.Has your Tesla been bricked by this issue? Reach out to the author of this article at jason.koebler@vice.com or on Signal at 347-513-3688
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âWeâre building these parts in the aftermarket because Tesla wonât sell these parts,â Sadow said.Since making that video in May, Benoit has also seen the memory problem at his own repair shop.âI see it in the wild,â he told Motherboard. âI own a shop that repairs these cars and the older vehicles are starting to show their signs of age.âBenoit said he has a cache of replacement boards that heâs obtained from wrecked Teslas âjust in caseâ he decides to start doing these repairs.âAt the moment, we do not provide this service as we would like to form a partnership with Tesla to help them resolve these issues,â he said.Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted at an independent repair professional named Jason Hughes who said he has dealt with âover a dozenâ broken MCU1s in the last month. âItâs literally killing a huge percentage of these units,â Hughes said.Musk tweeted that the issue âshould be much better at this point,â but did not elaborate about what changesâif anyâhis company had made in recent weeks to fix the issue.