Model 3 Trunk Button Stopped Working

[j3ss3]

Tech just came to my house for trunk button not working. Wouldn’t replace the harness as part of the recall since the failure was not the backup camera. It’s a 2018 M3 with 53k miles, so out of warranty for replacing the harness to fix the trunk button. ~$400 to replace the harness to fix the trunk button, but free if my backup camera wasn’t working. Ugh . . .

 

[j3ss3]

Tech just came to my house for trunk button not working. Wouldn’t replace the harness as part of the recall since the failure was not the backup camera. It’s a 2018 M3 with 53k miles, so out of warranty for replacing the harness to fix the trunk button. ~$400 to replace the harness to fix the trunk button, but free if my backup camera wasn’t working. Ugh . . .

The story gets funnier. Tech left. I closed the trunk to back the car into the garage and I can’t get the backup camera to come up now. Car is more broken now than before mobile service arrived.

 

[KootsChewt]

Tech just came to my house for trunk button not working. Wouldn’t replace the harness as part of the recall since the failure was not the backup camera. It’s a 2018 M3 with 53k miles, so out of warranty for replacing the harness to fix the trunk button. ~$400 to replace the harness to fix the trunk button, but free if my backup camera wasn’t working. Ugh . . .

I had the wiring harness replaced last year as nothing would open my trunk (except the inside emergency release). After I saw the recall, I contacted the service department and was directed to fill out a form for consideration for reimbursement. They reviewed once and saw that the repair notes were for the trunk not opening, so declined. I disputed their finding and they submitted it for a 'formal review'. I just received the response to that review, saying "we determined that the repairs performed did not pertain to the conditions described for this specific recall, so we will not be issuing you a reimbursement".

I'm pretty annoyed. Obviously the trunk failing to open due to the wiring harness is the same root cause as the rear camera failing! Yet here they are trying to weasel their way out of it, rather than just reimbursing me and installing the guide to (hopefully) prevent it from occurring again.

My irate reply:
"The recall is literally for this wiring harness, how is it not covered?! Right on the recall page Tesla admits poor design for the wiring harness, otherwise you wouldn’t need to install a guide (which wasn’t installed on mine). I guess from Tesla’s perspective this is a win in the short term financially, kicking the can down the road to replace my wiring harness and install the guide later? In the meantime, it is a loss of selling future cars, as I will be sure to direct my friends and family away from a Tesla purchase. Goes along with the poor design of the window having to roll down and freezing shut in winter, the charge port freezing in winter and not allowing charging, my roof glass cracking due to the OEM roof rack (also not covered by warranty), none of my original delivery inspection issues being fixed (see attached), the poor UI design for the windshield wipers, and the latest poor V11 software update which removes core functionality that I had from day 1 of owning the car."

I had both a Cybertruck and Rivian R1T reservation... I've only kept one.

/sour grapes

 

[DFibRL8R]

I had the wiring harness replaced last year as nothing would open my trunk (except the inside emergency release). After I saw the recall, I contacted the service department and was directed to fill out a form for consideration for reimbursement. They reviewed once and saw that the repair notes were for the trunk not opening, so declined. I disputed their finding and they submitted it for a 'formal review'. I just received the response to that review, saying "we determined that the repairs performed did not pertain to the conditions described for this specific recall, so we will not be issuing you a reimbursement".

I'm pretty annoyed. Obviously the trunk failing to open due to the wiring harness is the same root cause as the rear camera failing! Yet here they are trying to weasel their way out of it, rather than just reimbursing me and installing the guide to (hopefully) prevent it from occurring again.

My irate reply:
"The recall is literally for this wiring harness, how is it not covered?! Right on the recall page Tesla admits poor design for the wiring harness, otherwise you wouldn’t need to install a guide (which wasn’t installed on mine). I guess from Tesla’s perspective this is a win in the short term financially, kicking the can down the road to replace my wiring harness and install the guide later? In the meantime, it is a loss of selling future cars, as I will be sure to direct my friends and family away from a Tesla purchase. Goes along with the poor design of the window having to roll down and freezing shut in winter, the charge port freezing in winter and not allowing charging, my roof glass cracking due to the OEM roof rack (also not covered by warranty), none of my original delivery inspection issues being fixed (see attached), the poor UI design for the windshield wipers, and the latest poor V11 software update which removes core functionality that I had from day 1 of owning the car."

I had both a Cybertruck and Rivian R1T reservation... I've only kept one.

/sour grapes

So you bought a Model 3 in the first Model year of production and discovered problems related to build quality. So now you are going to purchase a brand new model vehicle from Rivian a new company out of frustration?

 

[KootsChewt]

So you bought a Model 3 in the first Model year of production and discovered problems related to build quality. So now you are going to purchase a brand new model vehicle from Rivian a new company out of frustration?

Couple of thoughts:

• My car was built in November 2018... well over a year into production
• This isn't build quality, it is a design issue.
• As noted in my post, I am irritated with their response to the issue. I understand nothing of this level of complexity will be perfect. The pattern of behaviour on their part is "sux to be u, bye!" for many issues similar to this. It appears they don't care because they are still basically the only game in town with a complete ecosystem that makes sense, and for that reason, they sell the most EVs (at the moment).
• Specifically I am not buying a Cybertruck because I see the hubris of using customers as beta testers will continue (see frameless windows for just one example of this.)
• I don't expect my R1T to be perfect either, but I am willing to give them a chance, largely because the company was built by a guy who has a PhD in automotive engineering. Initial reviews are pretty stellar, and Sandy seems pretty impressed so far.

 

[Peterkn4]

I actually just had this happen to me and the trunk harness recall replacement actually fixed it too. I didn't even tell the mobile tech that my trunk switch wasn't working but when he finished, it was working again. It happened very suddenly, there were no times when it "sometimes works and sometimes doesn't work", it just stopped working on morning.

 

[QBizzy]

Have any of you had luck with getting the trunk harness fixed when your car is outside the warranty? Mine is a 2018 M3 with manual trunk.. Trunk has been intermittently working but it has gone dead. Tesla service center wants to charge $275 just to take a look at it.