I have to say knowing someone who has a salvaged Tesla, that this doesn't sound right at all. He's a very happy owner of an early (2013?) Tesla. Biggest complaint after 4 years is the rear toe-in, but that was fixed at the alignment shop. Maybe there are issues with the newer ones, but he loves his and the few issues he's had were easily fixed. He uses (and pays for) Supercharging.

"If you own a salvaged Tesla, you can’t get a single part (not even a screw or a little plastic bolt cover), you can’t use the supercharger".

With ebay and other on-line tools there is a thriving 'Junkyard' scene for Teslas... parts are available and relatively cheap. Maintenance levels are lower (no ICE/transmission) and most parts have German equivalents. Yes, there are 'makers', 'hackers', and backyard mechanics... some of them are dangerous (crazy car mods). Biggest concerns are the cooling system for the batteries and the wiring harness since those are safety critical and unique to Tesla.

On the other hand we have have 60k deadly Takata airbags driving around on the road (post recall) and no-body (not NHTSA or the insurance companies) are trying to do something about it. Think about all of the bad fuel pumps and rotting hoses on old gas-powered cars...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/why...?

https://jalopnik.com/thousands-of-you-are-still-riding-aroun...

How are you supposed to get repairs then?

The car is disposable, meant to be sent to the crusher once its out of warranty. Really screwed up business model IMO, but people seem to be buying Tesla's still.

That is not true. The very first Tesla had little that Tesla bothered to repair, and so for any major repair, Tesla would tell the insurance that the car was totaled. Which was a boon for people who salvage them.

A friend salvaged a 85 that had no structural damage, but was dimmed totaled by insurance. Tesla then revised the policy and now Tesla repairs more. I know a mechanics at Tesla, and his job is to repair Teslas. Tesla used to send him across the globe and shipped parts so he could repair the car on site. Now, Tesla expands its repair facilities, so no more travel for him.

strange there hasn't been a lawsuit about this as its almost certainly massively illegal.

Nope, John Deere (tractors) has been doing it for ages and the farmers are trying to fight it.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pamkqn/watch-trac...

It's entirely legal because all of the rules surrounding the right to repair and maintain cars are related to emissions certifications, which Tesla doesn't have to do... Other car manufacturers, like Nissan, certify their fully electric vehicles as zero emission solely to have them count in their total fleet CAFE standards numbers, but that means that they have to provide warranties, parts, repair manuals, etc. in line with the federal rules. Tesla exists outside that system.

We should be pushing to have the warranties and the safety critical systems parts and repair information covered under the NHTSA safety certification rather than the EPA emissions certification, but that hasn't been necessary until very recently, and honestly, the majority of people willing to buy a Tesla aren't going to work on them, just like the majority of people buying a regular car aren't going to work on them, so it hasn't been a real issue yet. Personally, I wouldn't buy anything that I don't have a legally enforceable guarantee of aftermarket parts, manuals, etc. on because I don't trust any company to actually provide ongoing support, esp. in tech cough google chat services cough. Particularly given the dollar figures involved...

If you're in the US (I'm going by the reference to a lawsuit), then I don't think it is. This is just the way this company does business and in the states they are free to do so.

why would it be illegal?

Those youtube videos are highly recommended