Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Driver Door Open motor failed

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
In 2.5yrs, I've only had the well known front door latch replacement issues, but nothing serious.
This weekend my driver open motor died and I'm manually opening thru window, and grunting noises happen for sure. It does still close with fob however. I'll be at Fremont SC tomorrow.

Anyone else have this b4?
 
@BigMskiman there are 2 motors. One releases the latch and the second pushes the door open with a horizontal bar.
Ive the the "pusher" motor replaced by the Denver's team. It did not completely fail, but was barely pushing the door open intermittently.
Don't know how long it takes... I had mine swapped during the 1st annual maintenance appointment.
 
Yes this just occurred to our MX last week. Driver door would not close or open. Had the hold the door closed on my drive to the SC for repairs. They replaced both the driver and passenger door latches. Quick repair and under warranty. 2nd GEN latches are super quiet!
 

Attachments

  • FF8060C4-CC74-4E7F-95FF-0D643AD11DF6.jpeg
    FF8060C4-CC74-4E7F-95FF-0D643AD11DF6.jpeg
    183 KB · Views: 233
  • Like
Reactions: Kacey Green
@BigMskiman there are 2 motors. One releases the latch and the second pushes the door open with a horizontal bar.
Ive the the "pusher" motor replaced by the Denver's team. It did not completely fail, but was barely pushing the door open intermittently.
Don't know how long it takes... I had mine swapped during the 1st annual maintenance appointment.
Ya, that's what SC guy said, and it is not rare to happen. In shop for a few days.
 
This just happened with my July 2017 MX100D. The driver’s door could only be opened from the inside by pulling the handle all the way and then gently nudging the door open. The SC diagnosed it as a failed “door latch actuator”. It took about 10 minutes to diagnose when I brought the car in, a day to order the part, and (they said) 30 minutes to replace it. All in all I dropped the car off at the Pittsburgh SC Tuesday morning and it was valet delivered back to my house Wednesday night. In the meantime I had a brand new MS100D as a loaner. Not a bad experience all told...they offered to repair it via mobile service but it was pretty annoying to drive the car in the meantime so I preferred to have the loaner.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kacey Green
Yes this just occurred to our MX last week. Driver door would not close or open. Had the hold the door closed on my drive to the SC for repairs. They replaced both the driver and passenger door latches. Quick repair and under warranty. 2nd GEN latches are super quiet!

Exact same thing for me above. New latched became silent. They actually replaced both sides for me so they would match, even though there was no issue with the passenger side. Only problem now is that there is a slight door handle misalignment now, but I can live with that.
 
My Sept '17 MX100D has been having driver door issues the past two weeks. At first it wouldn't open from any electronic signal - fob, outside handle, touchscreen, but the inside handle (which I thought was purely mechanical) would work to open it. But the last few days, the inside handle doesn't always work. The actual open/close motors work to swing the door ok, but the latch isn't releasing.

When it won't open from the inside either, it seems like it is often some sort of problem with the self-presenting opening failing but fighting the internal release handle; I struggle for minutes to get the door open when getting into the car, but can usually get it to open ok when getting out (but not always). When it fails to open the door, the window drops as if to open, and the door always shows as open on the displays, even though the door hasn't physically moved at all from the totally shut position. Usually that goes away, but sometimes I have to drive with it dinging constantly to warn me that the drivers door is open.

Equally annoying is the service aspect of it. I've had ok service at the Nashville SC on other new-car things, and recently had the mobile unit out twice to diagnose and fix a few things (12V Battery going bad, yellow edge to screen, bad proximity sensor) - and I was very impressed with their prompt and professional service.

But this time, I called the 800# almost two weeks ago, and was told it would be referred to mobile service, but heard nothing. Called again a couple of days ago, and got some story about how they sent the request to Nashville, but someone decided it should get referred to Little Rock instead, but didn't actually do anything to make that happen. So now I'm still waiting, and am pretty much having to climb over from the passenger side now every time I get in the car. This is getting old really fast.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kacey Green
My Sept '17 MX100D has been having driver door issues the past two weeks. At first it wouldn't open from any electronic signal - fob, outside handle, touchscreen, but the inside handle (which I thought was purely mechanical) would work to open it. But the last few days, the inside handle doesn't always work. The actual open/close motors work to swing the door ok, but the latch isn't releasing.

