The dreaded "door handle won't present."

[bmah]

That's good to hear. Does it have the actual cost printed on the paperwork, just to get a reference for when the car goes off warranty?

Unfortunately no, the cost isn't there.

I forgot to mention that during the time I was waiting, someone else came in to pick up an S with a door handle problem, and he and his service advisor were also talking about some problem with his charging port that they by chance happened to find while they were fixing the door handle.

Bruce.

 

[P85DBeast]

My door handle failures:
1st- At 9k Miles
2nd- At 24k Miles
3rd- At 78k Miles

Weirdly that this happened to all other door's except the passenger door! Which keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[apacheguy]

Is there a DIY fix similar to other door handle issues?

 

[nwdiver]

My door handle failures:
1st- At 9k Miles
2nd- At 24k Miles
3rd- At 78k Miles

Weirdly that this happened to all other door's except the passenger door! Which keeping my fingers crossed!

I must have really lucked out with my car... ~98k miles; original DU and all 4 original door handles...

 

[bmah]

My door handle failures:
1st- At 9k Miles
2nd- At 24k Miles
3rd- At 78k Miles

Weirdly that this happened to all other door's except the passenger door! Which keeping my fingers crossed!

OK this is a weird question but after reading your sig I just have to ask: Are those door handle failures all on one car or is that across your entire Tesla squadron?

Is there a DIY fix similar to other door handle issues?

I'm not sure, since I'm not sure what exactly the issue was (i.e. broken wire vs. something mechanical). I do remember reading something on one of the other threads about someone opening up the door to try fixing it (which I was not brave enough to do).

Bruce.

 

[scottm]

I wrote the DIY for handles that present but door doesn't open when pulled, and how to fix the micro switches. Found here..

I'd also like to know if someone has done any DIY fix for handles that don't present.

Knowing what I know about how the handles work.. I can think of a few possibilities and reasons as to why this might fail this way.

Would love to collaborate with any person who is able to get the problem fixed by any SC that is able to make it work again, without having to replace the whole unit. .... then, there's DIY potential for us to fix our own when it happens.

I mean, the most obvious reason would be "unit not receiving power". .. and it grows from there.

 

[Maximapolak]

Hopefully they changed something for the 2016+

Can you claim lemon law if the handles keep failing?

 

[scottm]

Hopefully they changed something for the 2016+

Can you claim lemon law if the handles keep failing?

Lemon for this? .. that's pushing it. But maybe Tesla could do a 'silent campaign' ... but we've seen them already charging for this on out-of-warranty cars so there's no official campaign (yet). They've probably done a few on goodwill. Lemon Law is not the right attitude to get a goodwill fix.


2016 has already been a long year, can anybody with a 16 report on failure to open when pulled or failure to present? These probably hit hardest in cold weather countries when the wires become more inflexible. Like for me in Canada. So we're just going into their first "season" for those 16's...

We'll know soon enough if Tesla has changed the design.

(The "design fix" would be: mount the switches on the non-moving parts.)

 

[bmah]

I wrote the DIY for handles that present but door doesn't open when pulled, and how to fix the micro switches. Found here..

I'd also like to know if someone has done any DIY fix for handles that don't present.

Knowing what I know about how the handles work.. I can think of a few possibilities and reasons as to why this might fail this way.

Would love to collaborate with any person who is able to get the problem fixed by any SC that is able to make it work again, without having to replace the whole unit. .... then, there's DIY potential for us to fix our own when it happens.

I mean, the most obvious reason would be "unit not receiving power". .. and it grows from there.

I'm not a hardware guy, but I'm pretty sure in my case it wasn't "unit not receiving power" (which I agree sounds like an obvious first explanation). When my door handle stopped presenting, I could hear a whirring sound running more-or-less continuously, I presume it's from the motor that normally would push the handle out. Also the light on the underside of the door handle was on (I could see the light from around the edge of the door handle).

Bruce.

 

[Zaphod]

I wrote the DIY for handles that present but door doesn't open when pulled, and how to fix the micro switches. Found here..

I'd also like to know if someone has done any DIY fix for handles that don't present.

Knowing what I know about how the handles work.. I can think of a few possibilities and reasons as to why this might fail this way.

Would love to collaborate with any person who is able to get the problem fixed by any SC that is able to make it work again, without having to replace the whole unit. .... then, there's DIY potential for us to fix our own when it happens.

I mean, the most obvious reason would be "unit not receiving power". .. and it grows from there.

