Tesla Claims Warranty is Void Due to Aftermarket Puddle Lights

[ElectricIAC]

should there be a star there?

(I'll let myself out...)

This guy know what I’m talkin’ about. **

 

[spokey]

Agreed on mileage discussion. Real world is 0.7x epa. In winter it’s 0.5x epa. That was part of a broader push to say everything needs to be EV, however the tech ain’t close to being there.

I have the blue Y puddle lights from AO. The use same plug and fit fine. Can’t see how they could cause issue.

something else has gone on with the OP car that’s not known or being discussed to cause all that

My AO puddles came with extensions and I used them. Maybe I could have connected them without but it was real tight

I also put in the AO footwell lights. Need to remember that perhaps

 

[a2t2]

I don’t have a problem with window opening and closing with the door opening and closing, a lot of cars do that and it’s slick. I’ve just never seen a frameless design where the window actually would bang on the door frame if something failed in that electric open/close system. This could of been prevented with a simple mechanical stop in the window reg and perhaps redesign of the way the upper window seals. Are all the Tesla cars like this and are people smashing a lot of windows ? Interesting the tech knew to look at the puddle light, he’s obviously seen this before

i said before Tesla warranty shouldn’t cover it but maybe they should ? It’s such a stupid design and do they specifically warn people This could happen ? I think they are actually negligent even with an aftermarket puddle lamp. Not that it matters now as he’s fixed it already but that’s a hell of a lot of damage for something that shouldn’t even be a
Potential problem in the first place

 

[ps134]

Wow you are exactly right. Jeez what a crazy design. If you unplug the puddle light (or it’s plug somehow fails) then the window not only goes up, it goes up PAST the window frame ! So if you try to close the door like that, you smash the window against the frame at the top front. That’s insane ive never seen that.

now I get why they denied the claim. If your aftermarket puddle lamp failed or wasn’t plugged in right that will smash the glass when you try to close it.

learned something new today. Doubt you will get that covered and if it ever happens to me I’ll be sure to swap out the puddle lamp back to oem before visiting the service center. Also will visually make sure the glass is retracted every time I shut the door just in case. Man it does that for all 4 doors ??

What if oem puddle lamp burns out? Do you smash the glass closing the door ?

op - what was the condition of the aftermarket puddle lamp then?? Was it unplugged or fried ? Where did you buy it ? Are you back to using oem ?

this is a dangerous design. I wonder why the heck they do that. Maybe they want the glass tucked up under the frame for aero ?

Aftermarket puddle lights were from Aliexpress.com, China made. But even those from Amazon are likely made in China. They are fine, working faultlessly for 17 months between the previous M3 then to the Y. But if owners have to check all the windows every time, it's not worth the effort to install Aftermarket products. So I put back the OEM

 

[ps134]

I don’t have a problem with window opening and closing with the door opening and closing, a lot of cars do that and it’s slick. I’ve just never seen a frameless design where the window actually would bang on the door frame if something failed in that electric open/close system. This could of been prevented with a simple mechanical stop in the window reg and perhaps redesign of the way the upper window seals. Are all the Tesla cars like this and are people smashing a lot of windows ? Interesting the tech knew to look at the puddle light, he’s obviously seen this before

i said before Tesla warranty shouldn’t cover it but maybe they should ? It’s such a stupid design and do they specifically warn people This could happen ? I think they are actually negligent even with an aftermarket puddle lamp. Not that it matters now as he’s fixed it already but that’s a hell of a lot of damage for something that shouldn’t even be a
Potential problem in the first place

I have an old sport car also framless with brighter aftermarket courtesy lights, been 4 years now and zero issue

 

[Wennfred]

March 2019 Model 3 SR+ … installed puddle lights in April 2019, now 28k miles with window issues.

Fred

 

[ps134]

Aftermarket puddle lights were from Aliexpress.com, China made. But even those from Amazon are likely made in China. They are fine, working faultlessly for 17 months between the previous M3 then to the Y. But if owners have to check all the windows every time, it's not worth the effort to install Aftermarket products. So I put back the OEM

Another issue, Tesla told me they did a reset of something, likely the whole car. We drove home and listened the radio. Then today, 3 days later, I tried to access my USB music folders, all wiped out. Fortunately I have most of them still on my computer. Imagine if I find that out right at Tesla service center... a free coupon for Starbucks?

