Tesla owners stumped by bizarre detail in car's interior

Some Tesla owners are reporting bizarre inconsistencies with their interior finishes, leaving those who have forked out a whopping $65,000 or more, less than impressed.

One Model Y owner shared images of their wooden panels with a Tesla owner's group after realising the wood on the trim of the door was a different colour to the wood on the trim of the dash. The frustrated owner then claimed Tesla staff told them the colour change is the same "with all cars". "I have a hard time believing this," they said before asking others to show their interiors to see if this was true.

Surprisingly, of the hundreds of responses from fellow Tesla owners, numerous people revealed they too had mismatched wood while others said theirs was all one colour — raising speculation on what issue could be causing such inconsistency.

Quality finishes are not a big ask, expert says

Though Tesla has not responded to Yahoo News Australia's requests for comment regarding the odd detail popping up in some of their cars, EV owner and host of Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars, Trevor Long told Yahoo, considering how expensive these electric vehicles are — wanting consistency and quality finishes is not a big ask.

"Tesla buyers should have high expectations, these are very expensive vehicles for their size, and there are far better quality interiors and finishes available on the market," he said.

"Personally, I own two electric cars, neither of them is a Tesla and I believe both are fantastic options, vastly better quality as vehicles."

While Long had not heard about a widespread issue of mismatched wooden trims at this stage, he recalled that Tesla was "known previously for its poor fit and finish".

"This comes from the very early days of the brand when 'panel gaps' were large and inconsistent across the cars," he said. "Over many years they have refined this and improved no doubt, but I don't think they are yet at the standard of the European luxury cars."

Tesla owners speculate over cause of mismatched wood

Many believe the mismatch is a "defect", with some guessing the colour difference is due to "quality control issues". Others have said the wood's colour is just "fading" over time with sun exposure. "The more sun you get the more it will yellow," one said.

"I would say that the door trim and the dash come from different component suppliers and that the 'break management control' of a slight colour change was stuffed up between the two suppliers," another speculated.

However, others have disagreed, believing the wood is "natural" which accounts for the difference in colour. "It's natural wood, it should be different."

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Tesla's network of charging stations still beats other brands

While interior finishes may not be the selling point for some, Long said Tesla is doing the "one thing no other brand or company has achieved".

"And that's taking away anxiety over trips by building the most extensive charging network across Australia," he said. "This is second to none and is easily Tesla's best selling point."

Long has previously noted the charging infrastructure in Australia is "growing" with government incentives, but not fast enough to "outpace the sale of EV cars".

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