Falcon doors (randomly) only open part-way

[jennamarietx]

I realize this has been discussed previously (posts from 2016) but the problem I'm having seems slightly different. My Falcon Doors frequently stop about halfway open, even when I'm in a parking lot with absolutely nothing above the car except clear blue sky! This has been a recurring problem for several months now and I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced it? Also, I notice there is an option that pops up on the touch-screen which supposedly forces the doors to always open fully in the particular GPS location where you tap it--I selected this in my home garage (which has a high ceiling) but no, the doors STILL only open part-way even then. Is this something worth reporting to the local service center?
Thanks for reading, and would appreciate any advice!

 

[sjj45]

Thanks for writing this up! I have had this randomly happening at time too. Not sure if it's a software thing or a sensor issue. Waiting to see what others have to say. Mention it next time you're visiting your SC though.

 

[Pentium2004]

Did you check the FWD settings to see if its on Low or Auto?

 

[jboy210]

Is this in multiple story parking structures and you are on the top floor? Or does it do it in open (no structure) parking lots?

 

[Bogobec]

Do you have more than one user profile? Maybe the setting to fully open always is not setup in one of the two profiles, and this is when you notice the issue?

 

[Tslrsx]

Check if fwd height is set to auto not low. Check on the screen if the car senses something with it's sensors. Sometimes they only open partially after you drive or park under something low and then stop a little further where there's room for them to open fully.

 

[edlin303]

No answer, but I would love to hear of something to resolve this too. For me it definitely isn't a driver profile issue, but from time to time in my garage (It has plenty of room to open most of the way, but I would even forgive it if this was the only time) and out in a wide open parking lot it will open as if I only have a foot of clearance to the side and above and we either have to manually try to open it further, squeeze in, or use the other side. It is intermittent enough and I use the FWD less often than the fronts, so I didn't pursue a support issue yet, but it is pretty annoying.

 

[Anzir]

I'd say this has happened 5 or 6 times in my 2 months of ownership. It seems like the sensors find a ghost object and that stops them prematurely. It will show you on the screen where the sensors are being triggered. Previous threads have pointed to heat causing trouble with the sensors.

 

[Seattle Tom]

Yes, multiple potential causes:

1) Heat
2) Bad sensor
3) In a garage or drove under something and parked shortly after (thus the car thinks there is still potentially an overhead object)
4) FWD setting Low vs Auto
5) Profile setting

Just out of curiosity, because I have this issue too occasionally, do all the rest of you who experience the issue have your X wrapped with paint protection film? I know it’s super-think and not supposed to do anything, but the X’s FWDs are so finicky, I wonder if many of us who have the issue all have PPF which might contribute to the problem.

 

[ImperialG]

I've been looking into this closely because my car experiences it so much and replacing the sensors multiple times has been no help.

It seems to mainly happen to dark-colored Model X's when the sun is shining directly on the affected door. For my car, the driver's door is the problematic door and the passenger side door is perfectly fine. When I picked up my vehicle for the first time, they parked it in direct sunlight and it exhibited this problem. It's quite annoying!

 

[Peteski]

I get this very occasionally, but not enough to ever worry about it. Maybe once or twice a month on average. If it was a frequent issue I would certainly report it.

 

[posity]

My model X, about two months old, is full of intermittents. The FWDs sometimes decide not to open fully: both doors do it. Weird part is when I push button to force open, it complains the whole way up even though I am parked with nothing but the sky in view. It seems to be convinced there is something blocking the FWD when there is absolutely nothing nearby.

I could almost never get the FWDs or trunk to open fully in my garage, but once I told it to open fully at this location, they now work fine in my garage and driveway. So the GPS-aware software did the job for me at my house.

The trunk sometimes decides to not open fully too. The trunk will not close fully more than half of the time: I have to force it down by hand.

The FWD alarms go off intermittently while I'm driving down the road.

Both FOBs are flaky: doors will not lock or unlock randomly. I can stand right by the car and double press the buttons over and over yet it just decides to ignore me. Spouse has the exact same problem with her FOB. The frunk is especially temperamental about opening.

Mirrors sometimes do not fold out.

Last week while driving some relays under the dash or near the driver's door started to click-click-click for about ten minutes.

Just went in for my first service appointment. Super nice folks. New rear strut on order and passenger FWD button. Service advisor basically ignored my complaint about FWDs intermittently not opening fully: I got the impression this is a way too common complaint???

Service advisor suggested I write down timestamp every time something goes wrong so they can start checking logs. I suspect these intermittents will take a long time to figure out.

 

[hiroshiy]

Yes, multiple potential causes:

1) Heat
2) Bad sensor
3) In a garage or drove under something and parked shortly after (thus the car thinks there is still potentially an overhead object)
4) FWD setting Low vs Auto
5) Profile setting

Just out of curiosity, because I have this issue too occasionally, do all the rest of you who experience the issue have your X wrapped with paint protection film? I know it’s super-think and not supposed to do anything, but the X’s FWDs are so finicky, I wonder if many of us who have the issue all have PPF which might contribute to the problem.

As an X owner for more than one years, this is the correct advice. But if your FWD detects I phantom objects when it's hot outside, you should ask the SC to fix it - changing the FWD sensors will make it better.

