Not sure if anyone is aware of this yet but while I was in the Santana Row store yesterday, I noticed and the reps confirmed, that they have made a change to the handles on the latest production cars (this particular floor display model had a very recent which had just arrived). After the handle auto presents, there is a bit more movement when you then pull the handle to open the door (i.e. it auto presents say 7/8ths of the old distance and then physically moves, say an additional 1/8th) when you pull the handle to open the door. They indicated that this was part of a new design to address prior issues. Just my two cents on this topic. Good to see it being addressed.
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Model S Technical / Mechanical Issues
- Thread starter DrComputer
- Start date
Thanks fro your answer steve841, I think you're right, I plugged the car today while my garage door had been open for a long time (temps are still between the freezing and 50F, spring is pretty cold this year). And while it was not cold enough to heat the battery from the battery power (was not below critical temp which I think is close to -10F), when it detected shore power the compressor noises started.
I've got the same problem. My closest service center (Los Angeles) refuses to fix it, they just say "wait for next firmware, it will fix itself." I've had the door handle problem (doors won't lock) for 30 days now, and have had 4 firmware updates since the problem first started, and it still isn't fixed. The service center *still* refuses to look at my car -- and I've got over 10 other problems with it as well. If anyone manages to get their door handles fixed by the L.A. Service Center please explain to me how to go about it. I even paid for the 4-year unlimited ranger service which they refuse to honor.
steve841
Active Member
If you aren't on the phone to the manager ... you should be to Ownership. I had that issue and drove by my SC and it was reloaded without wait! 30 min later, I was on my way back to work.
Noticed a "squeek" sound between the 40-60mph range while gunning it... it's very different from the whine you can hear when accelerating. The best description I can give is that it sounds like air being let out of a balloon. The sound can be heard very clearly a few seconds into the linked video. (apologies for the shaking... was filmed while driving)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27585/Squeek.MOV
Has anyone else heard this?
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27585/Squeek.MOV
Has anyone else heard this?
steve841
Active Member
That is not acceptable. The current firmware (I have the absolute most recent) is working fine for most of us (complete with 'auto present handles'). There is something specifically wrong with your car, and they are refusing to honor the service contract. Call HQ. If that doesn't work, your next stop may be your lawyer. Yuck.
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Service tech tested it and said it was supposed to wipe at this speed. So I guess that means that's what he's seen on other cars.
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Thank you. I'll time it with a stopwatch. You know what? I'm guessing it is slightly over 45 cycles/minute; that sounds about right. Every car I've had before had wipers much faster than the legally required minimum.
In the meantime, it's "pull over ASAP and wait it out" in heavy rain.
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54 cycles/minute.
kevincwelch
Active Member
I don't say this to incite anyone's wrath or to start a negative thread, but if I were you, I would really start investigating (if you haven't) your state's lemon laws. If you have, I would submit a claim. I don't feel that this is a condemnation of Tesla, rather the the particular one that you own.
If any given defect takes over 30 days to repair then the car is a good candidate for the lemon-law buyback. It makes you wonder, what if it takes over 30 days just to get the service appointment? Or what if they simply refuse to accept the car into the service department? How would the lemon-law treat that situation? Hmmmmm.....
I took extraordinary steps (that no one should have to take) and finally got them to accept my car into the service department. They don't have any Model S loaner cars yet. Their main service facility is too crowded, so they are attending to my car at the remote offsite facility that they are renting. I gave them a list of 13 issues to deal with, we'll see how many they can address. Only 4 of them are serious enough that I'd lemon-law the car if they couldn't fix them.
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I happen to be a Lemon Law expert.
The 30 day presumption is for 30 days "out of service". So if the car is drivable, it doesn't fall under that presumption for the days you are waiting for an appointment.
I'm happy to answer any other Lemon Law questions. Also, understand that the Lemon Law varies by state, but they were all based on the same template.
znino
Member
Update on my rear bench leather folds. I had the left and right rear seat side bolster leather quite bad with some folds (not well stretched over the foam part underneath. See picture). I originally thought it might just be the way it was but after checking with others I could not find anyone with the problem as bad as me. I emailed a picture of the seats to ownership and very politely asked them if this was normal on April 14. A week went by with no response from them but then I received an email from the local service center saying, your parts have come in, when can we set up an appointment? I was initially confused because ownership had not responded to me but apparently on receiving my pictures, no questions asked, they shipped a brand new rear bench to Montreal and now, 2.5 weeks later it is installed in my car and 100x better looking. Really quite the service. I am extremely impressed with that speed and desire to please 
The picture below is what they used to look like. Now they are properly stretched.
The picture below is what they used to look like. Now they are properly stretched.
Bruce
Member
Just had the ranger come and fix my rear non-working handle. He just replaced the pressure sensor. Said that it is unfortunately rather common. I asked him about the new handles that have more movement, and he said that he is 90% sure that it will be a software update. He stated that all the necessary parts in the original handles and that with a proper download, the will be able to get them to travel out further. He said that would also improve the sensor problem. By the way…. the sensor replacement was quick and easy - and done in my garage in about an hour.
When I was at the service center last week I asked if I could see the door handle mechanism (engineer in me...). They kindly got a new one off the shelf to show me. This was no minor piece of engineering. Clearly when they (Elon?) went for this design someone spoke up and said 'this could be a real reliability mess'. According to the tech they built in redundancy for a number of the components (mainly sensors). Anyway I recommend if you have interest in such things and if they can oblige have a look at one. While there have been a number of issues with the handles (not for me) based on my cursory look they have put serious work into the mechanism. Bodes well for the long term.
I have been having an issue with my intermittent wipers. Wanted to see if anyone else had experience it. When I put the intermittent (rain sensing) wipers on they work well (even better after the last few software updates). Eventually (after say 2-3 minutes) the wipers suddenly go into high speed mode and stay there. The only way to stop them is to click back to the wiper's off position then reset them to the setting I wanted. The software is gung-ho on running the wipers at high speed and no setting will convince it otherwise except turning the wipers off. This happens every time however it takes a few minutes to go into this rapid mode. Clearly it is not dirt on the sensor because adjusting the knob has no effect and when I reset it works again for a while. The tech hadn't heard of the issue so he recommended that I post here and that I record the next time it happened so they could pull the logs. Very minor issue but surprised I has not seen it on these boards. Now I am waiting for rain...
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