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Consumer Reports Trashes Tesla’s Model X As Tragically ‘Flawed’

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Chris White Tech Reporter
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One of the nation’s top consumer review magazines called Tesla Motors’s first all-electric SUV flashy, disappointing and poorly designed.

Consumer Reports called the Model X “flawed,” and blasted the vehicle’s “complexity, compromised functionality and dismal first-year reliability.”

The magazine’s review is a departure from its previous glowing review of Tesla’s Model S, the California-based company’s high-priced electric sedan. The magazine later rescinded its review of the sedan, citing concerns over the car’s reliability.

The publication didn’t care much for the SUV’s highly-touted “falcon-wing” doors, or by its “jet-fighter-like canopy windshield.”

“But beyond the brag-worthy magic, the all-wheel-drive Model X 90D largely disappoints,” the magazine wrote.

“The rear doors are prone to pausing and stopping. The second-row seats can’t be folded, limiting cargo-carrying ability. The big windshield is neat but not tinted enough to offset the brightness of a sunny day, and wind noise is excessive.”

The Model X handles like a sports car, the magazine noted, “[b]ut its ride is too firm and choppy for a $110,000 car.”

The negative report comes several months after one Tesla customer filed a lawsuit in June, arguing the Model X is a “lemon.”

The lawsuit claimed the doors opened and closed at random, often-times hitting people nearby and damaging other cars — worse still, the lawsuit claimed, the Model X’s autopilot feature was particularly dangerous in the rain.

The legal claims come amid a growing cascade of problems for Tesla. Reports indicated earlier in June that the company may have forbidden Model S customers from talking to the government about problems with their cars.

Reports of suspension problems and allegations the company forced customers to sign non-disclosure agreements prohibiting them from notifying the government about defects gained traction in April on the Tesla Motors Club forum in a thread titled “Suspension Problem on Model S.”

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