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An open letter To Mr. Elon Musk regarding fog lights
An open letter To Mr. Elon Musk, Chairman & CEO of Tesla Motors Corp.-
Mr. Musk-
It has recently come to the attention of the Tesla enthusiast community that the fog/ground lights have been recently eliminated as part of the Tech Package for the Model S. Unfortunately, this was done “silently” without any notice to those who had an existing car deposit or a car in the build and delivery process. In addition, the picture gallery on teslamotors.com as well as your showrooms still display cars with lights included, thus those recently ordering have reason to believe they are still included.
It has been stated by one customer that the email reply (ostensibly from yourself regarding this)was:
“You're right, we should have said something. Essentially, the "fog" lights were not actually helpful in fog or in any reasonable scenario we could envision, and were actually bad in some situations. They made Model S worse, so they were deleted.”
While we certainly applaud not wanting to include anything adverse on the Model S, such lights are not useful for just foggy conditions. As ground lights, they allow more peripheral illumination and near-field fill lighting, which several customers have indicated is indeed useful. In addition, fog/ground lights are often considered aesthetically pleasing contributors to a vehicle’s appearance. Finally, the “solution” to the issue of removing and replacing the lamp with a plastic “filler cap” detracts from the beautiful appearance of the car.
You have previously expressed sentiment along the lines of: “We don’t want to build the best electric car, we want to build the best car period”, and as such you are competing in price and features with other luxury sedan makers. They have found a way to incorporate fog/ground lights in a safe manner that contributes to the functionality and appearance of their cars and we, as your customers, have come to expect such options to be available to us.
We request one of the following remedies:
1) Restore fog/ground lights as part of the Tech Package (including retroactive installation for all purchasers), performing whatever redesigns necessary to eliminate any “bad situations” where they may have posed a problem.
2) Reduce the price of the Tech Package by an appropriate amount, refunding any purchasers of the package who will not receive the lights. Make the (redesigned) lights available as an option for this same amount.
We, the current and future owners of the Tesla Model S, appreciate the significant advancement in design and engineering the car represents. We desire the Model S to be “World Class” in all respects. Removing features that are easily obtainable on even lesser cars is not the way to do it.
Respectfully –
Your Ever Growing Ownership and Enthusiast Community
- - - Updated - - -
I am the author of the above letter, which I wanted to keep as applicable as possible to all owners who wish to "sign" by voicing their support for.
As such, I am outlining my specific circumstances separately here: I've been considering a Tesla Model S for a number of months. The Tech Package (including foglights) has always been an option I had decided I would order. The initial description on the web site, the pictures in the gallery , online videos, and the cars I've seen in person (as recently as a showroom visit on 4/13) have always depicted fog/ground lights.
I placed my $5K deposit on 4/5, and only recently have come to realize that the lights have been eliminated. I am a big supporter of Tesla, but doing this without any notification and without changing the price for the Tech Package is not the way to continue to engender my loyalty.
I believe Elon/Tesla did the right thing by listening to customer feedback regarding items such as the floor mats, visors, etc... My hope is that this thread is a CONSTRUCTIVE venue to provide feedback that I believe the user community might wish to provide.
Finally, lets face it... this is a high-tech bad-boy of a car. It DESERVES to look every bit the advanced machine it is... c'mon let's have the awesome looking lights back... we are paying high 5- and even 6-digit prices for these machines...
Mr. Musk-
It has recently come to the attention of the Tesla enthusiast community that the fog/ground lights have been recently eliminated as part of the Tech Package for the Model S. Unfortunately, this was done “silently” without any notice to those who had an existing car deposit or a car in the build and delivery process. In addition, the picture gallery on teslamotors.com as well as your showrooms still display cars with lights included, thus those recently ordering have reason to believe they are still included.
It has been stated by one customer that the email reply (ostensibly from yourself regarding this)was:
“You're right, we should have said something. Essentially, the "fog" lights were not actually helpful in fog or in any reasonable scenario we could envision, and were actually bad in some situations. They made Model S worse, so they were deleted.”
While we certainly applaud not wanting to include anything adverse on the Model S, such lights are not useful for just foggy conditions. As ground lights, they allow more peripheral illumination and near-field fill lighting, which several customers have indicated is indeed useful. In addition, fog/ground lights are often considered aesthetically pleasing contributors to a vehicle’s appearance. Finally, the “solution” to the issue of removing and replacing the lamp with a plastic “filler cap” detracts from the beautiful appearance of the car.
