Door handle won't actuate electronic unlatch from outside (2015 P85DL)

[VifferFun]

Hi Everyone,

I just noticed an issue with my right-rear door handle of my 2015 P85DL. Unfortunately it no longer consistently actuates the electronic door latch from outside of the car – the handle presents itself as expected when unlocked, but nothing happens when I pull on the handle. The rear door doesn’t get used much, and I believe the issue started a week ago (when a friend had difficulty opening it, but at the time I thought he simply didn’t know what he was doing).

I had an interesting finding this morning. If I unlock the car and open the door from the inside of the car, it actuates the electronic door latch and the door opens as expected. Oddly enough, in this state (with the car still unlocked and the door handles still presented) I can continue to open/close the door as many times as I like without issue; however, as soon as I lock the car again, then the car returns to its problematic state until I once again open the door from the inside.

Some diagnostic notes:

• The handle presents itself when the car is unlocked and hides itself when locked – there’s no problem with this
• The car still has all of its original door handles
  
• The lights integrated into the handles on the right side of the car (both front and rear) do not come on when the car is unlocked and I’m not sure when this issue started
  
• I just updated the software last night to the most recent build (but I suspect that the issue started last week)

Thanks!

 

[ckoval7]

Is your car still under warranty? This is a hardware issue.

 

[VifferFun]

Unfortunately I'm out of warranty. Hopefully the hardware issue isn't too bad! I'll try pulling and reinserting the fuse for the doors doors to see if that does anything. Does anyone happen to have the location of the fuse box (somewhere in the frunk) and a fuse box diagram?

 

[dark cloud]

Unfortunately I'm out of warranty. Hopefully the hardware issue isn't too bad! I'll try pulling and reinserting the fuse for the doors doors to see if that does anything. Does anyone happen to have the location of the fuse box (somewhere in the frunk) and a fuse box diagram?

Are you aware of this?

Model S Door Handle Rebuild Kit/Service

 

[VifferFun]

Are you aware of this?

Model S Door Handle Rebuild Kit/Service

I wasn't aware of this, but thank you! If it ends up being a hardware issue then this is a good option

With that said, I just did the following (which I found online) and the handle seems to have come back to life!

• Disabled the following features in the "Vehicle" screen:
  • Handle autopresent
  • Lock on walk away
• Exited the car and locked the doors
• Unlocked the car and re-enabled the features in the "Vehicle" screen

However, when pulling the handle it seems to take a fraction of a second longer than the other doors to actuate the electronic release. Also, both the front and rear puddle lights on the right side of the car are still not working. I think I'll attempt pulling the fuse tonight to see what that does.

Thanks!

 

[OrbiterTI4]

I had a similar issue - after presenting, my door would open immediately, but if I waited to open the door (i.e. opened a rear door and put a kid in car seat first), it would not open. Was a sensor inside the door handle compartment. I'm guessing $350 to repair.

 

[VifferFun]

As an update, the problem seems to have returned; however, I made another discovery. After the handle presents itself, if I pull out on the handle for much longer than usual (i.e. about 2 seconds) then it will eventually actuate the electronic release. After this initial opening of the door, I can continue to open and close the door normally (i.e. there is no delay for the actuator) until the car is locked again. Weird! Would there be reason why the sensor wouldn't work quickly on the first pull of the handle after unlocking the car, but works quickly on subsequent pulls?

Also, I went through the process of turning off the car, removing fuses 32 and 40, waiting five mins, and then reinserting the fuses. Running this procedure had no impact on my situation -- the right-rear door still takes a long time to actuate on the first pull, and the puddle lights on the right side of the car are still off.

Thanks!

 

[VifferFun]

In case someone else would like to try the fuse procedure, here are a few pictures that might be helpful

Removing the access panel is easy -- simply pull up on the back side (near the windshield) where it is clipped in place. After it's unclipped, you can remove the panel towards the windshield (but it's kind of hooked around the frunk struts).