Rear passenger door opens unexpectedly

[sxnahm]

I recently had my car given its annual service, during which they updated the software to 2.28.60. Shortly after the service I started noticing that the left rear door would pop open at different times. Most often it will do it when the car is unlocked and the handles present. However, one time it did it when an autopark completed (hmm, I guess the handles present then too).

I have a service appointment for Tuesday to look into it, but in case it's related to the software updated I wanted to mention it here. It is intermittent -- doesn't always happen. I was able to catch it on video, though:

 

[JPP]

...bet you have a failing/out of adjustment exterior door handle. When you go into Park, and the handles extend, if the handle moves just a bit too far out (or is out of adjustment) it will hit the microswitch and pop open the door. Should not happen when driving. Unlikely related to software. Service center will adjust/replace the handle as appropriate. Been there...done that.

 

[NikeWings]

I have a service appointment for Tuesday to look into it, but in case it's related to the software updated I wanted to mention it here. It is intermittent -- doesn't always happen. I was able to catch it on video, though:

You have courage to park so close to other cars with your beautiful blue S.

 

[sxnahm]

Just had the service visit today, and they told me that the latch mechanism failed and they had to replace the handle assembly.

So not a software issue.

FYI, the car is 13 months old -- a little early for this sort of failure, I think.

 

[chillaban]

Just had the service visit today, and they told me that the latch mechanism failed and they had to replace the handle assembly.

So not a software issue.

FYI, the car is 13 months old -- a little early for this sort of failure, I think.

If it's any reassurance: I've had 3 other non-Tesla luxury cars before my Model S, never kept a car more than 2 years, and can tell you an hour's worth of stories about how they've all been in the shop for various issues during that short course of ownership.

Unfortunately I think it's just a fact of life that stuff breaks on a complex car, no matter who makes it. And one failure doesn't necessarily imply another failure.

 

[JPP]

Just had the service visit today, and they told me that the latch mechanism failed and they had to replace the handle assembly.

So not a software issue.

FYI, the car is 13 months old -- a little early for this sort of failure, I think.

The early builds (2013) had more problems with the extending-retracting handles. Revised handles much better. You can still have a 1-off failure. I would not stay awake at night worrying about it.

 

[philander]

Massive thread necro, my apologies, but I just wanted to chime in with my experience with this on my 2015 P85D. The phenomena is impacting my rear passenger-side door and will occur 10-15 minutes after I've parked the car. It's happened about eight times in the past three days. I'll get a friendly notification on my app informing me that the door is open and the car unlocked with no way to lock it because a door is open. I park in garages or the middle of nowhere so it's not that impactful to me, but if I was parking on the street it would be a serious issue.

I'm planning on just having the handle replaced; I've already had the front passenger door handle swapped out with a v3 unit and expect to do all of them at some point. I wanted to note here that turning on the child safety locks seems to have either directly or coincidentally prevented the issue from recurring in the past 36 hours. Hopefully this works for someone else in this same boat to tide them over until they can get a true fix, especially if they have to park in an unsecured area on a regular basis.