 

[a2t2]

So regarding the op window issue, all Tesla did was replace the glass ? Nothing else ? Did they reinstall the aftermarket puddle light or an oem puddle light ? I’m still not understanding what caused the glass to malfunction. Was the aftermarket puddle light unplugged or damaged ? I agree all those puddle lights are made in China, I’ve never had issues with my AO ones and I’ve got them in all 4 doors but now I’m scared…

does anyone know of another vehicle that has frameless windows that auto up/down into a channel in the roof ?

my 911 did that but didn’t fit into a channel in the roof, the door glass just pressed against a seal horizontally so if anything electronic failed you could open and close the door no issue.

what happens in a crash or if you drive into a lake and the electric system shorts out? Then you can’t open the door since the glass is stuck in the roof channel ? That sounds super sketchy and Ill thought. I can’t believe they would design like that, electronics will always fail eventually

 

[slink]

I believe there are threads somewhere on here where a person lived in a cold weather city and had freezing rain one night. He went to his car in the morning and could not get in due to the ice on the window not allowing the window to lower. If someone is home when this happens not that big of a deal. Imagine you are traveling and that happens. Where are you going to get a hair dryer or some other heat source to melt the ice.

 

[Darmie]

Yep, they are leaving the door wide open for another company to do it better. So far no 1 has been able to walk thru that door but i hope it changes.

I see what you did there.

 

[Spidey616]

what happens in a crash or if you drive into a lake and the electric system shorts out? Then you can’t open the door since the glass is stuck in the roof channel ? That sounds super sketchy and Ill thought. I can’t believe they would design like that, electronics will always fail eventually

There's a manual release to all the doors. The door will open just fine without the glass moving. If you use the manual release the car notifies you of that and tells you not to do it often as it can lead to damage to the window trim.

My understanding is that Tesla moves the window because their design for the glass would damage the window trim if they didn't. I wager someone decided to do that because it looked cool or something to that effect.

 

[Darmie]

are we seriously thinking a current draw difference on the order of .001 amps would cause this ? someone put a volt meter on oem vs aftermarket, im guessing the difference is negligible

From reading the rest of the thread it appears that's all it takes.

Also it seemed that when I connected the aftermarket puddle lights, the windows moved up with more force, in this case, Tesla might have a point

I wonder if these puddle light vendors can be held liable for this type of damage then?

I just want to point out that the OEM puddle lights are useless. They are so dim I didn't even know I had them. The aftermarket ones are significantly brighter. Tesla should just start selling an eom upgrade with logo. I'd buy it.

I guess we know now why Tesla uses these crappy lights. I do think Tesla is missing the mark on aftermarket items. People want a reliable place to buy stuff for their car. When I read about abstract oceans getting a cease and desist order, I thought maybe Tesla would start selling some merchandising.

I believe there are threads somewhere on here where a person lived in a cold weather city and had freezing rain one night. He went to his car in the morning and could not get in due to the ice on the window not allowing the window to lower. If someone is home when this happens not that big of a deal. Imagine you are traveling and that happens. Where are you going to get a hair dryer or some other heat source to melt the ice.

This may be still be an issue however with schedule departure and a app control over climate, pre heating the vehicle should resolve these concerns.

 

[spokey]

Interesting thread, but I have to say when you are spending what it takes to purchase....say a MYLR, you should expect the same level of quality and service if you purchased any other luxury SUV. That certainly should be the goal, and no excuses. And if there is a gap (and lets be clear, there is) it should be addressed at all levels of the enterprise.

The 'problem' if that the the correct terminology is that Tesla can't fill the orders they already have, so it will delay dealing with the underlying weakness in the product offering and support systems. It is way easier to implement processes and procedures when the company is small; not so easy when huge.

Without fixing these issues, it will provide an opportunity for others to catch up and surpass; we have seen this time and again in similar and other industries.

That's your faulty think there. It's an expensive compact SUV. It's not a luxury SUV. At least not in the sense that most people think of luxury (i.e. Mercedes, BMW, Maserati, etc)

 

[a2t2]

There are 2 discussions crossing here...we should just keep this on the puddle lights issue and move the "service is bad" rant to some of the other 1,000 or so posts already on here. I do agree the service is bad ... but this isnt a service issue -- its a design flaw issue.

I'll bet there is some intelligence in the puddle lamp circuit - its probably measuring the amp draw and will shut off the circuit via electrically controlled fuse if the circuit draws too much current (ie, light bulb or wire shorted to ground). I imagine that limit is much higher than the aftermarket puddle lamp would ever draw under normal circumstances. It also seems to shut off the circuit if the light is unplugged or circuit is interrupted (ie, light bulb burns out or wire/connector wiggles loose). Im just thinking out loud here so let me know your thoughts ...

That just seems like a really bad idea to me. To open or close the doors, there MUST be functioning electric puddle lamps that dont draw too much or too little current. And, the electric window regulator and all its 1,000 parts must also be functioning correctly. Otherwise its difficult if not impossible to ingress or egress the vehicle. Thats effin crazy ! You do know light bulbs and window regulators die at some point on 100% of every vehicle ever made, right ? And so whats the effect of that failure mode ?

