Self Presenting Door vs High Winds

[jeffnhelen]

I had a storm cell creep up on me last night while I was making a quick pit stop and this happened.

The door cracked open as I walked up and before I could reach out to grab it the wind flung it open and immediately I heard the crunch of metal as it hit the door stops. As you can tell from the photos, it has shifted an eighth to a quarter inch and is catching on the front quarter panel now. It has also shifted enough to where the patching mechanism doesn’t engage or disengage all the time without some coercing.

So my question to you guys is should I just go straight to an insurance claim? Wondering how this potential repair cost could affect my rates before I go that route, so should I just try and take it to a certified body shop and see if they can adjust the door and pop out the dents without filing a claim...what has the collective seen with rates after making claims on Teslas? Or should I submit a service request with Tesla and see what they can do? All of these options I’m hoping can avoid the pain of waiting on ordered parts.

 

[VikH]

I think this is a valid warranty claim. Even with high winds, the door should not flex. Have Tesla fix the dents/chip and realign door. If you have a sentry cam video of the incident, that would be best to prove the cause.

 

[chuynh]

I think this is a valid warranty claim. Even with high winds, the door should not flex. Have Tesla fix the dents/chip and realign door. If you have a sentry cam video of the incident, that would be best to prove the cause.

i dont think the wind caused the door to flex. the wind caused the auto-pesented door to fling ajar and hit something thereby causing the damage.

OP: i woul put in a warranty claim first and see what they say. I've always worried about the auto-presenting doors and it hitting objects unintentionally. However, I just cant stop using the feature...
good luck with everything and keep us posted!

 

[DoctorVenkman]

It's for this reason I have auto-presenting door turned off. I was in a parking lot when a gust took the door and it dinged the car next to me. Luckily there was no permanent damage (just a scuff that rubbed out) but it made me realize how unpredictable this feature could be. It's not worth the risk for a simple gimmick.

Worst case you're street parked and the door opens into oncoming traffic - bye bye door!

 

[jboy210]

Make sure any place you go has experience working with Aluminum body panels. They work differently than steel. Do not be surprised if they just want to replace them.

 

[ps004ynos]

I would file a claim.

I also turned off auto-presenting after a close call. Very windy day, parallel parked on street, door opens, wind flings it and nearly hits a car passing by.

 

[RecklessFury]

I'm going to turn mine off also. Whenever I go answer the front door of my home, I know its opening and closing in the garage cause the signal reaches through the wall.

In light of these reports from you guys, and a video I saw where a truck ripped the door off a Model X when driving by, it seems cumbersome. I'm very cognitive of when I approach my vehicle but Its just a matter of time before i have these experiences if I leave it on.

 

[jeffnhelen]

Interesting to see the number of people who share my thought on avoiding insurance

To update the story, I went ahead and requested a collision service appt through the Tesla app. Next available slot is the 24th at the Austin center...so when I sent them pictures I requested if they could at least send out a mobile tech to try and adjust the door to where we can use the vehicle again. No response yet on that front.
After looking more at the door with my dad (previously owned auto shop), we think the top hinge actually bent allowing the door to shift 1/4 in. and the bottom hinge took enough of the force that the reinforcement inside the door caused the door panel to crumple.

The door also opened far enough and with enough force that the stops couldn’t hold it and the skin actually ran into a tab on the hinge causing the small dent on the front edge of the door that’s catching on the quarter panel now. Under normal pressure this tab is about 1/4 in. away from the edge of the door after hitting the stops.

 

[aesculus]

With your second set of pictures and more scrutiny of your first set, you may be looking at a door replacement. I agree your hinges took a hit and a lot of the load was transferred into the door panels itself causing tweaking/distortion. I am changing my vote to go for an insurance claim.

 

[VikH]

i dont think the wind caused the door to flex. the wind caused the auto-pesented door to fling ajar and hit something thereby causing the damage.

OP: i woul put in a warranty claim first and see what they say. I've always worried about the auto-presenting doors and it hitting objects unintentionally. However, I just cant stop using the feature...
good luck with everything and keep us posted!

No, op states the door did not hit anything. The damage was caused by the door flexing after hitting the door stops.

