Tesla is right now working on a new type of clamping assembly that will allow some flexibility in between the panels during manufacturing. With this system and gaps between the vehicles, panels can be adjusted and aligned during the process of assembling. These things together are going to make some great improvements in the vehicles of Tesla.
The new patent by Tesla which is titled as ‘Clamping Assembly for Securing Together a Pair of Adjacently Located Panels’ says, “Although conventional clamps can be used to secure adjacently located parts to one another, the clamp does not account for parts that have large manufacturing tolerances or parts that must not be fixed in at least one direction. Attempting to use a traditional clamp to secure two parts that must have some play between them may introduce unsightly gaps and/or overlaps between the parts, reducing the aesthetic appearance upon assembly.”
Tesla will be adjusting the panels during the assembly and will be giving allowance to the company to address any missing aligned panels before the vehicle is sent for the delivery, the Tesla’s patent outlines a new but much more flexible clamping assembly.
Detroit Sandy Munro was totally blown away with the battery, riding quality, technical and performance of Model 3’s but he also criticized the inconsistent gaps between the vehicle panel. To his criticism Tesla also had a reply, they stated that “ the standard deviation of all gaps and offsets across the entire car has improved, on average, by nearly 40%, with particular gap improvements visible in the area of the trunk, rear lamps and rear quarter panel”.
In a letter to the employees which was sent in April by Elon Musk which clearly signifies that he is not taking this misaligned panels lightly, it’s a serious issue.
Most of the design tolerances of the Model 3 are already better than any other car in the world. Soon, they will all be better. This is not enough. We will keep going until the Model 3 build precision is a factor of ten better than any other car in the world. I am not kidding. Our car needs to be designed and built with such accuracy and precision that, if an owner measures dimensions, panel gaps, and flushness, and their measurements don’t match the Model 3 specs, it just means that their measuring tape is wrong. – Elon Musk’s Letter
The company is paying full attention for the betterment of the quality and will be keeping a full eye while the vehicle or panel alignment manufacturing process so that they don’t get any complaints from the next time.