My model X, about two months old, is full of intermittents. The FWDs sometimes decide not to open fully: both doors do it. Weird part is when I push button to force open, it complains the whole way up even though I am parked with nothing but the sky in view. It seems to be convinced there is something blocking the FWD when there is absolutely nothing nearby.

I could almost never get the FWDs or trunk to open fully in my garage, but once I told it to open fully at this location, they now work fine in my garage and driveway. So the GPS-aware software did the job for me at my house.

The trunk sometimes decides to not open fully too. The trunk will not close fully more than half of the time: I have to force it down by hand.

The FWD alarms go off intermittently while I'm driving down the road.

Both FOBs are flaky: doors will not lock or unlock randomly. I can stand right by the car and double press the buttons over and over yet it just decides to ignore me. Spouse has the exact same problem with her FOB. The frunk is especially temperamental about opening.

Mirrors sometimes do not fold out.

Last week while driving some relays under the dash or near the driver's door started to click-click-click for about ten minutes.

Just went in for my first service appointment. Super nice folks. New rear strut on order and passenger FWD button. Service advisor basically ignored my complaint about FWDs intermittently not opening fully: I got the impression this is a way too common complaint???

Service advisor suggested I write down timestamp every time something goes wrong so they can start checking logs. I suspect these intermittents will take a long time to figure out.

Yours should be repaired. This is absolutely not normal.

 

[Kalex]

After a 12 hours road trip with no issues, the driver side FWD started opening about 1 foot, and showing obstacle detected. Tried all the reset procedures but did not resolve the issue. Looking back I noticed that the driver side door getting difficult or harder to push open, seems like it's sensing obstacle.

Ranger came and replaced the FWD sensor, which resolved the issue. Apparently the same sensor covers the driver's side door as well, so that issue was resolved too. The sensor is located in the center of the FWD.

After the sensor was replaced it triggered the roof sensor to show a phantom obstacle. He checked and reset the system with his laptop and all is well now.
Hope this helps.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

My FWD don't open fully intermittently. The sensors seem very particular about how I park in my garage, as they tend to see the rails as a potential obstacle...but only if I'm parked in a certain position. It would be nice if Tesla would allow the doors to disregard obstacles in certain locations, as there is absolutely no way for them to hit anything in my garage.

That said, one of my FWD started sensing phantom obstacles outside. Taking it to the SC they diagnosed it as a sensor issue, specifically the sensor had come detached from its mount, and was actually seeing the door as an obstacle. So, it very well could be a sensor issue.

 

[Sparrow]

My driver's side FWD also seems to have this intermittent problem. The passenger side seems to work fine. In my garage I am thinking the driver's side door is sensing items on the garage floor that are several feet away from the car. When I moved them the door worked properly most of the time. Passenger side FWD works fine in my garage despite another car being reasonably close to the X.

The other day, I parked between 2 cars. Despite the space between cars being greater on the driver's side, it would not open very far, (could hardly squeeze inside) whereas the passenger side opened fully with no issues. The driver's FWD seems to work fine if there is nothing within 4 or 5 feet of it.

 

[Peteski]

My model X, about two months old, is full of intermittents. The FWDs sometimes decide not to open fully: both doors do it. Weird part is when I push button to force open, it complains the whole way up even though I am parked with nothing but the sky in view. It seems to be convinced there is something blocking the FWD when there is absolutely nothing nearby.

I could almost never get the FWDs or trunk to open fully in my garage, but once I told it to open fully at this location, they now work fine in my garage and driveway. So the GPS-aware software did the job for me at my house.

The trunk sometimes decides to not open fully too. The trunk will not close fully more than half of the time: I have to force it down by hand.

The FWD alarms go off intermittently while I'm driving down the road.

Both FOBs are flaky: doors will not lock or unlock randomly. I can stand right by the car and double press the buttons over and over yet it just decides to ignore me. Spouse has the exact same problem with her FOB. The frunk is especially temperamental about opening.

Mirrors sometimes do not fold out.

Last week while driving some relays under the dash or near the driver's door started to click-click-click for about ten minutes.

Just went in for my first service appointment. Super nice folks. New rear strut on order and passenger FWD button. Service advisor basically ignored my complaint about FWDs intermittently not opening fully: I got the impression this is a way too common complaint???

Service advisor suggested I write down timestamp every time something goes wrong so they can start checking logs. I suspect these intermittents will take a long time to figure out.

Something is definitely wrong with your car! Mine does none of this stuff so don't accept it as being "normal" behaviour!

 

[gde_eu]

Check if the car is somewhat level. In my case, the falcon don't open fully when I'm parked in an heavy slope (very far from plate, the air-suspension are far to be able to level the car).

In this case, it didn't show a ghost object. It just didn't open fully. You can override through without problem.

It's easy to reproduce and systematic (but I rarely park that way). I always though that it was a normal behavior (for whatever reason)

 

[Anzir]

I had tweeted this to Elon over the weekend. Of course no response.

 

[dethman]

I had tweeted this to Elon over the weekend. Of course no response.
View attachment 375098

i just want to override the FWD with the button on the car without having that BEEEEEEEP blow out my eardrums each time.