The folks from Consumer Reports recently paid $127,000 for a Tesla Model S P85D, the most expensive model the consumer magazine ever bought. But their ownership of Tesla’s range-topping electric sedan has started on the wrong foot.
Not long after the car arrived at CR’s Connecticut test track, the driver’s door handle stopped working. While it wasn’t a surprise, given that the door handle issue is the single most frequent malfunction in Consumer Reports’ reliability surveys, it wasn’t a very pleasant thing to happen on a brand new $127,000 car.
Which is probably why Consumer Reports titled their video report “Our Tesla Model S P85D Breaks, Before Testing.”
Fortunately, the next day a Tesla service employee dropped by and replaced the faulty door handle. Problem solved. Looking at how the Model S’ door handle mechanism is designed, it’s not surprising this happened. At least Tesla was quick to repair it.