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Tesla Claims Warranty is Void Due to Aftermarket Puddle Lights

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tesla made changing this out harder than it has to be, and if you want that light thingie, you have to spend extra effort (or someone does). thank tesla for not knowing that inline circuits can fail and YOU NEVER DERIVE CURRENT GROUNDS *THRU* CIRCUITS.

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If you mean installing aftermarket puddle lights, not so. It's pretty simple actually. Pull out the OEM, disconnect the decently designed connector, plug the connector in the the new unit, and snap the assembly back in.

I've had fuses harder to replace than those puddle lights
 
I would love to have a full wiring schematic for the MY... it probably more closely resembles the internal traces of a multi-core CPU vs. an automobile. BMW is just as bad as Tesla when it comes to over-complicating their vehicles. Their wiring systems (and VANOS system) is a mess.
harnesses are still wire and auto-grade connectors. I hate it, but they still use a lot of the 'old proven tech'.

over time, everyone is collapsing CAN into ethernet so that helps. discrete wires will go away and be message-based over a network and translated to relays/lights only at the destination ecu break-out.

tesla also changes their car when ever they want, so a stable schematic and body layout may be a whole set of files. probably very messy. glad I'm not fixing teslas (seriously).
 
If you mean installing aftermarket puddle lights, not so. It's pretty simple actually. Pull out the OEM, disconnect the decently designed connector, plug the connector in the the new unit, and snap the assembly back in.

I've had fuses harder to replace than those puddle lights
no, I most certainly did NOT mean 'installing'.

my post was all about the fact that the designer of the car and the designers of those lights are both idiots.

nothing about the skill of the owner. not relevant since its the design (both sides) that are faulty.
 
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Does anyone have experience with trying to open a door that doesnt retract a window ? How hard is it ? I dont want to try it as i dont want to break my window, or window frame but I seriously wonder how hard it would be for someone stuck inside a burning or sinking vehicle who is half incapacitated from crash to force the door open when the window is stuck in the roof ? This seems like a giant lawsuit waiting to happen...
Don't think this happened in the past with the rear door (there is no mechanical release), but before they did a software update to drop the window down also with the front mechanical release, it used to be the window would not drop down when you opened with the mechanical release. All that does is damage the trim, I haven't heard of people not being able to get out.
 
I suspect this design is a conscious decision. It is very unlikely some inexperienced engineer or half-ass optimization software blindly saw the 100% correlation between the door close sensor and puddle light and prematurely optimized the wiring this way and it slipped through review and QA. If this doesn't pass us armchair critics, it wouldn't pass the 100s of ingenious Tesla engineers.

I think it is probably a calculated risk taken by Tesla as an effort to reduce costs. In this case, the real safety risk associated with this design is very low (although we could identify some edge cases, they aren't anything more dangerous than running over a nail). Roughly speaking, if this design can result in just $1 cost saving per car in parts and labours, and the puddle lights have 1 failure in 1000 cars post delivery (which sounds quite high for LEDs on DC circuits), and the failure will result in a $400 warranty repair (OP had to pay CA$460 so this is also a generous estimation), we can do the math: saving of $1000 at a cost of $400 - net gain is $600 cost saving per 1000 cars. I'm sure the actual cost saving to Tesla is more than this because the saved cost could be more, the failure rate can be lower, rear glasses are cheaper. and not every puddle light failure will result in broken glass.
Ok I guess I see where it could just be a cost saving measure. Did you factor into the $10000 saving what litigation would cost if someone dies inside a vehicle trying to get out though? Ill venture a guess that’s a few million and a lot of bad press ? If this issue impacts egress AT ALL, which it could be argued it does, they have opened up a potential for a major lawsuit. If they lose 1 lawsuit like that, they will be facing more since precedent has been set. Risky position to be in over such a small saving

I also don’t understand fully why it would cost anything more to just do it right to begin with
 
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Ok I guess I see where it could just be a cost saving measure. Did you factor into the $10000 saving what litigation would cost if someone dies inside a vehicle trying to get out though? Ill venture a guess that’s a few million and a lot of bad press ? If this issue impacts egress AT ALL, which it could be argued it does, they have opened up a potential for a major lawsuit. If they lose 1 lawsuit like that, they will be facing more since precedent has been set. Risky position to be in over such a small saving

I also don’t understand fully why it would cost anything more to just do it right to begin with
I may not be 100% accurate, but a frameless car door unable to lower the window is likely not a major safety concern in regulator's point of view. Otherwise we will see tons of earning labels, backup manual window lowering mechanisms and possibly glass hammers equipped in every car with a frameless door.

