Extremely Frustrated with Tesla Service..Need Suggestions

[Muhammad]

I'm going to rant a little here so please excuse me in advance.

I just got home and when I stepped out of my car I heard a slight whirring sound coming from the front of the car. Upon further inspection I realized that the front door handle motor was continuously pulling the handle inwards. 15 minutes, many lock/unlocks, power offs, and MCU resets later, it still will not seem to stop, and the door handle refuses to present.

This is when Tesla's disappointing service came in. I called roadside explaining my issue and despite my protest, the best the rep would do is send a note to Tesla service who will call me back Monday morning when they open. This apparently all you get if you have the unfortunate distinction of your Tesla breaking down on a Saturday night.

Is this really how service works? I've never had an issue like this with any of the many Toyotas I've owned but I'm pretty sure if I did have an issue where I couldn't get into my car this wouldn't be their solution. After I told the rep i had meetings tomorrow to go to, his suggestion was to climb into my car from the back seat (Something my old age will definitely not allow). Do other car manufacturers close their service completely on weekends and leave their drivers unable to access their cars until the middle of the week?

I have had four conversations in the past with Tesla service wherein they claimed to have sent a note to my Service center to call back and received no replies, so my confidence is very low that I will even receive a reply.

Is this really all Tesla Service can do? Is there any other solutions to potentially get in my car, as i really need it for tomorrow.

Thanks, feedback and suggestions much appreciated.

 

[B8BB8B]

Was the passenger door doing the same thing resulting in you not being able to get in the car at all?

If that's the case then they should have instantly sent someone to fix it otherwise it is a very small problem and personally I think can wait till Monday.

 

[Bet TSLA]

Thanks, feedback and suggestions much appreciated.

Expect better. Which service center is providing such crappy service? I'd take it to a different service center (well, the showroom since the service center will be officially closed) in the morning. Tell them your car is broken and you want a loaner. If you can't drive it there, get there some other way. Don't leave without a loaner.

Oh, and I'd try the "Let me speak to your supervisor." approach with Roadside Assistance until I get a better answer. Your car is unusable.

 

[Muhammad]

Was the passenger door doing the same thing resulting in you not being able to get in the car at all?

No, but I'm too old for those types of acrobatics. To me, it's not minor when I cant get in my car except by sending my kid in therefrom the back seat to open the door for me

 

[NullException]

The door handles seem to go wrong quite a lot (at least based on reports here).

Is this affecting both front doors? I'm not trying to downplay your problem, but I'm curious whether you can get in the front passenger side and open the driver's door from the 17" display?

 

[msnow]

I'm going to rant a little here so please excuse me in advance.

I just got home and when I stepped out of my car I heard a slight whirring sound coming from the front of the car. Upon further inspection I realized that the front door handle motor was continuously pulling the handle inwards. 15 minutes, many lock/unlocks, power offs, and MCU resets later, it still will not seem to stop, and the door handle refuses to present.

This is when Tesla's disappointing service came in. I called roadside explaining my issue and despite my protest, the best the rep would do is send a note to Tesla service who will call me back Monday morning when they open. This apparently all you get if you have the unfortunate distinction of your Tesla breaking down on a Saturday night.

Is this really how service works? I've never had an issue like this with any of the many Toyotas I've owned but I'm pretty sure if I did have an issue where I couldn't get into my car this wouldn't be their solution. After I told the rep i had meetings tomorrow to go to, his suggestion was to climb into my car from the back seat (Something my old age will definitely not allow). Do other car manufacturers close their service completely on weekends and leave their drivers unable to access their cars until the middle of the week?

I have had four conversations in the past with Tesla service wherein they claimed to have sent a note to my Service center to call back and received no replies, so my confidence is very low that I will even receive a reply.

Is this really all Tesla Service can do? Is there any other solutions to potentially get in my car, as i really need it for tomorrow.

Thanks, feedback and suggestions much appreciated.

If the car is undriveable (and it sounds like it is) they are supposed to provide you with a loaner and have roadside service tow it to a Service Center. That's supposed to be a 24/7 service assuming the car is still under warranty.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

Well you are in the bay area, and Tesla service is extremely stretched, especially in high concentration Tesla areas.

IMO the days of "Tesla service is excellent" are over. Tesla service is now worse than Toyota.

 

[Atebit]

If someone can get this into the passenger side, maybe turning off auto-present might get the handle to at least come out until service can look at it?

 

[Lex]

IMO the days of "Tesla service is excellent" are over. Tesla service is now worse than Toyota.

Expanding delivery issues that come along with rapidly expanding manufacturing and the highly complex Model X seems to have choked the original service infrastructure. And there does not seem to be the budget or planning to double up on everything right now, and right now this is my biggest fear, that something (major) goes wrong with my car and I can't get service for weeks (again).

 

[Lex]

Oh and of course I am very sorry to hear about the OP's issue. IMO the MS door handles must be redesigned. Current design seems to ensure they fail eventually.

