Driver door takes extra effort to close?

[donalah]

Trying to figure out if it's just me, or does the driver door require extra oompf to fully close? Just had the car since 9/22, but noticed it didn't lock because the driver door hadn't been fully closed, so now I wind up having to really slam it shut. I'm worried I'll walk away one day and a car prowler will go to town with my beautiful interior (this town is ridden with them). Doesn't seem like an issue with any of the other doors of the car. Could this just be me or something that could be fixed? I used to routinely drive a 4Runner so I would think this shouldn't be an issue - and prior to getting the Tesla, I had to make a conscious effort not to slam the door on my husband's Alpina.

VIN 55xxx LR AWD PUP EAP

 

[Avid]

You are not the only one, mines does that too. I've check all the other doors and they close fairly easily. The driver side feels like the door latch or lock mechanism is not aligned just right. If I'm getting in the car, I try and pull up on the inside handle while closing the door, that seems to make the door close more normally. Closing from the outside requires extra push as you can't grab the outside handle to pull up to assist closing the door.

It's not normal, I'm going to the SC to have them check it out. Normally, I'd diy things like this, but this car only has 450 miles on odometer. This is a QC issue that should not have been missed.

 

[donalah]

You are not the only one, mines does that too. I've check all the other doors and they close fairly easily. The driver side feels like the door latch or lock mechanism is not aligned just right. If I'm getting in the car, I try and pull up on the inside handle while closing the door, that seems to make the door close more normally. Closing from the outside requires extra push as you can't grab the outside handle to pull up to assist closing the door.

It's not normal, I'm going to the SC to have them check it out. Normally, I'd diy things like this, but this car only has 450 miles on odometer. This is a QC issue that should not have been missed.

Whew - glad to know I'm not crazy. Though I'm sure my SC must hate me because I've already been complaining to them about my defective turn stalk and demanding it be fixed everyone else's on this forum. Currently they are just humoring me/ stalling since they told me they ordered the part and will be on touch at about the same time it was posted they are not releasing these anymore and furiously working on a FW fix.

Wonder if it can be a mobile fix.

 

[Avid]

It wouldn't hurt to ask about the mobile thing, I just have been building a list so that I can take it in and get it done all at once. The door thing is the most serious issue. The rest is pretty minor, sorry to hear about the turn signal, mine seems fine.

My VIN is not far from yours 64xxx, I believe a July build, took ownership 9/29. I hope you will followup after they work on it. I will likely take it in this week, so hopefully all will be corrected with little downtime.

 

[Lasttoy]

Park in front of SC . Get big sign says LEMON on it. Or big decal on back window, and park out front.
That might get their attention.
We cant call the SC anymore. We get SLC, even if we 2, 2, no answer. The service phone system is a disaster. I had the in house number, left a dozen voice msg. No return for a week. Then the guy didnt understand English-language.
Did u call 8777983752?

 

[donalah]

I'm sending an email. That's the quickest way I've gotten a response thus far. I've got a long thread with my SC already - initial response seems to have been prompted after escalating it online.

 

[Birdman325]

I have the exact same issue on my passenger side door. Just picked up on Friday.

 

[Avid]

I will add that on inspection of the door with respect to alignment and gap, it appears to be fine. So, I am hesitant to try anything on my own to fix it. But these kind of things bug the hell out of me.

 

[Birdman325]

I made a service appointment. I have a couple of other small things (left turn signal does not cancel after a slight press for a 3 flash), small paint chip near the door but that’s about it so far

 

[dailo]

I've noticed the same on mine. Have to slam the driver's door whereas the other ones close easier.

 

[Mark Steward]

Mine has the same issue. I just send Tesla an email on this issue last week and got no reply yet.

 

[cwerdna]

Trying to figure out if it's just me, or does the driver door require extra oompf to fully close? Just had the car since 9/22, but noticed it didn't lock because the driver door hadn't been fully closed, so now I wind up having to really slam it shut
...
Doesn't seem like an issue with any of the other doors of the car. Could this just be me or something that could be fixed? I used to routinely drive a 4Runner so I would think this shouldn't be an issue - and prior to getting the Tesla,...

If it only happens on 1 or a few doors and not the other(s) and it hasn't gotten any better, it can likely be fixed.

