M3 windows frozen and will not drop when opening car door

[super20g]

I usually garage my car (and I don't drive it all that much since I usually work from home) but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about so I left it out overnight. It was ~14 degrees this morning. Preheated it for about 15 minutes or so. No snow or ice or anything on it. Nice clean dry garaged car that I parked outside. All the doors were frozen shut. I was able to break them free with moderate force but most of the windows didn't roll down to allow entry. Had to preheat longer and then I could get in. I drove my daughter to school and came out about an hour later with another 15 minute precondition and it was frozen again. Same deal.

I am not thrilled but I can handle it I guess. Now, my pregnant wife and daughter not so much. I don't want them either stuck out in the cold or damaging the windows and/or trim fighting with the doors.

The headlights, fog lights, tail lights, and 3rd rear brake light that is in the back glass all had condensation frozen inside of them covering a good portion of each looking cheap if nothing else. The glass roof made intermittent snaps crackles and pops mostly when I would make a turn. No cracks in the glass, probably the union between the glue and glass. The rear defroster made the rear glass very distorted and unsafe. Something on the frame/battery or motors would make occasional clunking noises.

I went over to my old Acura that sits outside now. It just rained on it prior to the temp dropping below freezing. No precondition or anything and all the doors and windows operate... No, they are not frame-less doors. None of the headlights, taillights, fog-lights were fogged or frozen on the inside. Rear defroster doesn't distort the view.

Not sure what the deal is with this Tesla... It doesn't like the cold, that is for sure. For a car in the 60's, I though it would be a little more refined. I understand it is a new model. Surely they will resolve some of these issues with new builds. Not sure what happens to us that paid up and adopted early. Less confident in my Tesla stock between these issues, the delivery issues, the service issues, hearing about people leaving and not being asked to pay and then collections saying they still owe like 1500 instead of 50K, on and on...

 

[TeeEmCee]

If I may quip:

Was any Model 3 prototype seen doing winter testing before the launch? The answer to that is yes, if you count driving to Palo Alto and back.
Unfortunately, this right now is Tesla’s winter testing program and you up north are the ones executing it.

When I spoke to one of those certified body shops, they told me there’s a new door design that they now install, which, among other things, comes with a different handle mechanism. The way they expressed that was “nothing is compatible between the new and the old doors”.

 

[Itsuo-DC]

My wife had to work today, but she only preheated for a short time, and then she couldn't get the car door to close. I had to try 3 times, outside the car, to get it to shut fully. I also noticed that the driver window would not move down via the interior button (but the passenger side did). It didn't even try to move down. I thought that might help close since the window would now clear the trim.

Same happened to me in about 15degree weather, I preheated the car to 72 for about 15min. The handle was frozen stiff but manageable but the door struggled to open because the window didn't drop. Because my coat was in the car and I was in a rush, I think I accidentally just muscled the door open but then had difficulty when it wouldn't shut. Eventually I got it as I couldn't just sit there in that weather with the door open; however, it bent/made a dent in the middle of the chrome door trim. Has anyone approached Tesla about a replacement for this?

I'm trying to avoid them at all costs based on all the things I hear about them being overwhelmed. Hopefully this would be an easy fix?

 

[dusdev]

If I may quip:

Was any Model 3 prototype seen doing winter testing before the launch? The answer to that is yes, if you count driving to Palo Alto and back.
Unfortunately, this right now is Tesla’s winter testing program and you up north are the ones executing it.

When I spoke to one of those certified body shops, they told me there’s a new door design that they now install, which, among other things, comes with a different handle mechanism. The way they expressed that was “nothing is compatible between the new and the old doors”.

If this is true then Tesla should be offering replacement doors for existing owners. Or at least designing a retrofit kit to address winter issues (preferred to avoid repainting) If they don't I feel that existing owners would have good grounds for a class action lawsuit. A car that doesn't properly work in the winter is completely unacceptable and unexpected. In my opinion it is a huge warranty issue that Tesla needs to address ASAP. And they need to be very vocal and forthcoming with their customers.

That said, I live in Ontario and I haven't experienced any of these issues myself. Though, I park in a garage. One day after being parked outside the door handles had a bit of ice buildup that required some force to break but nothing unreasonable. My friend who parks outside has had daily winter related issues. He is not pleased.

 

[tccartier]

The problem with being so reliant on preheating is that

1. You don't always have a connection. Both the car and your phone need to have an internet connection, and if they're on different networks not having reception on either prevents preheating. Add to that all the "server error" issues many of us get when trying to use the app.
   
2. You need to know when you're going to leave. This is fine if you're talking about back and forth to work, but if I go out to dinner, a friend's house, virtually any social event, I don't know when I'm going to leave. Plus now I have to be that guy with his cell phone out in the middle of the movie just so I'll be able to get into my car later?

Do you have the "smart preconditioning" function on M3? That might help since it learns your usage patterns over time and will work independent of app or car connectivity.

 

[tccartier]

Frozen windows we get all the time when it’s real cold and snowing but never a frozen door handle. I could get into my ICE 100% of the time, even in an extremely bad ice storm, into my 1992 Accord. I haven’t experienced this with my Model 3 yet but winter is just getting started......

Most of what I'm reading here "it seems" are not Tesla or Model 3 specific issues. Many modern cars now have to drop the window slightly to open the door and thus have the same issues. A quick read across forums or a google search reveals that.

Recessed handles similar in design to those on M3 have been around for decades on various car models here and there, Heck my 1956 Desoto had handles where you had to press on one end to get the handle to come out to get hold of it to pull on it and it also had frameless glass the solution at that time was to allow the top window trim to swing out to clear the glass upon opening the door. Yes that had winter issues as well.

These problems are as old as cars and winter. Not sure why suddenly we expect Tesla's or M3 to be any different.