I have already had 2 replaced and 1 serviced on my mid-2015 build.

 

[ecarfan]

No, but I'm too old for those types of acrobatics. To me, it's not minor when I cant get in my car except by sending my kid in therefrom the back seat to open the door for me

I am sorry to hear about your problem. One solution is to open the passenger side door, sit down, reach across and open the driver's door using the inside handle. However, that might be difficult for a short person. At 6' 2" I can do it easily.

I have owned my S for almost 4 years and have never had a problem with any of the door handles. Of course there have been door handle problems reported on TMC but it is impossible to know what percentage of all Model S handles have had problems. I suspect it is only a few percent based on my face-to-face conversations with quite a few owners.

 

[Muhammad]

Appreciate all the input

The problem seems to be that the door handle motor is stuck in the on position and has been running all night now. This delay in service is also going to cost Tesla more and it damages itself and more components with it.

It seems as though Tesla will not be able to loan you a car outside of service hours no matter what happens to your car (or so I'm told). Overall, my only solution is to not use the car for a couple days while I wait for service.

Also, for those that were asking, my Service Center is Fremont. This is my 3rd issue with the door handles in 1 year of ownership (2015 70D), however seeing that I'm the minority with door handle issues, I wouldn't advocate the removal of this unique feature.

It is for these reasons that I plan on trading in the S for the 3 once it comes out. I'm hoping the fewer complications in the design of the car will lead to a more stress-free ownership experience

 

[Bet TSLA]

Also, for those that were asking, my Service Center is Fremont.

Try Palo Alto. They seem to me to be more interested in customer satisfaction.

I had my passenger door handle replaced recently due to failure to present. They said they prefer to do that via ranger home visit. It was scheduled a week out, but I didn't think it was a big deal. Your problem is a big deal and must be dealt with ASAP.

Ask to speak to a supervisor and go up the chain. Also, I was told a few months ago that they were moving to multiple shifts at some service locations. Ask if you can go to one of those.

Good luck!

 

[Electroman]

Idiotic eye candy door handles that is prone to failure every other year. And I guess the X doors are in the same category.

If this company goes under and if the general consensus is the S door handles, X FWD and sculptured back seats played a big part in it - I wouldn't shed a tear and say they deserve it.

On the question of service centers closing on weekends - all dealer service centers close on Sunday's but not on Saturdays.

 

[Canuck]

I had a door handle failure too but it was to a back door. Tesla came to my office and fixed it in the parking lot. They came with a truck that had all the tools and parts needed. Tesla needs more of those working around the clock for urgent repairs like this one. I could give Tesla a pass if the OP was in some remote area but he's in the heart of Tesla country and there's no excuse for him to wait until Monday.

If this company goes under and if the general consensus is the S door handles, X FWD and sculptured back seats played a big part in it - I wouldn't shed a tear and say they deserve it.

All the store, service, assembly line, battery factory, etc. employees get pink slips and you say Tesla deserves it over door handle, door and seat back designs? Maybe just a bit too harsh?

Tesla service is now worse than Toyota.

I've never owned a Toyota. Do they come to your home/office to do repairs like Tesla did with my door handle?

 

[ecarfan]

If this company goes under and if the general consensus is the S door handles, X FWD and sculptured back seats played a big part in it - I wouldn't shed a tear and say they deserve it.

Hilarious. If Tesla Motors doesn't survive it won't be because of issues with a few of the more unusual features of their initial low volume products. It will be for much more fundamental reasons like an inability to scale up to industry-standard vehicle production volumes for the mass market Model 3 and derivatives.

 

[Electroman]

One such hubris mistake in 3 is enough to send the company on a tail spin.

Frequent trips to SC is not something a mass market 3 owner would tolerate.

 

[EVie'sDad]

Alot of symptoms can be easily remedied with a system reboot via either the steering wheel. (Top two button or both wheels to reboot the central system). While this mostly addresses software related issues, it doesn't hurt to try it. Especially after you Report bug via the voice activated button. That will upload any logs that it has stored before you reboot the dash and central panel.

 

[msnow]

Alot of symptoms can be easily remedied with a system reboot via either the steering wheel. (Top two button or both wheels to reboot the central system). While this mostly addresses software related issues, it doesn't hurt to try it. Especially after you Report bug via the voice activated button. That will upload any logs that it has stored before you reboot the dash and central panel.

I didn't know it uploads logs on reboots, is there proof of that? Also, Tesla Service told me and others to call or email them about bugs because they don't really look at bug reporting button.

 

[McRat]

Which brand of car opens their service dept on Saturday night to fix a car?

Not Toyota, that's for sure. It takes a week to get somebody out to fix a brand new forklift. You can live with your car broke by calling a car or renting a car. If your business loses it's only forklift, it's freakin' a massive headache. You don't find out your forklift is broke until there is a semitruck in your parking lot waiting for you to load or unload a 3000lb object. Luckily a neighbor had pity on us. Toyota didn't.