Remember, door open/close sensors are not magically more reliable than a LED. The sensors and the wiring to the sensors can fail and result in the same misbehaving windows. As long as the worst case scenario is the same, potential law suits are not a deciding factor for this design.
 
Concerned when I hear this. I'm holsogn off oh a buy until I feel like I knowotw a out what to expect vs quality and service. Haven't heard much good about service.
The service experiences have a lot of variances depending on which service centre you are dealing with, from what I read here in the forums. In my own experience, I've had both mobile service and service centre visits, and both were good. Especially during the service centre visit, when I dropped off the car for wiper and seat issues, I just casually asked if they could also take a look at steering because I suspected it was not centre while going straight. They were able to fit it in for the same day, did a full alignment and addressed the off centre steering together with my other concerns. They took off my after-market mud flaps during the alignment and installed them back correctly and didn't lose the additional metal clips on them.

Also, this was the very same Vancouver service centre where OP went. (There is only one SC in Vancouver).
 
I lol'd when I read this from nhtsa's site.

August 11, 2021 NHTSA ID NUMBER: 11428759
Backing out of garage, the driver began to smell acid and burnt electronics from the back of car. After driving back home from work the driver inspected the car. The back driver side door reeked of burnt electronics and the entire car had an acid smell. After consulting Tesla, the first Tesla maintenance worker noticed the entire inside of the door had melted and all electronics were fried. He claimed he had never seen this before. The second maintenance worker came with parts and determined the window module had overheated and caught fire. The fire melted many components inside the door. A brand new 2021 Tesla Model Y should not spontaneously catch fire. Especially if it is residing inside the garage of a house. After replacing all the components, Tesla deemed the car safe to drive. Yet, a couple days later they requested we bring the car in so that they could replace the computer that controls the left side of the car to do more research and find the 'root' cause of the fire. There were no warnings for the driver, nor was the driver using that window module. We have not driven the car since as we feel unsafe in the vehicle.
 
As I said my aftermarket puddle lights were doing fine for almost a year before it cracked my window albeit it seemed to have a bit of "force" when the window moved up/down on closing/opening , maybe the Aliexpress lights could have a stronger voltage?
 
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.
Um... you just open the phone app and turn on the climate control. Do that before you even walk out to the car and won't ever be an issue.
 
All of this is piss poor and only taking place because Telsa has zero competitors. Its going to be another 5 yrs before the big boys step up the game enough to force Tesla to focus on the service.
Agreed. Great car, the world's worst customer support and service! If another manufacturer made an equivalent vehicle, I'd buy it in a second!
 
I've had the AO ones with the logo since March (when they announced they were discontinuing them) without any problem. I always put the footwell ones at the time. Actually correction. I put in the front ones in March. The rear ones are still ageing on the shelf. I hardly ever use the rear seats so less incentive.
 
I don't believe that for a second. I have seen zero reports of anyone having a failed OEM puddle light. And I haven't seen many reports of broken windows either.
Reviving this thread to say my OEM puddle light failed and the window hit the trim. Luckily the window didn't break and my kid didn't try to slam it shut. Began researching the window not rolling down and came across this thread. Went and checked the puddle light, sure enough it was out. Checked the connection, which was fine, so it looks like the bulb went out. Explained to my wife, who's no electrician, that the window is malfunctioning because of the puddle light and she said what? That seems like a poor design.

So right now, when I open the door, the window comes down slightly to clear the trim as the door swings out, as it should. But then it rolls back up before the door is shut. Can anyone explain like I'm five what is going on between the puddle light and the window motor to make this happen?
 
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