 

[Daisame]

After seeing this, I think i will turn my auto-presenting doors off as well. There seemed to be quite of bit of resistance pushing the door open further manually against the automatic opening, but obviously a good wind is enough. I don't think I would have the presence of mind to turn it off on a windy day.

 

[cantbechanged]

I live in an area that is typically quite windy and have this feature disabled for fear of this or door-dinging my neighbor.

 

[jeffnhelen]

Tesla text me back and said I will need to take it to one of their certified body shops as major alignment of the door will need to be performed. Any of you guys in Texas gone to the Service King locations for body work?

 

[jeffnhelen]

Update on my post — After seeing mixed reviews for Service King, I ended up filing a claim with my insurance and they pretty much said I could take it wherever. So, my neighbor had just got into an accident in his MS and referred me to Autocraft Bodywerks down in Austin as they are supposed to be the best around. I booked an appointment and drove down to see what their assessment was. At first they said just new hinges and some touch up where the panels rubbed. He offered to take the vehicle to his tech to see if the door could be adjusted to where we could actually use it for the time being. A couple minutes later he drove it back up and the door alignment looked really good...I was surprised they could adjust it that well with bent hinges! But he said after his tech laid eyes on it they will need to order a new door along with the hinges and do some panel blending, so looking at the end of the month before it can even get into the shop. With that said there was pretty much nothing but Teslas in their lot and they were awesome to get the door usable again, so I would recommend them thus far just based on that first visit!

 

[aesculus]

On a somewhat related note yesterday I was in an area of just moderate wind (the Gigafactory actually). I was cautious when I opened the door because I had a fairly strong tailwind. I doubt no where near the OP's but was still vary cautious. When I went to close the door there was no way the auto door close was going to even start to overcome the wind. Tried pressing the brake twice and it did not even budge. So I leaned way out and dragged the door back manually.

The OPs event posted here was enough to make sure I took extra precaution in the heavier winds.

 

[Aljohn]

This is a continued discussion from a few years ago. The consensus was the doors operate well in most conditions, but in high and extreme wind conditions it becomes a manual process. Even with regular doors on most vehicles -- hold on when opening and they are harder to close against the wind -- vice/versa in opposite wind direction. Tesla didn't change physics.

 

[VikH]

Update on my post — After seeing mixed reviews for Service King, I ended up filing a claim with my insurance and they pretty much said I could take it wherever. So, my neighbor had just got into an accident in his MS and referred me to Autocraft Bodywerks down in Austin as they are supposed to be the best around. I booked an appointment and drove down to see what their assessment was. At first they said just new hinges and some touch up where the panels rubbed. He offered to take the vehicle to his tech to see if the door could be adjusted to where we could actually use it for the time being. A couple minutes later he drove it back up and the door alignment looked really good...I was surprised they could adjust it that well with bent hinges! But he said after his tech laid eyes on it they will need to order a new door along with the hinges and do some panel blending, so looking at the end of the month before it can even get into the shop. With that said there was pretty much nothing but Teslas in their lot and they were awesome to get the door usable again, so I would recommend them thus far just based on that first visit!

Interested to hear you went down the insurance route. Did you try to file a warranty claim with Tesla? IMO, the door should not flex and cause damage when opened quickly.

 

[jeffnhelen]

This is a continued discussion from a few years ago. The consensus was the doors operate well in most conditions, but in high and extreme wind conditions it becomes a manual process. Even with regular doors on most vehicles -- hold on when opening and they are harder to close against the wind -- vice/versa in opposite wind direction. Tesla didn't change physics.

@Aljohn agreed, but the self presenting door does throw a wrench into the mix since hands are not needed to open/hold onto the door in the first place.

 

[jeffnhelen]

@VikH I would assume that it will be tough to get this under a warranty claim as the strength of the wind is kind of an undocumented variable. At some point they will say it’s outside of the engineered design. With that said I have not had another vehicle do this, but again claiming it didn’t perform to industry “standards” might be a stretch as well.

 

[SSonnentag]

For what it's worth, Service King here in Scottsdale, AZ did a wonderful job repairing my S.