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2013 Tesla S window and door issues

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My 2013 Tesla S just went off warranty 3 days ago and decided to have issues. Tesla support is lovely, but now that I need to pay to repair the early cars teething issues this will get mighty expensive.

The current crop of new issues is:

  • The driver side window no longer opens nor closes. Tesla said it’s a “regulator” and costs $395 to fix.
  • The driver side door does not always open using the handle. The handle always presents but the door can require a strong yank to open - or may not open at all. The last time this happened on another door when under warranty the cost was $1495 to fix, but it was waived.
  • The passenger side rear window switch no longer functions. The driver switch for this window works okay. I don’t have an estimate for this one, but I’ll bet it will be around $300.
My question is whether there is a way that I can now do the repairs on my own - or use a third party shop. Can these parts be purchased from Tesla and installed by others?

I’m afraid that if there is no alternative to Tesla and these annoying failures continue it may be time to get rid of the car - which I would hate to do...
 
Many thanks for the pointer that is a great video and a big help.

Yes, things have definitely tightened up - they had no interest in doing anything for free, even three days out of warranty.

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My 2013 Tesla S just went off warranty 3 days ago and decided to have issues. Tesla support is lovely, but now that I need to pay to repair the early cars teething issues this will get mighty expensive.

The current crop of new issues is:

  • The driver side window no longer opens nor closes. Tesla said it’s a “regulator” and costs $395 to fix.
  • The driver side door does not always open using the handle. The handle always presents but the door can require a strong yank to open - or may not open at all. The last time this happened on another door when under warranty the cost was $1495 to fix, but it was waived.
  • The passenger side rear window switch no longer functions. The driver switch for this window works okay. I don’t have an estimate for this one, but I’ll bet it will be around $300.
My question is whether there is a way that I can now do the repairs on my own - or use a third party shop. Can these parts be purchased from Tesla and installed by others?

I’m afraid that if there is no alternative to Tesla and these annoying failures continue it may be time to get rid of the car - which I would hate to do...

Both of these are actually easy fixes. My first door handle took me a few hours, second one took me 30 minutes... just a little learning curve with this stuff. You can do it! :)
 
Many thanks for the pointer that is a great video and a big help.

Yes, things have definitely tightened up - they had no interest in doing anything for free, even three days out of warranty.

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Both of these are actually easy fixes. My first door handle took me a few hours, second one took me 30 minutes... just a little learning curve with this stuff. You can do it! :)

Thanks. After watching the videos, yeah, I think these fixes can be handled!