Model X door open during car wash

[atc789]

Hi everyone,

My Father just went through a touch less car wash, and while driving through I think the water pressure set off the falcon wing door to open while he was driving through. The door then hit a side piece and got bent and cracked the top glass. My question is should Tesla be responsible for this ? Isn’t this a design flaw to allow the door to open while the car is in drive and moving ?
Just wondering what I should do now or if I have to go through insurance to fix this ?

 

[Uncle Paul]

Probably an insurance issue. Tesla does not recommend automated car washes.

Should have been in neutral (not drive) going through a car wash.

If you hear the door opening the immediate response would be to step on the brake and reclose the door.

Also remember to never lift off the seat while in an automated wash. It will cause your car to stop immediately. Common is that people look around into the back seat, and that causes them to lift off the seat and stop the car.

Perhaps someday they will have a car wash mode.

 

[atc789]

Thanks for your response. This was a car wash you have to drive through slowly so you can’t put the car in neutral

 

[pcons]

That sucks. Must have been some very high pressure to cause the door to trigger open. The model x needs a pretty good push on the button for it to work. I'm surprised the pressure was that high.

My guess is you'll have a hard time getting tesla to pony up for this. There is nothing to really prove it wasn't accidentally triggered from inside the car (not saying it was, just likely what they will claim).

Sounds like it's the car wash that had a crazy high pressure that is to blame. At that high a pressure there would maybe be risk to damage of trim pieces and such I would think?

At the end of it all, this is what insurance is for. From the sounds of the damage you won't want to be paying out of pocket to fix this....

 

[atc789]

Yeah I know, so weird the water triggered it, as my dad had used this car wash many times. He said it was right when entering it as well, the water spraying from the bottom to wash the wheels, must have been a weird angle.

He went to Tesla and is talking to them so I’ll let everyone know what they say, but likely I think this will have to be an insurance claim.

 

[Casmium]

Not sure if this applies to the x, but on the 3 once you put it and drive and reach a certain speed the doors lock and you won't be able to open the door from the outside unless the driver unlocks the door, could this be a situation where a door unlocked to get out and pay for the carwash and while pulling into the carwash the speed required to lock the door wasn't achieved.

 

[Vawlkus]

If the car was in gear then the driver has to hit the unlock icon for the doors to open.

if the car was in park it would have been able to open, again if the unlock icon was hit.

Don't bother trying to go after Tesla on this: they’ll point out that it can only be driver error, and they’d be right.