First the good part: Tesla 1-800 roadside folks were very good, the tow-truck driver was very good, and the service center was very good in repairing my Tesla in one day and then delivering it back in the evening. All very good, and I am enjoying the car again.
Now for the bad part: The right front air strut failed due to a leak which caused the whole front of the car to drop so much that the wheels were rubbing against the inside of the wheel well, and the front of the car was rubbing on the ground. The car became absolutely not drivable. Luckily I was parked when this happened. The tow truck driver could only do inch-by-inch turns to orient the car to face the tow truck, and then had to move it up again inch-by-inch using wooden blocks just so the wheel well and the bottom would not get damaged.
Why doesn’t Tesla air-suspension design incorporate some sort of a stopper to stop the car from going lower than the lowest functional air-suspension setting? The service center tech had the same idea!!!! At least it would be drivable when the system failed. I am very concerned how the car would handle if this air suspension failure occurred while driving 70 mph.
I hope a retrofit kit comes out soon for all of us with air suspension. Given my experience, I can't recommend getting the air suspension feature to anyone buying the car until there is some sort of a mechanism to allow for a controlled safe system degradation when it fails.
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We've had Airmatic fail once on a Mercedes and it got very low but not so low that the front of the car touched the ground.
I'd never get a car without Airmatic but the system should not be designed so that if you have a strut failure it does not destroy the front of the car,
I'm watching this thread closely...
This is about the only story I remember reading on the forums that has to do with an issue with the air suspension so any issues it seems are extremely rare.
Like I said earlier I would never buy a car without air suspension or similar technology that dynamically adjusts the suspension. Having said that I really like @Sorka's idea as I think what we need is some type of a limp home mode. A stiff spring at the lowest point would offer limited suspension travel while ensuring you can limp back home or to a service center.
Several cars later, I had a 2001 Mercedes S-class with Active Body Control (their advanced hydraulic suspension). While it never failed outright, it did frequently send error messages indicating suspension failure and advising me to pull over immediately. I could then restart the car and the message would go away. It took several attempts for the dealer to fix the problem under warranty and I was advised that the repair would approach $20k if it were out of warranty due to the fact that the engine had to be pulled to access the sensor which was the problem.
My last car was a 2004 Audi A8l with an air suspension which worked flawlessly for the 10 years and nearly 200k miles I had the car.
I'm hopeful that my MS will be like my Audi in that regard.
All I know for sure is my DES called and said there was/is a problem with the Smart Air Suspension on my MS. I am happy they caught it there and not after I drove off.
I have had two Mercedes for many years without one single problem, so I am confident that problems in Tesla will be minimal.
In any case I am confident that it will last as long as I have the car. Also I do like the ride. I have had two Model S with and without Air. The Air is only slightly better but a very nice ride. Plus the no more bottoming out as I leave my sisters drive way is great! I do feel low aerodynamic cars need height adjustable suspensions be able to everywhere. There are many steep drive ways in NYC and other places.
No, the Tesla air suspension is a newly-developed (in 2012) unit by Continental, specifically for Tesla.
http://www.continental-corporation.com/www/pressportal_com_en/themes/press_releases/3_automotive_group/chassis_safety/press_releases/pr_2013_08_28_air_suspension_ev_en.html
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/08/20130828-conti.html
http://insideevs.com/continental-just-now-hints-at-being-supplier-of-tesla-model-s-air-suspension/
You are right but it is not that different than the ones they have done in the past for others.
As others have commented on this thread, some sort of stopper engineered/retrofitted into the system may keep the car drivable and safe at normal speeds.
Yeah, hence why I was very glad not to get it, since I do plan to keep the car for a very long time.
@LizzieG, Quote: "This is about the only story I remember reading on the forums that has to do with an issue with the air suspension so any issues it seems are extremely rare."
and
@Pungoteague_Dave, Quote: " This is the first reported suspension service issue on this forum, so it does not indicate a trend as far as we can tell."
I wouldn't call it extremely rare. I've seen a few threads on air suspension failures/problems in this forum, and I thought you would have seen them too, P_D. True that this is the first I've read that was a complete failure, where the car rested on the ground. Most of the others were ones where the car just settled several inches and came to rest on a parking barrier and then scraped or broke off a bumper section when the person backed out. Also, there was one where one of the back corners was riding much lower than all of the others, to where the car looked crooked.