Just a month into owning the car and the trunk caught on opening and closing and looks like it bent itself and chipped the paint at the edges. Has anyone else run into this? I filled out a request for service and I assume this will be a warranty repair.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
2021 Trunk Damage Upon Open/Close
- Thread starter 21EV
- Start date
In case people are watching this my Model 3 is fixed, under warranty, and it looks like they did a really good job. I had a Model Y Long Range as a loaner which was interesting to compare that with my Model 3. The process with the service center was really smooth and communicating with the app worked well once I uninstalled and reinstalled the app after it appeared to experience a hiccup.
Correct. It was close and apparently the trunk doesn’t always follow the same path while closing.
I’m not sure I have any particular advice. Mine happened at just shy of one month of ownership and I just went in and told them the truth. I noticed the rear lights were misaligned and I was intending on getting that address at some point but didn’t realize that the misalignment was also causing the two metal parts to touch. It was also reproducible so each time you opened and closed the trunk it would scratch it even more.
Yup yup I have not heard back from Tesa with my "1off" issue, mostly regarding the rear tail lights. I noticed the chipping too, and I did not wait around to get an official no. The car is totally electric, I deeply think that the way a car body was originally designed, it was meant to bend and flex with both driving conditions and internal vibrations from the engine within. This foundation is what lead to car designers changing standards focusing more on minimizing vibrations - the fluid necessary movement of the car within. Like we have cartilage to allow bones close together, to bend and flex, minimizing the effects of friction. Now since this is an EV designed by a company that follows conventional vehicle design topologies, perhaps there is a mindset of creating a car body that follows that same protocol, with our ICE counterparts. Which has lead to a result of the crs design that maybe is not as rigid as it should be. In other words, I suspect EV Teslas move more in the frame than they should be, creating this embarrassing visual flaws that make the luxury expectation of our vehicles appear neglected and tarnished. Take a look at my attached images. I have a 2019 Tesla Model 3 - Jan 2019 - and I am already at over 170,000 Miles. My outer beauty of my "3rd Wife" is NOT considered a defect, and I have hard to pay out of pocket for a part externally exposed to 3-4 months of triple digit heat. ..... That Tesla says it is not covered I could understand if this warranty mumbo jumbo was more accountable. Yet it makes me feel like a space alien, for when I try to understand how a manufacturer is trying to say naughty-naughty-to me like a child...because I should have known how to take care of a part on my car that falls under the "wear and tear" policy. Yet can't give me no advice on how to maintain this said item from becoming damaged again (3 months later after replacement) !!! This crucial part on my car that just so happens to have no indication of affect, or related damage to any other area or PART NEARBY to other areas of the car! In other words, how are you going to blame a customer for a wear and tear part on a trunk, if the trunk itself shows no related damage ANYWHERE on the frame or area of possible impact with another part of the car frame?????
I am more seriously hoping you enjoy the images included in my rant. Thanks for reading.....
I am more seriously hoping you enjoy the images included in my rant. Thanks for reading.....
Attachments
smatthew
Active Member
At 170K miles you've been out of warranty for a long time. And those look like scratches - not sure how the car could have done that to itself.
My advice is to buy new taillights on eBay and replace them yourself. Or, just live with it.
I have mine tesla model 3 with the power trunk for three months now. A few days I ago the power trunk closed but damaged misaligned it self and also chipped the paint. Tesla says it is not a warranty issue. I think the power trunk applied to much pressure on closing the trunk. Does anyone else have this same issue? And how is it handled by Tesla?
Attachments
Mine happened within 2 weeks of owning the car. I don’t know if that made a difference.
Yeah had the same issue, 3 month old car. Tesla says it is not a warranty issue
They re-aligned it for me and had to pay 85 euro's for the re-alignment. Still stuck with a ugly damage:
How on Earth is that not a warranty issue? You could point to any other Model 3 in their car park and it wouldn't look like that.
I clicked on this thread expecting the damage that going to be talked about as being the paint damage you get where the trunk hits the bumper, not bent metal!
I clicked on this thread expecting the damage that going to be talked about as being the paint damage you get where the trunk hits the bumper, not bent metal!
JCtx
Member
It absolutely has to be a defect of some sort, since several cars have the exact same damage. For one, I was surprised to just see ONE power strut, rather than 2, like on all my other vehicles with a power trunk/hatch. But if everything is tight, it still shouldn't be an issue with just one power strut. My guess is something got loose, or something got into the mechanism, causing it to bend.
Finally, I actually hit my garage door with the hatch open on the first day of ownership, and to my surprise, the hatch actually bent my garage door, with ZERO damage to the car. So the damn thing is A LOT stronger than I thought. Something else has to be at play, but what? It'd be nice to know to get an explanation why that is happening. It seems to be happening on cars with the power trunk only, correct?
Finally, I actually hit my garage door with the hatch open on the first day of ownership, and to my surprise, the hatch actually bent my garage door, with ZERO damage to the car. So the damn thing is A LOT stronger than I thought. Something else has to be at play, but what? It'd be nice to know to get an explanation why that is happening. It seems to be happening on cars with the power trunk only, correct?
Yeah that seems like it. Only on power trunk cars.
They claim it's the fault of the customer, "you’ve done some thing wrong"
Thanks to the original poster for this thread.
If they tried to deny warranty coverage for that, I'd go ballistic.
Personally, my electric trunk has malfunctioned at least twice in the first 2 weeks. It doesn't exactly close gracefully in normal operation... More like a controlled fall with a latching click at the end. Sometimes it seems to come down at a slight angle though and hits the latch wrong, then doesn't latch closed (and on the screen it indicates it's still open). I press the button to try again and it works fine the second try. I haven't had any damage yet, thankfully. I was waiting for it to get worse before taking in for service, but now I'm worried I may get some metal damage like you guys did.
If they tried to deny warranty coverage for that, I'd go ballistic.
Personally, my electric trunk has malfunctioned at least twice in the first 2 weeks. It doesn't exactly close gracefully in normal operation... More like a controlled fall with a latching click at the end. Sometimes it seems to come down at a slight angle though and hits the latch wrong, then doesn't latch closed (and on the screen it indicates it's still open). I press the button to try again and it works fine the second try. I haven't had any damage yet, thankfully. I was waiting for it to get worse before taking in for service, but now I'm worried I may get some metal damage like you guys did.
You don't need two power structs for a sedan trunk that weights nothing.
JCtx
Member
In that case, it's only a matter of time before yours becomes another statistic. I'd report it NOW, before any paint/hinge damage, which would make it harder to get fixed under warranty. Something has to be off, like more play/tolerance on the hinges than normal. And yes, my hatch now slams closed as well; no more soft-closing. Not sure if it's the power strut, or the other one.
Yeah, you do. The power of one strut might be enough, BUT more importantly, that power is NOT APPLIED EVENLY. And if not the entire reason for that issue, at least a significant factor IMO. Try removing one strut from your hood, and see if it likes it
.The other strut is effective, I think. After all, pre power trunk cars could hold the trunk lid up and at positions lower than fully up without issue.
That being said I’m not entirely convinced that a powered strut on one side is 100% safe, given it is upward force being applied to one side of the trunk.
That being said I’m not entirely convinced that a powered strut on one side is 100% safe, given it is upward force being applied to one side of the trunk.
Similar threads
