Loud sound when shifting gears - is it normal? Happens when shifting from park into reverse and back again. Sound recorded on an iPhone while standing by the rear driver's side door. I don't ever recall hearing it before, and wondering if this is normal. Car is new - fewer than 1000 miles on it. Dropbox - Tesla Shifting.m4a *edit* also happens when shifting into drive!
It's definitely not from the door handles - I made sure to check. Currently awaiting a call back from tesla now.
I second the door handle or door handle related sound. It sounds exactly like the door handles retracting and extending. Maybe the motor that controls the handles are also used somewhere else and being triggered?
It is normal. It is the automatic parking brake setting and releasing. I also heard it after owning the car for a while and called service...just the brake, no big deal. Happens going into or out of Park.
The door handles aren't moving in/out during the noise. In fact, at the very end of the sound clip that I attached (around 8-seconds), you can make out a very soft whir - that's the sound of the retracting door handle.
My car makes the same noise. I believe it's just the parking brake being applied as someone mentioned earlier. It's a cool sound though
Awesome - thanks for the reassurance everyone! Parking brake makes sense - the sound only occurs when shifting from Park --> Reverse or Park --> Drive, but not from Drive <--> Reverse. I am planning to put close to put about 1k miles on her in the next 5 days, and I was having nightmares that my baby would be in the service bay and I'd need to take the ICE! To thank everyone for their help at this late hour, here's a quick shot that I took of my baby after her spa day (at the detailer) this morning! She certainly looked radiant!
This is EXACTLY the same sound I got nervous about yesterday when I was in my garage going from P to D and from P to R. I must not have noticed it because I always have the windows up when I leave or return home or park somewhere. So yes, seems like this is normal.
I didn't notice for a few days because I just got my windows tinted when I first got the car, and couldn't open my windows until today! Tells you how well insulated the car really is.
If you've ever had an ICE car with an electric parking brake... it sounds the same. The difference here is that the Model S does not have a transmission and hence no "parking pawl" when you put the car in Park. The only way to hold the car from rolling is to activate the electric brake every time. The ICE equivalent would be like leaving the car in Neutral with the parking brake applied.
If you have an AutoPilot car, you will have a different but interesting new sound/feeling to get used to: the main friction brakes applying and releasing when TACC is engaged. It is a bit spooky at first.