Frunk Spring Change in 2021 Model 3?

[upgraded]

Hi all,

I took delivery of my 2021 Model 3 in December and found the frunk to be annoying to close. So I checked online and found that many others were swapping out the spring in the latch mechanism which made it possible to close the frunk with one hand, which sounds highly desirable.

So, I ordered the replacement spring from Amazon and as I went to install it, I noticed that the entire latch mechanism looks like it has changed and has been covered by a plate. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the updated latch since it was dark out, but I was wondering if anyone knows why Tesla changed this, and if there are any workarounds to the annoyingly difficult frunk closing.

If there is another thread on this, apologies, my initial search didn't come up with any.

 

[BeeGood]

Whoa...this is crazy. I literally ordered new struts and the lower-tension spring and they got here today. I came to post the same PSA.

Here are picks that I took. The first is the pick with the cover off (looking down into the frunk from the front of the car), cover comes off the same, but like you said, the assembly is different.

The second pic shows the back of the locking assembly. The assembly is secured with two 10mm bolts so it was easy to take off so I could see the back (thinking it was there). But that’s as far as I was willing to go with it because again, it is totally different. I think the spring in the middle is the one that would need to be swapped out, but it looked like it might be welded in place.

Thanks for making this thread! I bought the struts mainly to get the frunk to close more easily with the spring replacement, so I wish I had read this first before spending $20 on struts. Hopefully this helps someone else save some cash.

 

[upgraded]

Wow at least I'm not alone! Thanks for the pics, now I won't have to open up the panel to show others. I also had my struts delivered last night and am wondering if it is worth changing them for the "auto open" function since the spring doesn't look like it can be changed. I wonder why they changed the assembly, it certainly doesn't seem to have improved the frunk closing ease (I compared with a 2020 Model 3 and it takes the same effort and two hands)

 

[BeeGood]

Yup, I had a 2020 before this one and the frunk behaves exactly the same. I have no idea why the lock would be different. I haven’t heard of them failing or anything so it seems like a weird thing to just change.

I just packed up the struts and spring to return to Amazon. If someone a little smarter and braver than me can figure it out, maybe I’ll give it another shot one day.

 

[neurocutie]

I took delivery of my 2021 Model 3 in December and found the frunk to be annoying to close. So I checked online and found that many others were swapping out the spring in the latch mechanism which made it possible to close the frunk with one hand, which sounds highly desirable.

I did the spring change on my 2020 M3. It seemed to be better... til winter time, or just time... weaker spring means it doesn't pop up much if at all. I went back to the OEM spring... maybe the 2021 version is different.

 

[ratz]

Before you return the struts; you can use the new struts and not change the spring. Part of the reason the frunk is hard close is the "stop feet." The little black legs in the front corners. With the weak struts these feet need to be screwed out enough to keep the hood from bouncing when driving. When they are positioned to do their jobs, they make the hood hard to close. With the new stronger stuts you can screw the feet in a bit; and you'll find it closes much easier. Meanwhile the new gas struts will stop it from bouncing same al the legs normally do. Play with it a bit and see if you get the same results I did.

 

[CheapBastid]

I had bought the struts and the new spring before taking delivery of my 2022 M3LR and found the spring didn't match when I popped it open.

Anyone have a 2022 M3LR who has tried what @ratz suggests above?

 

[GBMaryland]

What’s interesting is that with my original model three I never changed the springs… I simply installed the two struts and never had a problem.