Problem with driver's seat motor in M3P

[swperk]

I've had my Model 3 Performance since last May and it's been trouble free until a couple of days ago. I tried to move the driver's seat forward and when I pushed the switch forward, all I heard was a clicking but the seat didn't move. When I tried to move it backwards, it also clicked, but the seat may have already been at the rear limit of its travel.

The rest of the seat motors (elevation, back tilt) worked fine. The passenger's seat motors all worked properly. I can find no obstructions to the seat movement that might have caused this problem.

The first appointment available for service was in a week, so in desperation, I rebooted the car and now the seat works! Weird...

I assume that the CPU monitors the motor drive current in the seat motors and disables a motor if it senses excessive current draw from the seat hitting an obstruction or a faulty motor.

Has anyone else had this problem? I hope I have "fixed" the problem, but I have my doubts if the cause is a bad sensor or a motor overcurrent issue.

Thanks,
Stan

 

[MaxnBella]

I've had my Model 3 Performance since last May and it's been trouble free until a couple of days ago. I tried to move the driver's seat forward and when I pushed the switch forward, all I heard was a clicking but the seat didn't move. When I tried to move it backwards, it also clicked, but the seat may have already been at the rear limit of its travel.

The rest of the seat motors (elevation, back tilt) worked fine. The passenger's seat motors all worked properly. I can find no obstructions to the seat movement that might have caused this problem.

The first appointment available for service was in a week, so in desperation, I rebooted the car and now the seat works! Weird...

I assume that the CPU monitors the motor drive current in the seat motors and disables a motor if it senses excessive current draw from the seat hitting an obstruction or a faulty motor.

Has anyone else had this problem? I hope I have "fixed" the problem, but I have my doubts if the cause is a bad sensor or a motor overcurrent issue.

Thanks,
Stan

02.06.21

I have a Model 3 that is 1.5 years old. At delivery the driver seat rear panel was loose and noted at inspection. A home service call popped it back into place but that did not last long, I guess the coupling sites were loose. A few months later, I experienced the problem you described exactly as you did - seat will not go forward or backward, all other movements work. You can hear it click and the car thinks the seat position changed because it offers the option to save the new setting on the screen. Fortunately, I keep it set all the way back where it is stuck, so not an immediate problem.

I took it to Marietta GA Service Center (192 miles) and they replaced the seat which fixed both issues. The next day, it was not working again. I then had a home service call and the fellow said he re-calibrated the seat with his laptop. Again, it worked for a day and then back to not.

I went back to the Marietta Service Center this past Thursday and they again replaced the seat. They told me they discovered the tracks were not exactly parallel and so the seat locked up (got stuck) when it went all the way back. They apologized for not discovering that on my first Marietta visit. It worked on the way home but the day after, yesterday, it was not.

I rebooted the car prior to the first Marietta visit but will do that again.

Just to make this story more interesting, they told me they scratched the rocker when putting the seat in so they wanted to schedule a body shop appointment to paint that. The two scratches are minuscule. So that is pending and I think I discovered a local Tesla authorized painter so I will be exploring that.

So how did your situation turn out?

Thanks.