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Rear Drivers Side Door Pops Opens

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door model 3
19K views 31 replies 9 participants last post by  Kara 
#1 ·
I brought my Model 3 into a Service Center in Rocklin, CA (Sacramento Area) and was very happy with my experience. My family purchased three Pearl White Model 3s. My dad purchased his with Autopilot and Premium Package. My brother and I purchased without Autopilot, but with Premium Package. We are all very happy with our purchases. All three cars are great. I ran into an interesting issue with mine. It turns out that there is something going on possibly with the actuator for the drivers side left rear door. On two, possibly three occasions this door will pop open on it's own. The first couple of times, I wasn't aware of it until I walked back up to the car and noticed the door slightly cracked open. The last time, the car was parked in my garage and the alarm was engaged. I was in the family room and heard the car alarm blaring, so I looked at my Tesla app on my iPhone and confirmed that the same door was open again. I called Technical Support and they gathered all the logs from the car and created a ticket for the issue. They recommended that I visit my local Tesla Service Center, so I did. I brought the car in and they gathered the information from me and was also surprised by what I had told them. They put everything together, did a walk around on my car. I asked if I would be getting a loaner car and I was pleasantly surprised. The loaner that was provided was a beautiful Silver Model S. I'll take it.

I wanted to check in and see if anyone here has had this experience. If so let me know. I'm curious to hear what existing issues are coming up.
 
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#2 ·
Curious if you could give a quick follow up on this. Do you know what they ever did or determined was wrong? What did they do to fix the problem?
 
#6 ·
I brought my Model 3 into a Service Center in Rocklin, CA (Sacramento Area) and was very happy with my experience. My family purchased three Pearl White Model 3s. My dad purchased his with Autopilot and Premium Package. My brother and I purchased without Autopilot, but with Premium Package. We are all very happy with our purchases. All three cars are great. I ran into an interesting issue with mine. It turns out that there is something going on possibly with the actuator for the drivers side left rear door. On two, possibly three occasions this door will pop open on it's own. The first couple of times, I wasn't aware of it until I walked back up to the car and noticed the door slightly cracked open. The last time, the car was parked in my garage and the alarm was engaged. I was in the family room and heard the car alarm blaring, so I looked at my Tesla app on my iPhone and confirmed that the same door was open again. I called Technical Support and they gathered all the logs from the car and created a ticket for the issue. They recommended that I visit my local Tesla Service Center, so I did. I brought the car in and they gathered the information from me and was also surprised by what I had told them. They put everything together, did a walk around on my car. I asked if I would be getting a loaner car and I was pleasantly surprised. The loaner that was provided was a beautiful Silver Model S. I'll take it.

I wanted to check in and see if anyone here has had this experience. If so let me know. I'm curious to hear what existing issues are coming up.
So we have Vin 65.., 4800 miles and we have been experiencing the same phantom door opening problem many times. It's been happening for approximately eight weeks now. One time was at the airport and the app showed the car door open on the second day of it being parked. Upon return to the airport sure enough the door was open. It's also happened in side our garage while it's charging and while it's not charging. So far it is both the front passenger door and front drivers door. We have a service appointment coming up next week at the Buena Park Service Center. This sounds like software to me.

Have you had any further issues since they changed the parts on your car?
 
#8 ·
Since the door switch was replaced
I haven't had any issues. It took them a while to diagnose because they had to let the car sit and wait for the door to open.
There was a second car here in Dallas that did this just a week or so back. It was a single door. They replaced the inside of the door (the switch isn't sold separately, at least not at this point) and it continued to happen. He went back and they traced the wiring harness from that door back to the BCM/Control module unplugging and replugging each connection. The problem has not returned since.
 
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#12 ·
I might be overstating it a bit but I am the fourth car owner that I've heard of having the same problem. And to have cars randomly unlocking them selves and opening the car, it's a pretty serious problem. Today we experienced something new though, Not only was the car open, the air conditioner was on in the stereo is playing this is after being parked and locked at the grocery store.

In a few weeks we're leaving on vacation for 14 days. With travel time our car will be parked at the airport for 15 days the Tesla battery will be completely dead and the 12 V battery will most likely be dead if the air-conditioner and stereo comes on.
Well it's been in for 2 days at Tesla Buena Park, CA service. "We have no idea what is causing this, we are escalating this."
 
#13 ·
My Quicksilver is starting to have this issue I think. I park on the right side of my garage and this afternoon, when I opened the rear left door to let my son get in so we could run out for an errand and as soon as I closed it and proceed to open the driver door to get in, the rear left door popped open. I thought, weird. This never happened previously. I got out and re-closed it and we went on our way.

When we arrived at our destination, and based on where we parked, I got out and proceed to open the rear right door to let my son out and the rear left door popped open again. I then walked over to the rear left door and re-closed it. It stayed closed.

After our errand was finished, we walked toward the car and I proceed to open the rear left door to let my son in, and closed it. As I opened the driver side door, the rear left door popped open again. This would be the third time this happened.

Once we got home and drove the car into the garage and parked on the right side of the garage, my son opened that phantom rear left door and got out. He ran into the house and I went and closed that phantom door and once again, it popped open...fourth time it popped open in about one-hour time span. Very weird indeed! I went ahead and re-closed it and it stayed closed. Anyone else having this issue recently?

I am going to try and film the phantom opening and then schedule a service center visit. Could be the same faulty door switch issue reported above.
 
