Tesla's South Korean meltdown: failing batteries, angry owners, and a government showdown

According to local reports, thousands of Tesla owners in South Korea are fighting with a battery error that is crippling their vehicles and leaving them with half the driving range, not to mention the five-figure repair bill. The growing scandal has sparked consumer outrage and has now caught the attention of the South Korean government, which is threatening to pull the plug on lucrative EV subsidies for the American automaker.

The core of the problem is an error message, "BMS_a079," that signals a fault in the Battery Management System. This triggers a safety mode and limits the maximum charge to just 50%, effectively cutting the car's range in half. It turns out that the issue is impacting thousands of Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. According to data Tesla provided to a Korean lawmaker, 4,351 cars have suffered from the defect a total of 4,637 times, suggesting that for hundreds of owners, the problem keeps coming back.

The issue seems concentrated in vehicles from the 2021 model year. An astonishing 22% of all Tesla Model Ys and 12% of all Model 3s sold in South Korea that year have reported battery failure. This high rate has led consumers to believe it's not a matter of simple wear and tear but a widespread manufacturing defect.

The situation gets worse for owners whose cars have seen the error multiple times. Records show that 245 cars experienced the failure twice, 19 suffered through it three times, and one unfortunate owner dealt with the same problem on four separate occasions.

Adding to the frustration is Tesla's approach to fixing the problem. When owners bring their cars in, they often don't receive a brand-new battery. Instead, in more than half of the repairs - 2,406 cases to be exact - Tesla has installed "remanufactured" batteries.

These are refurbished units assembled from salvaged cells taken from other defective or returned electric cars. Many owners report that these recycled batteries offer reduced performance or fail again with the same BMS error, making the "fix" feel more like a temporary patch than a permanent solution.

For owners still covered by Tesla's eight-year, 99,400 miles warranty, the repair is an inconvenience. But for those outside the warranty period, it's a financial disaster since the cost to replace the high-voltage battery can easily exceed $22,000, and turn the dream of owning one of the world's most popular electric cars into a nightmare.

And owners are fighting back. A national petition demanding a full recall and free repairs gathered more than 14,000 signatures, and a consumer group, the Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty, is formally calling on Tesla to take responsibility.

The public outcry has forced the South Korean government to act. The Environment Ministry has issued a stern warning to Tesla: fix the issue, or risk losing government subsidies. "We cannot justify providing public funds for vehicles that disadvantage consumers," a government official handling EV subsidy programs told local media. Those subsidies provide a discount of up to $3,950 per vehicle, and their removal could impact Tesla's sales.

This battery debacle compounds pre-existing complaints about Tesla's after-sales service in the country. Despite being the third-largest imported car brand and selling the most popular EV, the Model Y, Tesla operates only 14 service centers nationwide. This leads to infamously long wait times. The average repair for this specific battery issue takes over 23 days, and in one extreme case, an owner waited 926 days - over two and a half years - to get their car back.

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