Repair-It

The Munro team had conducted a 6,000-hour teardown of one of the most closely watched new-vehicle launches in history—and the evaluations were mixed. Although the Model 3 received praise for its many technological advances, the Tesla build quality and body engineering left much to be desired.

Front Upper Control Arm—These are formed of thinner-gauge stamped steel then reinforced by having plastic webbing molded inside. This plastic also provides attachment points for routing the ABS sensor wiring. The oddity: Note the ingot of iron that is glued in place (held by zip-ties while glue sets). Munro reckons this is to dampen a troublesome natural frequency. It remains to be seen if AWD Model 3s will require this.