Regarding comment made above if its possible to actually open the door without the window electrically lowering slightly ... are you sure thats possible without alot of force/breaking the window ? I know there is a mechanical release on the arm rest but all that would do is unlatch the lock. The top of the window would still be engaged a good distance into that metal upper roof frame. I bet it would require alot of force to actually open a door when the window didnt drop down... i hope someone isnt drowning or burning while they are having to fight the door to open

this sounds like an incredible liability issue they have designed into something as simple as a car window.

 

[spokey]

I believe there are threads somewhere on here where a person lived in a cold weather city and had freezing rain one night. He went to his car in the morning and could not get in due to the ice on the window not allowing the window to lower. If someone is home when this happens not that big of a deal. Imagine you are traveling and that happens. Where are you going to get a hair dryer or some other heat source to melt the ice.

any hotel I've stayed this century (and some have been pretty shady) have had hair dryers. Getting it plugged where your car is may be a different matter

 

[Pianewman]

Regarding comment made above if its possible to actually open the door without the window electrically lowering slightly ... are you sure thats possible without alot of force/breaking the window ? I know there is a mechanical release on the arm rest but all that would do is unlatch the lock. The top of the window would still be engaged a good distance into that metal upper roof frame. I bet it would require alot of force to actually open a door when the window didnt drop down... i hope someone isnt drowning or burning while they are having to fight the door to open

this sounds like an incredible liability issue they have designed into something as simple as a car window.

It doesn't require excessive force to manually open a MY window. I've had inattentive passengers do this on my car once or twice. Fortunately I stopped them prior to them shutting the door with the extended window.

As for a previous post about windows getting iced into the roof channel. Tesla has solve this problem by automatically lowering all windows approx. 1/4" when the temps drop near freezing, The seal still functions, keeping water out, but the glass isn't getting frozen inside the channel.

 

[a2t2]

It doesn't require excessive force to manually open a MY window. I've had inattentive passengers do this on my car once or twice. Fortunately I stopped them prior to them shutting the door with the extended window.

As for a previous post about windows getting iced into the roof channel. Tesla has solve this problem by automatically lowering all windows approx. 1/4" when the temps drop near freezing, The seal still functions, keeping water out, but the glass isn't getting frozen inside the channel.

when your passengers mistakenly opened the door mechanically, was the electrical system functioning ? As in, did the window roll down slightly and disengage the frame ? The window will still auto roll down slightly once the door mechanically unlatches if the elec system is working . What Im saying is what happens when the elec system isnt working ? Dead battery or DC/DC converter, blown or shorted light bulb, ect ... and the window DOESNT auto roll down slightly when door is mechanically opened ?

 

[linux-works]

I believe there are threads somewhere on here where a person lived in a cold weather city and had freezing rain one night. He went to his car in the morning and could not get in due to the ice on the window not allowing the window to lower. If someone is home when this happens not that big of a deal. Imagine you are traveling and that happens. Where are you going to get a hair dryer or some other heat source to melt the ice.

man, that could be a real pisser.

hey, wait a minute.

nah. perish the thought!

 

[Pianewman]

when your passengers mistakenly opened the door mechanically, was the electrical system functioning ? As in, did the window roll down slightly and disengage the frame ? The window will still auto roll down once the door unlatches if the elec system is working . What Im saying is what happens when the elec system isnt work ? Dead battery or DC/DC converter, blown or shorted light bulb, ect ... ??

When I said "manual", I was talking about the manual latch on the lower part of the door handle. It is NOT electric, and the windows do NOT open at all. It is meant to be used as an emergency release. The force of opening the door forces the window laterally out of the upper seal. It's important to slightly open the window prior to closing the door with the window in its full up position.

I believe there are threads somewhere on here where a person lived in a cold weather city and had freezing rain one night. He went to his car in the morning and could not get in due to the ice on the window not allowing the window to lower. If someone is home when this happens not that big of a deal. Imagine you are traveling and that happens. Where are you going to get a hair dryer or some other heat source to melt the ice.

Tesla isn't alone with the frameless design. Tesla is getting around the problem by automatically opening the windows 1/4" when temps are at or below freezing.

 

[a2t2]

When I said "manual", I was talking about the manual latch on the lower part of the door handle. It is NOT electric, and the windows do NOT open at all. It is meant to be used as an emergency release. The force of opening the door forces the window laterally out of the upper seal. It's important to slightly open the window prior to closing the door with the window in its full up position.

Not true - When you manually unlatch the door, it also rolls down the window slightly (if the electrical system is working properly)

Go try it.

So my question remains, will it be possible to open a door (using somewhat normal force) without the electric roll down system working ?