No power = broken window!

[Adopado]

Thanks all.

20/20 hindsight shows there were a number that of decisions that would have avoided this, a learning opportunity.

Checked insurance - and it seems windscreen damage covered, but not other windows but will check when they respond.

Have approved the repair in order to get the car back asap but messaged to say that I am doing this whilst stating that I wish to challenge.

Anyone any advice on the best way to challenge Tesla on a warranty repair? Local garage contact or via head office etc

The whole point of the emergency door release is to enable you to open the door in these (or similar) circumstances where the electrical button is non functional. I would be arguing vociferously that if its use results in broken glass then the car was not operating as intended and this damage should be covered by the standard warranty.

 

[init6]

If anyone says “a child” I want picture proof. Any child who can get in there is too young to know about pressing buttons.

I'm guessing you've never had a child

 

[init6]

Thanks all.

20/20 hindsight shows there were a number that of decisions that would have avoided this, a learning opportunity.

Checked insurance - and it seems windscreen damage covered, but not other windows but will check when they respond.

Have approved the repair in order to get the car back asap but messaged to say that I am doing this whilst stating that I wish to challenge.

Anyone any advice on the best way to challenge Tesla on a warranty repair? Local garage contact or via head office etc

Show them the bit of the manual I quoted above.

 

[VT_EE]

A series of unfortunate events…..

Overnight the wall charger had a software update and didn’t charge the car = only 46 miles left.

Needed 30 this morning - so thought it would be OK.

By the time I got to the destination (15 miles) only had 12 left.

Local chargers were faulty.

Home was the next nearest option - and after reading some stuff on the web, assumed the “buffer” would sneak me home.

It didn’t.

Died 1.3 mikes from home.

3 hours to get recovered.

Sat in a freezing car and eventually all power lost.

Used the manual door opener when tow truck arrived, but not enough power to lower the glass..

Broken window.

Design flaw?

The purpose of the buffer is not to give you a few extra miles below zero. It's to lessen chances of a shutdown with the car still reporting miles remaining. People need to realize that the BMS has no way to figure out exactly how much energy is left in the battery. It's an approximation, not an exact science like measuring liquid in a tank. The car shuts down when the battery voltage hits the limit. When the battery gets too low, hitting the accelerator too hard can cause enough voltage drop to hit the limit and initiate a shutdown. Bottom line, don't take it down to zero as you are well aware of now.

 

[ACarneiro]

The whole situation sucks, but I am very grateful that you took the time to share your experience with us.
Adds to the collective knowledge in those “what if” situations.

I doubt you have a case for getting the window replaced under warranty (especially after accepting the estimate) but I hope you have a great Christmas ahead of you to help you forget this ordeal.

EDIT to add: I love my “dumb” charger more and more… seems like the root cause of all your problems is not Tesla but the charger.

 

[VT_EE]

When I give our Ukrainian guests a lift anywhere, one of them - the mum - is completely unable to remember to use the button rather than the manual release. I've given up reminding her, because it has no effect. (It's not a language thing, she has the best English of the three, and is the only one who is unable to learn). However the window and trim are fine despite her efforts.

When there's power, the manual release does lower the window, but someone who opened the release and pushed the door simultaneously might be able to damage it. I don't think if you just pull the handle but don't put any pressure it's really that big a deal. Maybe I've just been lucky.

I suggest taping the emergency release down with some black electrical tape so your guest can't use it. Tape is easily removed during an emergency.

 

[candida]

I'm guessing you've never had a child

Two.

 

[Durzel]

I will challenge this but not sure it will get me anywhere.

It’s Ok to say don’t run out of juice, but for me it’s an inevitable outcome at some point for some one - and one that should be accounted for in the design and operation.

I am guessing that the freezing temperature made the rubber round the frame less flexible than normal and it’s that which has resulted in the glass smashing.

Whole incident has cost be almost £1000 (recovery, alternate car hire, repair)….feeling very bruised by it all.

If you close the door with the window up it’s going to crack because it will foul the trim. It’s supposed to go under it (when the door is closed). Nothing to do with frost I’m afraid, although I presume this could stop a window dropping too.

Opening the door when it has no power will mean the window doesn’t drop.

Sorry you ended up stuck though. and I’d really push back on the window. You can argue strongly I think that safety wise the car should enable you to exit in any conditions in the event of a power loss. Thats bloody dangerous if it traps you. You had no choice other than use the manual release and there were no warnings in the manual of damage to the glass. Clearly the window has malfunctioned and should be covered under warranty

It doesn’t trap you, that’s the point of the manual release. If the car has no power it can’t move the windows. The glass could break as you open the door using the manual release (if the car has power it’ll drop it though) but it is very likely to crack if you close it with the window up.

 

[init6]

Two.

I'm guessing you have no buttons.

 

[candida]

I'm guessing you have no buttons.

I reckon you can get a baby in there and that's that. Anyone who gets a 3 year old in and provides proof wins a tenner.

