Door Handle

[Airbear]

I just purchased a 2014 Model S. Both left side door handles will sometimes stay presented and not function. Other times they will work perfectly fine. They seem to be in sync if one doesn't work they both don't and vice versa. Is this a hardware issue? Or is there some software issue I'm missing?

 

[PR0FESSOR]

This is a common problem. Do a quick search for “Door Handle” in the search bar for this forum, or google it.

 

[KalJoMoS]

Look for a wire breakdown between front door and the body, recently been reported that fixing few fires in the rubber grommet have fixed the error.

 

[Airbear]

Yeah I was aware of the door handle problems but it seemed weird that they worked sometimes and were always in sync when they failed. Would it be worth it to upgrade to the 3.0 handles or should I just replace the wire?

 

[tldickerson]

If you can fix a broken wire and it worked why would you want to replace the handles?

 

[Airbear]

I thought the chances of it breaking again and having to repeat replacing the wire a couple time might get annoying and end up costing about the same in the long run but I didn't realize the repair kits were so cheap. Replacing the wire is definitely the better route.

 

[KalJoMoS]

I do not know that anyone is selling a “repair kit for the broken wire” between the door and car. Tesla is replacing the whole harness to fix this if the handle is fine. I would also stick to the current handles if the issue is just to re-soldering the broken wires. The repairing kit that you are referring to is for the microswitches inside the handle.

 

[Airbear]

Just an update I took the door handle out to replace the microswitch and found out they were gen 3 already. Checked the wiring harness and it seemed to be fine. The only thing I can think of at this point is to have a tech come and have the doors reprogrammed. If there are any DIY solutions I'd love to hear them.

 

[Ydowork]

Just an update I took the door handle out to replace the microswitch and found out they were gen 3 already. Checked the wiring harness and it seemed to be fine. The only thing I can think of at this point is to have a tech come and have the doors reprogrammed. If there are any DIY solutions I'd love to hear them.

Did you ever resolve this? I have a remarkably similar situation..
It seems like when the car is asleep (or drawing little power) the driver's side handles don't work like they used to. As soon as you wake the car up (like by opening one of the other doors) the driver's side works. Service center is at a loss... Blamed it on my subwoofer that has been working fine for 7 years.....

 

[Airbear]

No I had the Tesla techs come out and they said they fixed it by repositioning the door handle and re calibrating it. It worked for like 2 weeks but ended up failing again.

 

[Ydowork]

Thanks... I have a hunch that this is a hinge-related wiring issue. I also suspect, but haven't confirmed, that the door control module gets 12v power from the battery when the car is off, but is powered by the HV battery when it is on... And that the power takes a different path. I'll report back if I come to any conclusions.