Comment by plqbfbv

This is far from a new story. What is notable is that the failure is so widespread it's prompting government inquiry and action.

When I still had my reddit account, maybe 95% of battery failures showing up in r/TeslaLounge or r/TeslaModel3 were from 2021 models. If I understood correctly by reading the many threads, 2021 it's around the time that Tesla changed the manufacturing process to seal the battery, so this is likely the initial batch of batteries with the new sealing process (perhaps not so refined/polished).

For most of these cars the powertrain and battery are still under warranty (8y or 100k/120k miles). As noted in the article, Tesla normally replaces failed packs with refurbished packs of about the same capacity/degradation, which are bound to fail sooner than brand new ones of course.

I don't see a way out of this for Tesla except to recognize the manufacturing defect and waive the mileage warranty limit (and only hold to the 8y age) when a 2021 car rolls in to swap the battery pack.