 

[init6]

I reckon you can get a baby in there and that's that. Anyone who gets a 3 year old in and provides proof wins a tenner.

Babies touch everything. There's a whole industry dedicated to protecting buttons from them - or vice versa.

 

[brainhouston]

The whole point of the emergency door release is to enable you to open the door in these (or similar) circumstances where the electrical button is non functional. I would be arguing vociferously that if its use results in broken glass then the car was not operating as intended and this damage should be covered by the standard warranty.

I disagree.. emergency is just that Emergency!
Just look at the firemans, they'll cut ur car in half to get u out of there n u can't sue or challenge them about it, because its Emergency.

 

[Mrklaw]

If you close the door with the window up it’s going to crack because it will foul the trim. It’s supposed to go under it (when the door is closed). Nothing to do with frost I’m afraid, although I presume this could stop a window dropping too.

Opening the door when it has no power will mean the window doesn’t drop.


It doesn’t trap you, that’s the point of the manual release. If the car has no power it can’t move the windows. The glass could break as you open the door using the manual release (if the car has power it’ll drop it though) but it is very likely to crack if you close it with the window up.

but I thought the manual warns about trim damage if used in appropriately - no mention of glass damage. If so then surely there is a potential warranty claim. If you’d damaged the trim then you’d been warned and that would have presumably been a much cheaper repair.

(there is a separate argument of the car *always* reserving battery for emergency exit capability)

 

[Need]

(there is a separate argument of the car *always* reserving battery for emergency exit capability)

I like that one. The car shutdown because it ran out of power (not because the electrical system was blown), you would think it would reserve some power like 0.5% for emergency services (like popping the door open, or keeping the usb ports powered so you could have power to the phone to call for help, etc).

 

[Durzel]

but I thought the manual warns about trim damage if used in appropriately - no mention of glass damage. If so then surely there is a potential warranty claim. If you’d damaged the trim then you’d been warned and that would have presumably been a much cheaper repair.

(there is a separate argument of the car *always* reserving battery for emergency exit capability)

I dunno, if the manual warns about trim damage then it’s implied that something will make contact with the trim when you close the door. It seems self-evident that this “something” is the window.

There have been instances where people have scratched their trim closing the door with the window up. Other times it’s the glass that gives. With the dual pane glass it seems more likely to be the glass that gets damaged, based on previous threads I’ve seen about this sort of thing.

 

[Mrklaw]

I dunno, if the manual warns about trim damage then it’s implied that something will make contact with the trim when you close the door. It seems self-evident that this “something” is the window.

There have been instances where people have scratched their trim closing the door with the window up. Other times it’s the glass that gives. With the dual pane glass it seems more likely to be the glass that gets damaged, based on previous threads I’ve seen about this sort of thing.

logical or not, if its not stated in the manual you’re given (well that you find somehow on the internet as you don’t get a printed one anymore) - then thats the manufacturer’s issue for not being clear

 

[yessuz]

There's really no good excuse to run out of gas these days, considering the fact that gas stations are everywhere and gas tanks typically have a 2 to 3 gallon reserve capacity after the fuel gauge indicates empty. I've never run out of gas in my entire life and I've purposely pushed it to the limit on more than one occasion. I'm always curious to see how much gas was remaining in the tank by subtracting the amount of fuel put in from the total tank capacity.

2 to 3 gallon!?!? 9 to 13 ltr? That's 1/3 of a tank on bmw 330e ))

 

[devonian]

When you reaslised the charger hadn't charged the car due to software uodate why not just start the charge straight away,before you left home just 15 minutes would have added enough to give you a buffer and would have warmed the battery. The sudden drop of range you saw would surley be because of the extreme cold

 

[stopcrazypp]

It does. As does the frunk which has always confused me. Who could get in there? If anyone says “a child” I want picture proof. Any child who can get in there is too young to know about pressing buttons.

Probably required for federal law and carried over from other Teslas that have much larger frunks.

If you have a smaller child, I wouldn't say it is impossible for one to squeeze in who also would know how to operate buttons. Just from a quick google:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1291879825330888705

 

[stopcrazypp]

Thanks all.

20/20 hindsight shows there were a number that of decisions that would have avoided this, a learning opportunity.

Checked insurance - and it seems windscreen damage covered, but not other windows but will check when they respond.

Have approved the repair in order to get the car back asap but messaged to say that I am doing this whilst stating that I wish to challenge.

Anyone any advice on the best way to challenge Tesla on a warranty repair? Local garage contact or via head office etc

Here in the US, people usually talk to the service manager, maybe in person. I should note there may be less resistance if they cover it under "goodwill" as there is no implied liability. You can use the same arguments about manual not mentioning glass damage (only trim damage, which presumably would be less expensive). They might not cover it under warranty, but instead goodwill. Sometimes they will cover a portion and not all (but that is better than nothing).