Since you mention 4Runner, Toyota almost certainly does something similar to what Honda illustrates here that I posted at Door needs to be slammed to shut?. An example of statistical process control they showed is to measure speed needed to close a door. Skip to 1:40 to see them doing the test. Skip to 5:00 to hear what they found when they investigated: issue with striker alignment due to a broken fixture at the factory.

If Tesla's spec is too high for how much force is needed vs. a typical Japanese car, that might be part of it. And, if Tesla doesn't do a good job of SPC when it comes to doors.... this is what you get.

 

[donalah]

If it only happens on 1 or a few doors and not the other(s) and it hasn't gotten any better, it can likely be fixed.

Since you mention 4Runner, Toyota almost certainly does something similar to what Honda illustrates here that I posted at Door needs to be slammed to shut?. An example of statistical process control they showed is to measure speed needed to close a door. Skip to 1:40 to see them doing the test. Skip to 5:00 to hear what they found when they investigated: issue with striker alignment due to a broken fixture at the factory.

If Tesla's spec is too high for how much force is needed vs. a typical Japanese car, that might be part of it. And, if Tesla doesn't do a good job of SPC when it comes to doors.... this is what

Thanks! I had searched for threads that may have mentioned something similar. I am suspecting my car may have been rejected previously and modified as the VIN was about 30xxx lower than the others that were beginning delivered around the same time? Not sure but as I'm realizing things about it that are consistently problematic, I am getting a little concerned. We'll just have to wait and see. Overall, I'm still really enjoying driving this car.

 

[Avid]

If it only happens on 1 or a few doors and not the other(s) and it hasn't gotten any better, it can likely be fixed.

Since you mention 4Runner, Toyota almost certainly does something similar to what Honda illustrates here that I posted at Door needs to be slammed to shut?. An example of statistical process control they showed is to measure speed needed to close a door. Skip to 1:40 to see them doing the test. Skip to 5:00 to hear what they found when they investigated: issue with striker alignment due to a broken fixture at the factory.

If Tesla's spec is too high for how much force is needed vs. a typical Japanese car, that might be part of it. And, if Tesla doesn't do a good job of SPC when it comes to doors.... this is what you get.

Normally doors on modern cars close with a "thunk", as the latch slides into the locking mechanism and locking pawl catches the latch. In my case, it feels as though the latch maybe hitting the lip of the locking mechanism first, which slows the momentum, forcing the door to not lock. Thus having to open the door again and push harder.

I'm going to have to view the movement closer to see if I am correct.

 

[Cocoa]

Picked up my car 10/10 and have the same issue with driver door.

 

[IonEV]

My driver door took extra effort but a Ranger came by the house and adjusted it.

 

[samotlietuvis]

Had the same issue with drive door. I adjusted the frame door striker myself and it is fixed (better than the other doors).
Mark the current striker position with chalk so you can always get back to original configuration. Loosen up the two torx bolts.
Grab a notebook and start adjusting. After each adjustment, tighten the torx (not too tight unless it is final) and take note of change (what direction you moved, what was the result). Keep changing until you satisfied (or run out of changes - then go back to original config).
In my case the door was flush - so no need to move the striker forward or back, but I rotated the frame strike counter clockwise a bit and it was perfect.

 

[donalah]

mobile tech came by this morning - said it was an issue with the latch, not the striker, and ordered a new latch. also said he's fixed a few of these already, always driver side door... i'm wondering if i should hold my breath... at least the car drives nicely and looks awesome...

 

[buyehara]

Same here. Driver side door takes extra effort to close. Also, do any of you notice that when you put the window down and close the driver side door it rattles? It's not a big deal for us as we hardly keep the window down. Just an observation. I'll try @samotlietuvis method to adjust the door and let you know how it goes.

 

[donalah]

so latch came in. scheduled mobile service and added license plates to service. guy showed up just to do the plates! but took one look at the door and said he usually fixes it by adjusting the striker and would see what he could do since he didn't know the appt was actually for fixing the door. turns out, as others have posted, just need to adjust the striker.

don't know why the other tech insisted it was the latch and not the striker!

now just waiting on the part for my turn signal stalk!