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Norway Tesla owners go to extreme lengths to make Elon Musk aware of their complaints
Some Tesla owners in Norway are going to extreme lengths to get Elon Musk’s attention about their vehicles’ issues. So dedicated was the group to its cause that the Tesla owners went on a hunger strike to express their displeasure about a number of problems they have been experiencing with their vehicles.
On its official website, the group noted that it believes that if Elon Musk is aware of the troubles of Tesla owners in Norway, he will solve the EV owners’ issues. This is not a farfetched sentiment, as Elon Musk recently noted during his appearance at the 2022 ONS conference that he is extremely thankful for Norway’s support of electric vehicles.
Yet, according to the group of dissatisfied Tesla owners, they have been suffering due to several issues with their cars. The owners listed 29 problems that are causing grief, from cold weather problems, build quality issues, and bad communication with owners.
Following is the full list of the owners’ grievances.
- The car won’t start in cold weather
- Door handles won’t open in cold weather
- Intense squeaking noise
- Car won’t start in warm weather
- “Bubbles” in seats
- Loose front seat
- Trunk lid filled with rain water
- Autopilot does not work properly
- Internet is slow and does not work as it ought to
- The wipers do not work (well enough)
- The car creaks when you pass speed bumps and other bumps in the road
- Decorative moldings loosen
- The lights do not work properly
- The doors stop working properly
- Doors that open by themselves
- The computer does not work
- Yellow edges around the display screens
- Windows that do not close completely
- Systems reset on their own
- Problems charging
- Reduced power
- Rust problems on new cars (especially Model 3)
- Poor paint quality means that the car has to be repainted
- You were promised free charging throughout the car’s lifetime, but the new charging stations do not fit the car
- Lower battery life that Tesla claims
- Problems with the air conditioner
- Not all problems are solved when the car is serviced
- Tesla promise to contact you, but you do not hear from them
- You have to wait on the phone for a long time before Tesla answers
The group is calling on anyone willing to help to spread the word about its efforts. According to the Tesla owners, Norway is a canary in the coal mine of sorts, as its population owns more Teslas per capita than any country in the world.
“We are a group of dissatisfied Norwegian Tesla owners. We believe that if Elon Musk is made aware of our troubles, he will solve the situation. Please help us get his attention,” the group wrote.
Erlend Mørc, a non-Tesla owner who started the hunger strike on behalf of Tesla owners, informed Carscoops that he is hoping Tesla would listen. Otherwise, he noted that competitors could catch up. “Now that it’s over, I hope Tesla listens. This will be in their own self-interest. They are so well positioned to dominate the EV market, but if too many people experience these troubles, other car manufacturers will be ready to take their place,” Mørc said.
Mørc added that the hunger strike was attended by the owners of 17 Teslas, as well as other individuals who supported the group’s goals. The hunger strike lasted 24 hours between August 27 and August 28, 2022.
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Anti-Tesla union leader ditches X, urges use of Threads instead
Tesla Sweden and IF Metall have been engaged in a bitter dispute for over two years now.
Marie Nilsson, chair of Sweden’s IF Metall union and a prominent critic of Tesla, has left X and is urging audiences to follow the union on Meta’s Threads instead.
Tesla Sweden and IF Metall have been engaged in a bitter dispute for over two years now.
Anti-Tesla union leader exits X
In a comment to Dagens Arbete (DA), Nilsson noted that her exit from X is not formally tied to IF Metall’s long-running labor dispute with Tesla Sweden. Still, she stated that her departure is affected by changes to the platform under Elon Musk’s leadership.
“We have stayed because many journalists pick up news there. But as more and more people have left X, we have felt that the standard has now been reached on that platform,” she said.
Jesper Pettersson, press officer at IF Metall, highlighted that the union’s departure from X is only indirectly linked to Tesla Sweden and Elon Musk. “Indirectly it does, since there is a lot of evidence that his ownership has caused the change in the platform to be so significant.
“We have nevertheless assessed that the platform had value for reaching journalists, politicians and other opinion leaders. But it is a microscopic proportion of the public and our members who are there, and now that value has decreased,” Petterson added.