#14 ·
Oh no - sorry to hear this is starting. Hope they can diagnose and fix quickly. The SC's are so backed up around here. They got parts in for my horn and sent a text this week, but it was over 10 days out before I could find any appointment.

We just had a new SC open in Tyler this week, 2 hours east, I guess there are quite a few Tesla's in east TX, but I can't imagine that the percentage out that way is anywhere close to the number in the metroplex for just the two SC's we have here. I figure they could get most things done out that way with a Ranger.
 
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#16 ·
I've had the same/similar problem twice now with my 3. Both times it has been the rear passenger door that was open and both times there was no indication in the app or on the display showing that door was ajar. This all happened in the last week or so.

One of the times I was on the freeway and noticed that there was suddenly a lot of wind noise like a window had been opened a tiny bit. When I pulled over the window was retracted the way it does when intentionally opened and I was able to pull open the door without touching the door handle. Has anyone else with this issue also had the same lack of notification or awarness from the car that a door had been opened?
 
#20 ·
Judging by the sound, your latch might need an adjustment.

But I think your door closing effort could also be increased. The rear doors of the Model 3 are not as heavy as some lessor engineered doors and are fairly short from front to back. Less mass and a shorter swing radius means more velocity is needed to compress the rubber door seals and latch.
 
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#19 ·
This is interesting. I'm pretty sure in one case, it was a wiring harness issue. @plankeye (from the Frisco area) which I've not seen on in a long time was one of the first to have this issue. He had it when his car was brand new and it took them a bit to get it figured out.

When this happens does the window drop like it would if someone opened the door with the button or handle from the outside?
 
#26 ·
Update on my SC visit:

Service Tech believes that my RPM puddle lights could be the cause of the rear left door not latching. They said that the lights circuit functions in series with the door so voltage issues of the puddle lights may cause the lack of latching problem. I told them I’ve had the lights for over a year now and have had no issues until this past week. They said a recent update may have caused it. They asked me to reinstall the factory puddle lights (which I saved when I swapped out with RPM) to see if I have the same issues. I’ll play with them this weekend to see if they are the cause.
 
#27 ·
Update on my SC visit:

Service Tech believes that my RPM puddle lights could be the cause of the rear left door not latching. They said that the lights circuit functions in series with the door so voltage issues of the puddle lights may cause the lack of latching problem. I told them I've had the lights for over a year now and have had no issues until this past week. They said a recent update may have caused it. They asked me to reinstall the factory puddle lights (which I saved when I swapped out with RPM) to see if I have the same issues. I'll play with them this weekend to see if they are the cause.
Very interesting. Seems like an easy out for the SC, but as others dig in to this car more it's obvious they've built a tight electrical system and with no fuses, but everything is truly solid state, the circuits are monitored for fluctuations or changes I guess it could be possible.

Does the door only do this when parked? Or has it done it while driving or could it do it while driving?
 
#30 · (Edited)
Unfortunately, a new issue popped up. My profiles along with easy entry no longer work. I talked to the SC before I left and they said to go ahead and erase and re-create all profiles and it should work. I should have done it while at the SC. After several reboot, and recreating profiles, none of the profiles works. No movement of the seats or steering wheels, etc... unfortunately, back to the SC I go.

Update: Just found some info on Reddit... Looks like seat re-calibration is needed...

Rectangle Handwriting Font Art Magenta


Update 2: SC recalibrated both the steering wheel and driver seat. Now all working as expected.
 
#31 ·
I am having this issue on my 18 Model 3 for the last couple of months. The drivers side rear door pops open by itself when parked. If the alarm is turned on in settings, the alarm will go off. Child lock setting doesn't make a difference. The door pops open just enough for the window to drop to clear the trim, but the door is still caught on the latch.

The car has been into service twice for this issue. The first attempted fix was to replace the exterior door handle. The second attempted fix was to replace the interior door switch (which means replacing the entire interior door panel). The problem appeared to resolve after replacing the interior switch, but it reoccurred after 5 days.
 
#32 ·
I brought my Model 3 into a Service Center in Rocklin, CA (Sacramento Area) and was very happy with my experience. My family purchased three Pearl White Model 3s. My dad purchased his with Autopilot and Premium Package. My brother and I purchased without Autopilot, but with Premium Package. We are all very happy with our purchases. All three cars are great. I ran into an interesting issue with mine. It turns out that there is something going on possibly with the actuator for the drivers side left rear door. On two, possibly three occasions this door will pop open on it's own. The first couple of times, I wasn't aware of it until I walked back up to the car and noticed the door slightly cracked open. The last time, the car was parked in my garage and the alarm was engaged. I was in the family room and heard the car alarm blaring, so I looked at my Tesla app on my iPhone and confirmed that the same door was open again. I called Technical Support and they gathered all the logs from the car and created a ticket for the issue. They recommended that I visit my local Tesla Service Center, so I did. I brought the car in and they gathered the information from me and was also surprised by what I had told them. They put everything together, did a walk around on my car. I asked if I would be getting a loaner car and I was pleasantly surprised. The loaner that was provided was a beautiful Silver Model S. I'll take it.

I wanted to check in and see if anyone here has had this experience. If so let me know. I'm curious to hear what existing issues are coming up.
We have a 2017 Model S Tesla and have had to replace the motors in the two front doors which control the door handles, which were out of warranty. Now the right rear door is popping open because the handle doesn't recess, which is a hazard (it happened once while driving). This should be a recall, it's defective. Family is encouraging us to sell and buy a Toyota hybrid!
 
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