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Is the Model S made for Canadian winters?

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After a few weeks with my new Model S I finally experience a nice frozen morning. I happily turn on my climate control 30 mins before I need to leave. As I'm ready to go I approach my car and hear a *crrunnnchh* as the door handles reach out to meet me, grinding through some ice that's accumulated on the door. As I slowly pull the handle another *crrunnch* as the window inches down to make clearance for the door. The door has a little trouble closing as there's still some ice surrounding the windows, and I'm a little nervous the window will shatter as I close the door. Finally I pull the car into D and notice that that side windows have not folded out to greet me. I put all the defrosting equipment on and leave it for 5 mins or so, and they still will not greet me. I need to put a little muscle into each one to free it before the motors can take over.

Is this a typical winter morning experience with the Model S? I figured shelling out $1700 on the Cold Weather package and having a car that preheats itself would lead to a less ice encumbered experience. Any tips on de-icing to prevent the constant crunching of the automated greetings?

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Chris
 
What the OP describes is certainly similar to my daily experiences. I tend to wash the car every few days, which doesn't help... more water to freeze things shut. As you may or may not be aware, make sure Range Mode is OFF when getting out of the car, so preheating can be as effective as possible (also helps get you some regen). Additionally, consider adjusting the heating controls after turning range mode off: set temp to max/hi, set fan speed to 11, and set airflow to defrost. Then, when you turn climate on from the app, it is as effective as possible.

As already mentioned, turning mirror folding off is a good idea. Does anyone have any thoughts to what kind of wear & tear/damage is done having the mirrors try to move (but fail due to being frozen)? Once the new auto summons is made available to Canada, I'm not sure how wise it will be to use, as it appears to fold in the mirrors regardless of settings, and this is just going to put more stress on the motors if they are frozen.

The car is great, but it is designed and built in California, and time and again, it seems to show that they don't quite get the effects of cold weather on various elements of the car. I'm curious to see if the Model X gets around most of these issues...

The cold weather package is not nearly as 'good' as one might think (keeping in mind I don't have people in the rear seats often, and I got my car before heated steering wheels were offered. Ideally, the cold weather package would include some modifications for the mirrors so they didn't freeze. Not sure what can be done about the windows (thus doors) and handles getting frozen, seems pretty intrinsic to the design of the S.
 
My wife mentioned the crunching sounds of the door handles this morning. She didn't preheat the car, as it was parked in our garage overnight. Our car has 70000 km and 3 winters of driving on it, no signs of any real issues, just interesting sounds.

Have you watched Bjorn Nylands extensive videos on winter driving in a Model S in Norway. He's got over 200,000 km on his car and drove it to the Arctic circle.
Ref:
Bjørn's Tesla Model S videos
 
My Model S is currently enjoying its fourth Canadian winter. No problems.

Yes the windows and door handles tend to get crunchy if you get a car wash at -10C or below. I recommend that you either (a) wash the car on a warmer day, or (b) immediately drive it home and park it in a garage (my garage is unheated but still ends up quite a bit warmer than outdoors).

The door handles are designed to burst through a pretty thick layer of ice, and I've seen them do just that. I did have one occasion after washing the car that one of the handles didn't retract well, but it didn't interfere with the operation of the door and it melted out by the next day.
 
Chris, I'm about 50 kms South of you down in Niagara...we park my wife's Model S in the driveway (since the Roadster gets top billing :wink:)

After 4 winters of parking our Model S's outside the garage, we had the same experience as you did today (with the side mirrors)...first time it has every happened to us.

I think it was just the bad weather of Sunday...lots of rain, and the wind was unable to dry it all up prior to the temperatures fell below freezing...


After a few weeks with my new Model S I finally experience a nice frozen morning. I happily turn on my climate control 30 mins before I need to leave. As I'm ready to go I approach my car and hear a *crrunnnchh* as the door handles reach out to meet me, grinding through some ice that's accumulated on the door. As I slowly pull the handle another *crrunnch* as the window inches down to make clearance for the door. The door has a little trouble closing as there's still some ice surrounding the windows, and I'm a little nervous the window will shatter as I close the door. Finally I pull the car into D and notice that that side windows have not folded out to greet me. I put all the defrosting equipment on and leave it for 5 mins or so, and they still will not greet me. I need to put a little muscle into each one to free it before the motors can take over.

Is this a typical winter morning experience with the Model S? I figured shelling out $1700 on the Cold Weather package and having a car that preheats itself would lead to a less ice encumbered experience. Any tips on de-icing to prevent the constant crunching of the automated greetings?

--
Chris
 
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I haven't had these specific issues but I generally park inside both at home and at work. But I think the Tesla designers should spend some time in places that get snow and ice and use that knowledge in their design - like designing sensors that aren't slush magnets.
 
My Model S is currently enjoying its fourth Canadian winter. No problems.

