Door Handles: My Tesla S gives me the cold shoulder when I leave it in the cold

[brianman]

A suggestion would be to pick up a small butane torch ($15.00) at a Home Depot, and keep it handy. You can heat up the outer handle in pinch.

I don't think I want the words 'butane' or 'torch' anywhere near my vehicle.

[Jeeps17]

I asked about the handles yesterday at the Tesla Gallery in Natick. The rep clearly had researched the answer: the heated handles are out, because that added one more thing to break. Instead, Tesla oomphed up the power of the motor that pops out the handles. I was told that the handles can crack through up to 8mm of ice. (One more example of using electric motor torque to good advantage.)

Sounds like they've sent the word around about that one... a Ranger told me the same thing. Sounds like a non-issue. At 8 mm thick you would have serous trouble opening the door even with the handle extended. (It's extremely rare to get that much freezing rain at once, but I did have it happen once. Took half an hour to get into the car.)

That's good news indeed, one less winter issue to worry about.

Next - wipers!

[neroden]

Sounds like they've sent the word around about that one... a Ranger told me the same thing. Sounds like a non-issue. At 8 mm thick you would have serous trouble opening the door even with the handle extended. (It's extremely rare to get that much freezing rain at once, but I did have it happen once. Took half an hour to get into the car.)

I had something like this happen once in Minnesota -- cycles of freezing rain for 12 hours created a single sheet of ice the shape of a car cover. It took 4 hours to deal with. It was probably only 7 mm thick, but I have my doubts that the door handle motors would bust through that, because the sheer width of the ice gave it a lot of structural integrity, and it was pretty much impossible to chip. I had to first *melt* a line out around the edges of the door using a hair dryer (I didn't have a butane torch). Then do the same around the door handle. Note that I could still not open the other car doors, even from the inside, due to the strength of the ice. Then, of course, the car wouldn't start. So, melt a line around the edges of the hood. Call AAA, who injected antifreeze into various parts of the car, and then I was able to start the car and let it melt out.

Luckily I have an indoor garage at the moment. But anyway, if this sort of extreme weather happens to you, and you're not comfortable taking a torch to your car, get an extension cord and a hair dryer; it works eventually.

[AnOutsider]

It was cold out today. Wile I was running errands, I noticed it took a few tries for the door to open when I put my hand in the handle and pulled. Thought it might be my cold skin, but the consensus in this thread seems to be that its pressure-based. Hadn't had this issue before today (and not while it was in the garage earlier,just while parked outside).

[kevincwelch]

It was cold out today. Wile I was running errands, I noticed it took a few tries for the door to open when I put my hand in the handle and pulled. Thought it might be my cold skin, but the consensus in this thread seems to be that its pressure-based. Hadn't had this issue before today (and not while it was in the garage earlier,just while parked outside).

Do you have the firmware that enables auto-extension?

Sent via Tapatalk.

[AnOutsider]

Nope,no 4.0