I doubt any service center will try to fix a failed handle. It is much quicker and easier to replace the whole assembly. I like to tinker myself and thought about buying used one on ebay just to play with, but looks like they are still going for decent money to spend just to play with

 

[scottm]

I doubt any service center will try to fix a failed handle. It is much quicker and easier to replace the whole assembly. I like to tinker myself and thought about buying used one on ebay just to play with, but looks like they are still going for decent money to spend just to play with

Cast your doubts aside. SC (a Ranger actually) did a whole replace on handle #1 (the first to go) then for two more following that, they tinkered with replacement parts (switches) on the existing handles and put them back in. I witnessed all of this and is about the same time to do, maybe 5 minutes more for the "fix" method ... but this is not a dominant factor in the whole job time. A new handle involved moving the chrome cover plate over, a re-use skips that step (they just leave it on). So it's kind of a wash in time.

Tesla is doing parts kits because it's cheaper. On the fourth handle, I did it myself... because I watched them all get resolved in detail.

There's probably a guy in SC on a bench doing local refurbishment of the pulls... for putting them back into the next car with a failure. .. like why not? These things are otherwise well-built and very sturdy. A million in-out cycles of the handle... probably, I'm not worried and wouldn't be if I got a used one. (Only "cool" if SC charged the reburb / parts and labour price ~$170 for the used part... and not the full ding of a new handle ~$1000)

I have a spare working handle... I've fixed it (switches) and is ready for me to put in my car, if needed. Or on the front of a beer fridge... if I want a really cool handle on the beer fridge. New meaning for Love Handle.

The ones you find on ebay, if you're not careful can be really old generation stuff... first round and behave a bit physically different than handles of the last couple of years at least when they had a redesign. But just to play with, why not?... if it's dirt cheap

 

[P85DBeast]

OK this is a weird question but after reading your sig I just have to ask: Are those door handle failures all on one car or is that across your entire Tesla squadron?



I'm not sure, since I'm not sure what exactly the issue was (i.e. broken wire vs. something mechanical). I do remember reading something on one of the other threads about someone opening up the door to try fixing it (which I was not brave enough to do).

Bruce.

All on one car which was the first Model S and that is my P85D! My wife's car has all original handles.

 

[P85DBeast]

I must have really lucked out with my car... ~98k miles; original DU and all 4 original door handles...

You are lucky!

 

[bmah]

That's good to hear. Does it have the actual cost printed on the paperwork, just to get a reference for when the car goes off warranty?

Follow-up: Someone else just got this fixed out-of-warranty:

Model S door handel failure

Bruce.

 

[WATTS-UP]

My bitch with Tesla is that it now takes days if not a week or so to get anything done and I can't just take it to may local garage.
My Tesla service center will not give me the diagrams for the door handle so it's not a DIY. My hope is that a couple of Tesla's service
employees will go out on there own and start a garage servicing Tesla's, a little competition is allways good.

 

[Duckjybe]

I have a feeling my drivers side rear door handle is about to go. It makes a funny metallic sound when opening now. Has anyone else noticed a weird sound before imminent failure?

I had this issue and last time it was in for service I had them look in to it and they lubricated the springs. It doesn't make noise anymore.

 

[scottm]

My bitch with Tesla is that it now takes days if not a week or so to get anything done and I can't just take it to may local garage.
My Tesla service center will not give me the diagrams for the door handle so it's not a DIY. My hope is that a couple of Tesla's service
employees will go out on there own and start a garage servicing Tesla's, a little competition is allways good.

Moscow Tesla Service Center is rogue. Non-authorized.

 

[DanielFriederich]

Since two days I have the same thing with my drivers door handle.It won't open up with the fob or by slightly pressing the handle. But it will open when the door is opened from inside. It's so strange. Appointment next Wednesday at Frankfurt. Let's see how they "handle" it ....

 

[scottm]

Since two days I have the same thing with my drivers door handle.It won't open up with the fob or by slightly pressing the handle. But it will open when the door is opened from inside. It's so strange. Appointment next Wednesday at Frankfurt. Let's see how they "handle" it ....

We're all curious... please report back when / how it is solved.

 

[CalBlue 85D]

I'm not a hardware guy, but I'm pretty sure in my case it wasn't "unit not receiving power" (which I agree sounds like an obvious first explanation). When my door handle stopped presenting, I could hear a whirring sound running more-or-less continuously, I presume it's from the motor that normally would push the handle out. Also the light on the underside of the door handle was on (I could see the light from around the edge of the door handle).

Bruce.

My 85D is doing the exact same thing. What was the ultimate fix, new handle or part replacement?

Thanks.