Service Question

[FlexD]

I recently bought a pre-owned 2013 MS60. It came with about 64K miles on it.

Recently, my passenger side front door will open itself when the car is pushed in park. It doesn't open far, perhaps an inch or so. It's more of annoyance than anything else. I read the forums pretty extensively about the issue, and it seems there was a faulty handle on some of the '13 MS. I called up my local service center to set up an appointment to have it fixed.

I knew my warranty had expired, but based on the forums I read, this was more of a Tesla malfunction than customer. So, I was surprised to hear that the handle would cost me $963 to repair. Am I being a selfish brat thinking Tesla should fix it for free since it is apparently a manufacturing issue? They offered me free labor, but I still took the car home to think about it. I love Tesla, and that will never change, I just hate to spend nearly $1,000 on a door handle issue that's an annoyance more than anything else.

Just curious to get anyone's thoughts on it. Thanks in advance.

 

[daniel]

If it was a known issue, Tesla should pay. If the handle was faulty when the car was built, Tesla should pay. If they won't, and it only happens when the car is in park, I might not bother fixing it if it was me. But what do you mean by "when the car is pushed in park"? You put the car in park and then try to push it? Or do you mean when you put the car into park after driving it?

Just based on what you said, I think Tesla should repair the car for free. They are not liable to fix accidental damage, or normal wear items. But manufacturing defects should be fixed for free. In fact, if it's a known issue, there should have been a recall. A thousand bucks to fix a door handle seems excessive to me. (Some things are better done the old-fashioned way. Computerizing everything sometimes just makes problems.)

 

[mbhforum]

Being a known issue (common amongst Tesla customers and discussed in the forums) is different than an official recall. This is why car manufacturers are careful when issuing recalls because then they are now replacing parts for customers years later for annoyances and not critical issues.

That being said, It would be a nice gesture for Tesla to fix this for you on their dime, but I don't think legally you have any leg to stand on. Tesla is marketed by other customers for being cheap to maintain, but when you do actually have repairs, they end up being costly. Since the Model S is only 5 years old, it's hard to really measure the cost of owning one for an average owner as there simply isn't enough data for folks out of warranty and long term.

If it's annoyance, I would definitely not spend $1,000 to fix it.

 

[Az_Rael]

You might dig around the DIY door handle threads and see if it's something you could tackle yourself vs paying Tesla to do.


Tesla would have to officially acknowledge it as a recall or more likely a customer service program (sometimes referred to as a hidden warranty). Until that happens you will be paying out of pocket even if it is a known issue. We had a transmission fail on a Honda once out of warranty. It was a well known issue and pretty common, but because Honda hadn't acknowledged it officially we still had to pay for the replacement. Luckily, we had a 3rd party extended warranty so we filed a claim on that, otherwise it would have cost us $4k.

 

[brkaus]

You might dig around the DIY door handle threads and see if it's something you could tackle yourself vs paying Tesla to do.


Tesla would have to officially acknowledge it as a recall or more likely a customer service program (sometimes referred to as a hidden warranty). Until that happens you will be paying out of pocket even if it is a known issue. We had a transmission fail on a Honda once out of warranty. It was a well known issue and pretty common, but because Honda hadn't acknowledged it officially we still had to pay for the replacement. Luckily, we had a 3rd party extended warranty so we filed a claim on that, otherwise it would have cost us $4k.

I have one of those Honda transmissions. I also have the BMW "service bulletin" on the coils on my BMW 330ci, that expired (whatever that means) right before my ignition coils on my 330ci failed.

I've watched the videos and such. If your handy, this could be fixed. It's likely a shorted/broken wire or switch.

Edit to add link -
Fix your door that won't open