You have previously expressed sentiment along the lines of: “We don’t want to build the best electric car, we want to build the best car period”, and as such you are competing in price and features with other luxury sedan makers. They have found a way to incorporate fog/ground lights in a safe manner that contributes to the functionality and appearance of their cars and we, as your customers, have come to expect such options to be available to us.
We request one of the following remedies:
1) Restore fog/ground lights as part of the Tech Package (including retroactive installation for all purchasers), performing whatever redesigns necessary to eliminate any “bad situations” where they may have posed a problem.
2) Reduce the price of the Tech Package by an appropriate amount, refunding any purchasers of the package who will not receive the lights. Make the (redesigned) lights available as an option for this same amount.
We, the current and future owners of the Tesla Model S, appreciate the significant advancement in design and engineering the car represents. We desire the Model S to be “World Class” in all respects. Removing features that are easily obtainable on even lesser cars is not the way to do it.
Respectfully –
Your Ever Growing Ownership and Enthusiast Community
- - - Updated - - -
I am the author of the above letter, which I wanted to keep as applicable as possible to all owners who wish to "sign" by voicing their support for.
As such, I am outlining my specific circumstances separately here: I've been considering a Tesla Model S for a number of months. The Tech Package (including foglights) has always been an option I had decided I would order. The initial description on the web site, the pictures in the gallery , online videos, and the cars I've seen in person (as recently as a showroom visit on 4/13) have always depicted fog/ground lights.
I placed my $5K deposit on 4/5, and only recently have come to realize that the lights have been eliminated. I am a big supporter of Tesla, but doing this without any notification and without changing the price for the Tech Package is not the way to continue to engender my loyalty.
I believe Elon/Tesla did the right thing by listening to customer feedback regarding items such as the floor mats, visors, etc... My hope is that this thread is a CONSTRUCTIVE venue to provide feedback that I believe the user community might wish to provide.
Finally, lets face it... this is a high-tech bad-boy of a car. It DESERVES to look every bit the advanced machine it is... c'mon let's have the awesome looking lights back... we are paying high 5- and even 6-digit prices for these machines...
0
Comments
I reserved the car in Nov '11, and while I didn't finalize until Mar '13, I fully expected fog lights on my multi-coat red vehicle when it arrives next month.
I didn't know this happened and would be disappointed not to get the fog lights.
I reserved in february 2012, finalized in april 2013. I too was expecting fog lights.
It is not a very nice move doing such adjustments secretly to the people who believe in your
product
Maybe you use the wires for the parking sensors which you sell to us seperatly
But please keep in mind that you promise to sell a car which improofs by the time
I agree to the letter above
Oscar
Although I was not expecting fog lights because I didn't get the tech package, I do agree with the sentiment about not changing things on existing reservations/orders without CLEAR communication. Also, the computer generated vehicle pictures on the design studio and the My Garage page clearly show things that aren't a part of my car (such as the fog lights and the chrome accents) because I didn't get the tech package. If I were going based on those pictures, I would have been expecting them.
Expect these on my #S422 in the Netherlands aug/sept.
I wanted them, and still do.
(P85 Red, Toronto, May 18 2:00 PM!!!)
PS, the P85 badge comes under the same category.
I have no worries, however, as I do not believe that Tesla will leave us feeling cheated.
In the meantime, perhaps we should wait for the deliveries before we react.
Best to all.
Listen to your owners, replace the fog lights. I am looking at an MB E-55 Model S wagon and it has fog lights, I don't want that to be the reason I get it instead of the Tesla.
I don't sign this, nor could I believe anyone who seriously considered buying a Model S would not do so because of the complaint in this thread.
That seems reasonable, until you realize that logic requires Tesla to put every minuscule change up for public referendum. Not a good way to run a business, in my opinion. That's exactly TM and every other manufacturer include a statement to the effect that stuff is subject to change without notice, or a poll.
If they have to wring their hands and get sign off for switching from "fog" to "cornering" lights, what's next? Taking a poll on changing the shade of red for the tail lights? The mechanism the cup holder uses to grip your Big Gulp? (Should it be those little springy fingers, or the collapsing ring style?)