 

[super20g]

When I spoke to one of those certified body shops, they told me there’s a new door design that they now install, which, among other things, comes with a different handle mechanism. The way they expressed that was “nothing is compatible between the new and the old doors”.

That is interesting. I had not heard there were already changes to door design. Will be interested to find out more about that... Sure sounds tough to repair Tesla's since their parts and suppliers are constantly changing

 

[SpikeballChris]

Unfortunately my windows got stuck today and wouldn't drop when opening the car doors. I've applied a lubricant on the rubber around the door to reduce the chances of the doors getting frozen and it seemed to have worked. Any recommendations in terms of what I can use to fix my window problem? I was thinking the deicer from CRC. I hate to hear the window hit against the frame of the car.

I've been preheating my car as well for a few minutes but I was advised by Tesla that I would need to preheat for a good 30 minutes at max heat (sounds a little too long...) to ensure the window mechanism thaws out and that maximum regen is reached.

Funny, they don't tell you about the 'preheat your car for 30 minutes' during the sales pitch. During a cold day in Chicago the other day, when my kids closed the rear door on my Model S, the window didn't do what it was supposed to and hit really hard on the metal frame. It sounded like it cracked but thankfully it didn't. I drove away and it sounded like the door was open. After I pulled over a mile or two later, I saw that the door was closed, but the window was stuck on the frame of the car and was cracked open about a half inch. Overall, the window design seems very, very poor.

 

[dusdev]

Most of what I'm reading here "it seems" are not Tesla or Model 3 specific issues. Many modern cars now have to drop the window slightly to open the door and thus have the same issues. A quick read across forums or a google search reveals that.

Recessed handles similar in design to those on M3 have been around for decades on various car models here and there, Heck my 1956 Desoto had handles where you had to press on one end to get the handle to come out to get hold of it to pull on it and it also had frameless glass the solution at that time was to allow the top window trim to swing out to clear the glass upon opening the door. Yes that had winter issues as well.

These problems are as old as cars and winter. Not sure why suddenly we expect Tesla's or M3 to be any different.

I know that the problems aren't inherently unique to Tesla. However I think it's clear that Tesla only did minimal real world winter testing on the Model 3. I understand they were under time pressure to release the product. This is just a result of being a small car company with a crucial product release. I think if another manufacturer saw the extent of the winter issues with their vehicle in a prototype it would have never gone to production.

I'm not upset about it either. I think it's a huge pain in the a**. Luckily I have a garage. I'm fine with dealing with it to be an early adopter. But what I would like is for Tesla to step up to the plate now and take responsibility for the crap winter design of the Model 3 and address it with a retrofit recall.

Fixes such as directed air vents towards the crucial components or resistance heating strips in certain areas will help significantly. Even having a software fix now with a pre-warm option ("warm by x:yy time") would be awesome and I think reasonable to expect and implement.

I think it's clear that the issues will be resolved at some point in the future and I'd like my car to contain the fixes and not be depreciated because it doesn't.

 

[ricohman]

I see a new window design in the Model 3's future. This is simply not acceptable for northern climates.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Everything still works - not sticking at all.

First time in negative temperatures sitting out ALL NIGHT - drove 50 mile - been sitting ALL DAY. no sticking or anything.
​

 

[Atari2600]

I’ve used this based upon other forum members’ recommendations.

Gummi Pflege Rubber Care Stick

This works well for me in 10F weather.

 

[C141medic]

Everything still works - not sticking at all.

View attachment 371709

First time in negative temperatures sitting out ALL NIGHT - drove 50 mile - been sitting ALL DAY. no sticking or anything.
​

Damn, that’s frikking cold.

 

[ricohman]

Damn, that’s frikking cold.

I was thinking that's not bad at all!

 

[C141medic]

I was thinking that's not bad at all!

Ok, I see where you’re from and I understand now

 

[ricohman]

Ok, I see where you’re from and I understand now

LOL! The wind chill was -46 this week. I let the dog out and I had to walk out to carry him in.
The poor old guy just froze up.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I just saw the weather report for next week here in Chicago.

This coming Wednesday the wind chill is supposed to hit -46F.

My model 3 is going to get cold tested as it will be outside all day in the wind. I'm going to see if my silicone window treatment ( that I put on last November ) still works.

 

[Bigjohn892]

Frozen windows we get all the time when it’s real cold and snowing but never a frozen door handle. I could get into my ICE 100% of the time, even in an extremely bad ice storm, into my 1992 Accord. I haven’t experienced this with my Model 3 yet but winter is just getting started......

 

[Bigjohn892]

While on a old weather camping trip in the mountains I had the windows and door handle freeze after a night of snow an when trying to get into my new Yukon the door handle broke off when I pulled hard. Therefor I have no problem telling my Model 3 to preheat for 30 minutes. So much better than sitting in an ICE car for 30 minutes waiting for heat.

 

[TeeEmCee]

I'm fine with dealing with it to be an early adopter. But what I would like is for Tesla to step up to the plate now and take responsibility for the crap winter design of the Model 3 and address it with a retrofit recall.

Fixes such as directed air vents towards the crucial components or resistance heating strips in certain areas will help significantly. Even having a software fix now with a pre-warm option ("warm by x:yy time") would be awesome and I think reasonable to expect and implement.

I think it's clear that the issues will be resolved at some point in the future and I'd like my car to contain the fixes and not be depreciated because it doesn't.

I don’t thing that’s feasible, unfortunately. They have many small but expensive issues and now a not-insignificant number of cars sold. The cost of retrofitting them all would probably bury them.

Since these cannot be immediately classified as safety issues, I doubt Tesla can be forced to recall the cars, so they’ll just deal with them on an individual basis, which is to say they’ll fix as little as they can get away with.