When it won't open from the inside either, it seems like it is often some sort of problem with the self-presenting opening failing but fighting the internal release handle; I struggle for minutes to get the door open when getting into the car, but can usually get it to open ok when getting out (but not always). When it fails to open the door, the window drops as if to open, and the door always shows as open on the displays, even though the door hasn't physically moved at all from the totally shut position. Usually that goes away, but sometimes I have to drive with it dinging constantly to warn me that the drivers door is open.

Equally annoying is the service aspect of it. I've had ok service at the Nashville SC on other new-car things, and recently had the mobile unit out twice to diagnose and fix a few things (12V Battery going bad, yellow edge to screen, bad proximity sensor) - and I was very impressed with their prompt and professional service.

But this time, I called the 800# almost two weeks ago, and was told it would be referred to mobile service, but heard nothing. Called again a couple of days ago, and got some story about how they sent the request to Nashville, but someone decided it should get referred to Little Rock instead, but didn't actually do anything to make that happen. So now I'm still waiting, and am pretty much having to climb over from the passenger side now every time I get in the car. This is getting old really fast.
To override the electronic release and go full manual on Model S or X front doors you have to pull the interior handle pretty far, practically 90°, and a cable backup will release the latch. It sounds like yours is intermittently electronically releasing still.

I usually follow up my calls with Roadside with a call to the service center I want when they reopen because the company seems swamped with Model 3 right now, they stopped even offering a callback without losing your place in line, so you have to sit and listen to their too loud hold music for minutes or hours.
 
To override the electronic release and go full manual on Model S or X front doors you have to pull the interior handle pretty far, practically 90°, and a cable backup will release the latch. It sounds like yours is intermittently electronically releasing still.

I usually follow up my calls with Roadside with a call to the service center I want when they reopen because the company seems swamped with Model 3 right now, they stopped even offering a callback without losing your place in line, so you have to sit and listen to their too loud hold music for minutes or hours.

On mine, the interior handle will not always release the door latch. I just tried it as I pulled into my garage. I pulled the handle all the way - until it was up against a hard stop, and the door did not unlatch. It seems that initial movement of the handle triggered the electronic attempt to unlock, which failed, but also stopped the manual unlatching. Repeatedly trying to open the door with the handle pulled all the way did nothing., After a few seconds there were some whirrs inside the door as it gave up trying to open and/or 'reclosed' itself - and then on my next attempt, pulling the handle all the way opened the door. I promptly closed the door, and tried to reopen. Exact same thing. Wouldn't open at all at first. After a few seconds of trying there were motor sounds, and then on the next pull of the handle the door opened.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Kacey Green
In the last 2 weeks I've had some oddness with my driver door as well.
Mine is not /yet/ as advanced to require replacement. Meaning that my door is 95%+ still functioning normally.
I get an occasional -- that's odd behavior moment. Then roll window part way down, then up... and then all appears normal again -- resync I think.
Anyway my issues followed the update to 2018.32.4. Prior to that, no driver door issues worth mentioning.
Other than the specified mechanical issues clearly stated above... Anyone else see a firmware correlation?
-TechVP
 
All my issues started since 2018.32.2. And it seems that it's at least partly a software issue; whether or not the door opens from the inside seems to be related to what the electromechanical systems have been trying to do to open/close the door. But perhaps it's just because the actuator is broken, and doing something it shouldn't. Nonetheless, I feel like the interior lever should ALWAYS open the door, and that is simply not the case for me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kacey Green
All my issues started since 2018.32.2. And it seems that it's at least partly a software issue; whether or not the door opens from the inside seems to be related to what the electromechanical systems have been trying to do to open/close the door. But perhaps it's just because the actuator is broken, and doing something it shouldn't. Nonetheless, I feel like the interior lever should ALWAYS open the door, and that is simply not the case for me.
That's a safety issue, SC should get you in quickly once they hear that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kacey Green