Fourth winter for me too. No problems, not even with the drop-down windows or door handles. In fact, with its silky smooth power, great traction and immediate cabin heat, I'd say it's better in Canadian winters than any ICE I've owned. No need to "warm up" or deal with rough running ICE engine.
 
Thanks Jaff, I thought that might be the case. Suprisingly the roads weren't too icy this morning, but even my wife's ICE froze half its doors shut. I suppose I was expecting some electric miracles :)

Chris, I'm about 50 kms South of you down in Niagara...we park my wife's Model S in the driveway (since the Roadster gets top billing :wink:)

After 4 winters of parking our Model S's outside the garage, we had the same experience as you did today (with the side mirrors)...first time it has every happened to us.

I think it was just the bad weather of Sunday...lots of rain, and the wind was unable to dry it all up prior to the temperatures fell below freezing...
 
I've been frozen out of an ICE before. Heavy freezing rain. A coworker and I heaved up on my trunk until it finally cracked. That gave us access to my ice scraper, which we used to chip our way into our cars.

The point is, this can happen to any car. Model S performs as well as any. Crunchy sounds aside lol.
 
First winter with my S85D. I really enjoy the pre-heating of the cabin.
My downside with the car:
- Not sure about the design with the windows coming down when opening the doors. They seem to freeze easily and don't roll down at all or by not much. Then, when you open the door, the window hit the chrome part.
- Wiper blades. Ice is building up easily in there. Also, I was used to lift the blades up if freezing rain was coming. Now, I don't think I can do that at all. Since I can't lift them easily, they are hard to clean up.
 
This isn't a typical Canadian Winter. Normally, it's too cold to ever have freezing rain, so there's less ice build up.

The car handles very well in the snow, which is the most important thing for me. However, they easily could and should allow us to activate the wiper, steering-wheel and seat heaters in the app. Remote activation of the rear defroster would also be a big plus.
 
Second winter in Minneapolis (which is north of Toronto, BTW) with my Model S, and aside from the occasional crunchiness, I've had no problem. Last night I had a new one: After visiting my folks for a few hours, in which the MS just sat outside getting cold soaked, the "started" and ran fine, but three of the tire pressure gauges stopped reporting in which freaked the car out a bit. One by one they did come back as the car warmed up during the drive home. Today, after spending the night in the unheated garage and the outside temp dropping to -11F, everything was fine.
 
Driving to Niagara Falls, NY today to get a Powerball ticket ( yes I am crazy ), the camera would not see the painted road lines. Granted, the sun was bright and roads were salty white. I suspected salt film on the windshield in front of the camera. I was hoping the winshield washer would clean it but no cigar. So, took advantage of the cheap ( $ 2.00 ) DIY carwash in Grimsby near the QEW and Voila! all was fine for Autopiloting. Also the US border guy was impressed by the clean car and processed me through in 10 seconds.
 
Yes, the crunching sounds from the door handles and doors are "normal" for this car. As for folding mirrors, I never set them to auto-fold, but I do find they get sticky in the winter from road gunk and from freezing.

Here's a tip for sticky folding mirrors: hit the button to fold or unfold, let them go as far as they can, then quickly hit the button twice to try again from there. That usually gets them to fold or unfold the rest of the way, but it might take one more try. If they are completely frozen from freezing rain or a snap freeze, they might need a manual nudge to get them unstuck. I've never had any permanent issues (burnt-out motor) from them being stuck - once they are freed up, they work fine.
 
- Not sure about the design with the windows coming down when opening the doors. They seem to freeze easily and don't roll down at all or by not much. Then, when you open the door, the window hit the chrome part.

Pretty much every car with frameless windows I've seen does the little drop down when you open the door to allow the window to clear the seals as the door is opened. Nothing unique to Tesla here. So far (4th winter) I have not had any freezing or sticking problems.

- Wiper blades. Ice is building up easily in there. Also, I was used to lift the blades up if freezing rain was coming. Now, I don't think I can do that at all. Since I can't lift them easily, they are hard to clean up.

Yeah, that is something they could have done better. It's a real pain to try and clear snow/slush/ice from the area where the wipers park, and you can't stand the wipers up to aid in cleaning or to prevent freezing. The best you can do is leave the car with the wipers in "Service Mode" if you remember, but they still might freeze to the glass. At least it's easier to unstick them from that position.
 
Every day I drive an ICE for work, and every day I think about how much better it would be in the Tesla. The instant heat, the excellent traction control, the smooth power delivery, preheating, never wondering if it will even start.
Is the model s made for Canadian winters? No car is perfect, but I have never seen any other car do Canadian winters better.
 
Every day I drive an ICE for work, and every day I think about how much better it would be in the Tesla. The instant heat, the excellent traction control, the smooth power delivery, preheating, never wondering if it will even start.
Is the model s made for Canadian winters? No car is perfect, but I have never seen any other car do Canadian winters better.
Totally agree! Not perfect but I don't ever want to go back to an ICE.
And you don't need those special iPhone gloves for the touch screen because the cabin is always so warm you don't need to wear gloves.