What are the odds the falcon wing doors can operate flawlessly for 200K+ miles?

[calisnow]

I would really like my next Tesla to be a Model X rather than another Model S.

But all my experience with complex automatic convertible tops has been that they eventually fail and require adjustment/replacement of various sensors and actuators.

Do you think the Model X doors are better? I am picturing a desert camping trip 8 years and 200,000 miles from now where one of the doors gets stuck somehow, several hundred miles from anywhere.

 

[omarsultan]

My guess is the mechanism should be fine, but I would expect the seals will need replacing before you hit 200K miles. I know there are horror stories out there, but I have had good experiences with both our S and X.

 

[McManX]

I'm 10% of the way there, no problems yet.

 

[Saghost]

How often do you hear about automatic rear liftgates failing or needing adjustment? I'm pretty sure Tesla's using basically the same actuators (though two sets of them.)

The long term durability/reliability of the doors is one of my bigger concerns, but I think it's entirely plausible that they could hold up pretty well.

The convertible top style hydraulic doors are the ones Tesla refused to accept, one of the causes for the delay - Tesla said they weren't reliable enough, leaked fluid, and sagged in the lawsuit.

 

[calisnow]

How often do you hear about automatic rear liftgates failing or needing adjustment? I'm pretty sure Tesla's using basically the same actuators (though two sets of them.)

Fair enough - I've had two cars with 10+ years of automatic lift gate use. The MBZ did get wonky and failure prone toward the end of its tenure as my car. But my Infiniti QX56 liftgate is going on 13 years and 245,000 miles and has never failed once.

 

[goneskiian]

Slim to none!

 

[Martin VanB]

I am not sure, are you planning on continuously opening and closing them while driving for $200,000 miles? If that is what you meant, not likely.

 

[EV Family]

I actually brought this very question up to the SC when taking delivery in May and the advisor said something along the lines of, the doors have been tested through hundreds of thounsands and actuations and are expected to perform for many years without an issue.
Now real life uses, (unlike lab tests you see inside IKEA stores with machines putting pressure on sofa's over and over again) may play out differently. Consider the extremes in the elements, extreme heat, cold, snow and ice which can all cause many of the internal workings to wear out quicker.
It doesn't really answer your question as no one really knows but personally we have 2 kids in car seats in our second row and open and have opened and closed them 5+ times a day seven days a week since May. So we've operated each door about 750 times since May with no real issues besides the software glitch most faced with false obstacle detection early on.
My gut says it will have issues well before 200k miles (we're 10k miles in) but hopefully the issues will be all caught before the 50k warranty expires and new parts by then will make the hardware more bullet proof for the remaining 50k miles after the warranty expires that we plan on driving it.

 

[EV-lutioin]

At this point I have complete confidence the MX doors. When I first received my car I was concerned about them hitting things and I was worried about using them too much, but they have been so flawless for so long now that I don't even think about them anymore.... except I have to admit sometimes I still think about how awesome they are.