Driver Door Handle presents but door acts "locked"

[RainmakerJL]

Got my MS less than 30 days ago. So i drive into NYC every day and park at a garage (shudder). Yesterday when i picked up the car the valet handed me the key and i closed the drivers door and opened the trunk to put stuff in it. when i went back to the driver door the handles had presented themselves but the door acted as if it was locked. rear door opened fine i clicked unlock a few times on the fob but door would not open via the handle. i put my hand in the car and used the door lever to open the door and everything was fine drove home.

This morning, in my home garage same thing. put stuff in trunk, back seat, no problem. couldn't open driver side door. windows were up so i tried to put my hand around to pull the door lock or lever but couldn't reach. i pressed the top of the fob 4 times and all windows for car went down (didn't know this was a feature...) used the inside latch and door opened.

Called tesla on way to work and they are coming to service it tomorrow at my house.

Anyone have any experience with this? Is it cold weather related? Something the valet might of done?

 

[NigelM]

I've had it twice in the last 15 months, both times were in similar circumstances to yours with trunk open and doors open/closed over a longer period of time (e.g. at tailgating). Fix was to lock the car, let the handles retract, and then unlock it again.

 

[stevezzzz]

I had similar issues with my driver's door handle; after troubleshooting, Service decided it was a bad actuator sensor and replaced the handle. But that was more than a year ago, before the new handle design came out.

 

[RainmakerJL]

I've had it twice in the last 15 months, both times were in similar circumstances to yours with trunk open and doors open/closed over a longer period of time (e.g. at tailgating). Fix was to lock the car, let the handles retract, and then unlock it again.

I had similar issues with my driver's door handle; after troubleshooting, Service decided it was a bad actuator sensor and replaced the handle. But that was more than a year ago, before the new handle design came out.

Car was delivered 12/17/2013 so its new design. i didnt try the lock and then try again idea. i will do that tonight to make sure. either way tesla is comign to my house tomorrow morning to fix while i am at work. fingers crossed.

 

[EdA]

Never heard of it with the new design.
I had one doorhandle replaced a few months ago.
(My car is a year old today).

 

[100thMonkey]

this is the first I've heard of the newer cars having issues... probably just a random bad door handle. door handle issues plagued the early vins, doors randomly opening when you didn't want them to and not opening when you did want them to. I think all 4 were replaced on our first S and I was told it was a common issue. I have not had any issues with the door handles on our current S.

 

[ChadS]

My early (VIN 112) handles worked great for about a year. Then we started getting the OP's problem every now and then (in my case, I also noted that while the handle presented, the handle light didn't come on). Nigel's solution didn't work for us; neither did pulling the handle fuses. We were able to work around it by changing the autopresent and walk-away auto-lock settings, then changing them back. But about a few weeks ago I mentioned it to service and they gave us all four new door handles just to make sure we wouldn't see it again.

 

[RainmakerJL]

Well a little update. They are still coming tomorrow but todays experience was interesting. Same behaviour on driver door no matter what i do.

However now the handle on rear door on driver side wont present at all which was not fun when i tried to put my bag in there after work. Brand new car and doors dont work 3rd day back at office...

I cant seem to get the 4 windows to go down again by pressing fob on top 4 times. I now just unlock passenger side door and reach over,

Anyhow. Im sure they will fix me up tomorrow while i drive my old ice to work... At least parking will be cheaper

Stay warm...

 

[mknox]

I've had all 4 handles replaced with the newer style and my front passenger handle will do this from time to time. The other day, in the freezing cold, my wife wasn't impressed when she couldn't get in the car!

 

[RainmakerJL]

Car is 3 weeks old.. Im not impressed either

 

[RainmakerJL]

I had this problem (handle presents but door refuses to open) in the rear left door, almost immediately after taking delivery on 8/29/13. I took the car in in September, Tesla Service couldn't reproduce problem, so didn't do anything.

Today I took car back, to have that fixed again, and some other issues, and they say they replaced the door handle this time. Haven't noticed any problems yet, hopefully they're gone with the rear left door.

Was it happening to you intermittently or did they just get lucky that when you brought it in it was working that day? Mine has been 100% of the time since yesterday.. Cant shake it.

 

[Owner]

Hey Brianstorms

I had a series of these problems too, but with the older version of the door handles. Very much like you described Sometimes I could never open the door no matter how hard I pulled. Very often the doors would 'self open' later kind of randomly. Sometimes the self opening happened without the earlier sticking action.

Don't worry about repeating it in front of a service guy.
Since my last service call about 6 months ago, the doors have all been good.

Here are my records of "door issues".
Haunted Doors, Again | Tesla Owner
Tesla Service Visit | Tesla Owner
Door Handles, Again | Tesla Owner
Haunted Door | Tesla Owner
Stuck and Self Opening Door | Tesla Owner

It was intermittent, and----Murphy's Law----refused to ever happen when I showed the service techs. Like I told the guy today, no way will it reproduce with you guys watching, and sure enough, it didn't. It only happens when I have guests about to get into the car, or, I am showing the car to someone important. Then, absolutely, the door would be GLUED SHUT and despite insane amount of pulling, to the point I was afraid I was about to rip the handle clear off, the door wouldn't open. Most embarrassing.

 

[RainmakerJL]

Ranger is at the house now. He's replacing the drivers door handle. He only brought one handle with him. He's goign to have to come back for the other one apparently.