IF Metall sees Threads as an X alternative
After leaving X, IF Metall has begun using Threads, Meta’s alternative to the social media platform. The union described the move as experimental, noting that it is still evaluating how effective the platform will be for outreach and visibility.
Pettersson acknowledged that Meta also does not operate under Sweden’s collective bargaining model, but said the union sees little alternative if it wants to remain visible online.
“In a perfect world, all large international companies would be supporters of the Swedish model when they come here. But unfortunately, the reality is not like that. If we are to be visible at all in this social media world, we have to play by the rules of the game. The alternative would be to become completely invisible, and that would not benefit our members,” he said.
Despite many recent rumors and various reports, Elon Musk confirmed today that SpaceX is not developing a phone based on Starlink, not once, but twice.
Today’s report from Reuters cited people familiar with the matter and stated internal discussions have seen SpaceX executives mulling the idea of building a mobile device that would connect directly to the Starlink satellite constellation.
Musk did state in late January that SpaceX developing a phone was “not out of the question at some point.” However, He also said it would have to be a major difference from current phones, and would be optimized “purely for running max performance/watt neural nets.”
Not out of the question at some point. It would be a very different device than current phones. Optimized purely for running max performance/watt neural nets.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 30, 2026
While Musk said it was not out of the question “at some point,” that does not mean it is currently a project SpaceX is working on. The CEO reaffirmed this point twice on X this afternoon.
Musk said, “Reuters lies relentlessly,” in one post. In the next, he explicitly stated, “We are not developing a phone.”
Reuters lies relentlessly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2026
We are not developing a phone
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2026
Musk has basically always maintained that SpaceX has too many things going on, denying that a phone would be in the realm of upcoming projects. There are too many things in the works for Musk’s space exploration company, most notably the recent merger with xAI.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
A Starlink phone would be an excellent idea, especially considering that SpaceX operates 9,500 satellites, serving over 9 million users worldwide. 650 of those satellites are dedicated to the company’s direct-to-device initiative, which provides cellular coverage on a global scale.
Nevertheless, there is the potential that the Starlink phone eventually become a project SpaceX works on. However, it is not currently in the scope of what the company needs to develop, so things are more focused on that as of right now.
Tesla has added a notable improvement to its Dashcam feature after complaints from owners have pushed the company to make a drastic change.
Perhaps one of the biggest frustrations that Tesla owners have communicated regarding the Dashcam feature is the lack of ability to retain any more than 60 minutes of driving footage before it is overwritten.
It does not matter what size USB jump drive is plugged into the vehicle. 60 minutes is all it will hold until new footage takes over the old. This can cause some issues, especially if you were saving an impressive clip of Full Self-Driving or an incident on the road, which could be lost if new footage was recorded.
This has now been changed, as Tesla has shown in the Release Notes for an upcoming Software Update in China. It will likely expand to the U.S. market in the coming weeks, and was first noticed by NotaTeslaApp.
The release notes state:
“Dashcam Dynamic Recording Duration – The dashcam dynamically adjusts the recording duration based on the available storage capacity of the connected USB drive. For example, with a 128 GB USB drive, the maximum recording duration is approximately 3 hours; with a 1 TB or larger USB drive, it can reach up to 24 hours. This ensures that as much video as possible is retained for review before it gets overwritten.”
Tesla Adds Dynamic Recording
Instead of having a 60-minute cap, the new system will now go off the memory in the USB drive. This means with:
- 128 GB Jump Drive – Up to Three Hours of Rolling Footage
- 1TB Jump Drive – Up to 24 Hours of Rolling Footage
This is dependent on the amount of storage available on the jump drive, meaning that if there are other things saved on it, it will take away from the amount of footage that can be retained.
While the feature is just now making its way to employees in China, it will likely be at least several weeks before it makes its way to the U.S., but owners should definitely expect it in the coming months.
It will be a welcome feature, especially as there will now be more customization to the number of clips and their duration that can be stored.
Anti-Tesla union leader ditches X, urges use of Threads instead
Elon Musk confirms SpaceX is not developing a phone
