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Trunk too hard to close?

12K views 33 replies 14 participants last post by  Mistersandman 
#1 ·
I am finding I have to slam the trunk pretty hard to get it to shut. The whole motion from swinging the trunk down, hold it in place and re-positioning my hands to be on top of the trunk to slam it is just a hassle. Found a nice youtube vid showing replacement trunk struts from Amazon for around $25 that seems to help. Not sure if this will void any warranties but I'm willing to try it out.

What do you guys think?

 
#2 ·
In 2 months, I have noticed that my trunk has gotten easier to close but it's definitely still the hardest closing trunk I have ever had in a car.
 
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#3 ·
Having had a car with too weak trunk struts, and getting hit in the head any time you leaned under it without your hand on the trunk lid, I’ll gladly take the stiffer struts.

It also may be from car to car. The Turo Model 3 loaner I had recently closed easily without any slamming or more force than expected.
 
#5 ·
My trunk lid struts don't seem firm enough! Early car though (23xx), perhaps they switched to stiffer struts?
 
#7 ·
personally, I'd much rather have the trunk open all the way on its own rather than having it a little easier to close. It's a pita to have to keep pushing a trunk up to fully open, I've had to do that on some older cars where the struts have worn out too much...
 
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#9 ·
Normal cars raise the trunk lid from half way all the way up and drop trunk lid from half the way down to locked (without any additional force). In case of doing it very slowly, it's from 2/3 all the way up and 1/3 down and fully latched.
I made demos last month:



Model 3 trunk behaviour is not normal. We shall expect "fine tuning" soon.

PS: exactly the same applies to hoods with struts. Tesla frunk lids have unacceptable behaviour since the beginning of this decade (they do not close if dropped).
 
#10 ·
I asked my service advisor and he indicated the trunk design is intentional and protects from damage to the aluminum trunk via slamming shut the trunk.
 
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#14 ·
I disagree. Since when is a normal car hood a one-move operation? First you have to remove the hood prop. Second, lower the hood a bit. Third, drop the hood.

For a Tesla frunk hood, you pull down the hood gently. Then press down to ensure it's latched. So I just saved a step.

Sure, having to close it gently is an essential step, but not having to deal with a heavy hood and possibly fiddling with a hood prop EVERY time I open the usable frunk is the tradeoff.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I replaced the struts with slightly less strong ones. Cost $13 each. Anyone can install with a flat blade screw driver in 10 minutes.
After you un-clip an old shock, hold the trunk up with your head while you put the new one on.
The trunk still stays up, you still have to shut it with some spirit, but the false-closes go away. It turns it into a regular trunk.

Edit: to be clear, this is for the rear trunk. I don't know what to do about the squishy frunk.


 
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#28 ·
End user doesn't and shouldn't care. The frunk is not easily closing. Neither is trunk. End of the line. That problem can be solved in many ways.
We are running out of pioneers. Customers want comfort not technical excuses.
If I could fix it mechanically... and others can change gas dampers... that makes things better. What are we talking about... excuses...
Soft close would be ideal and very simple. BMW has that since 1993. That part costs 20-30€.
 
#29 ·
Soft close would be ideal and very simple. BMW has that since 1993. That part costs 20-30€.
I don't want a BMW but it sounds like you do!

That's the good thing about having choices! Next thing you know we will be debating whether the glovebox is too hard to close...
 
#30 ·
Ok we can all agree to disagree about the trunk closures. Some folks find it really hard to close, some have no problem with it as-is. Luckily it's an easy mod to the struts. If you really have a hard time closing the lid and you suspect it's not normal, have the SC check it out as the trunk may be misaligned or something needs adjusting. Simple.

Now, as to the frunk design:

Porsche has had a similar kind of closure mechanism for years and I've never heard anyone call it a bad design, they just go "my hood is special". But when Tesla does it it's considered bad design? Funny how that works.


OTOH, I dearly hope Tesla will implement this for a hood opening option in future cars.


Clearly Tesla is borrowing more design cues from Porsche than BMW. *Shrug* If there was only one correct way to design a car and customers only accepted that one way, we wouldn't have so many car companies.
 
#32 ·
I don't mind "push to close". Sometimes simple is better.
You could always rig up a servo motor to close it but that sounds like a solution looking for a problem.
 
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#33 ·
I've been kinda coming to the conclusion of late that the rubber seals in the doors and trunks might need some refinement, not only with regard to how they resist closing, but also how well they channel water. The door and window seals don't shed water as well as I would like. Just something I've noticed. It doesn't really bother me.

I'm guessing they'll get better over time.

That having been said, if someone told me that the beefy rounded seals contribute to how solid the car sounds (there are zero squeaks and rattles in my car, just wind and tire noise) then I'd think they were already worth a minor amount of closing resistance and slight difficulty in places channeling water. Because this is by far the most solidly held together car I've had.
 
#34 ·
SC adjusted the latch on mine so now it closes with very minimal force. Unfortunately whatever adjustment they did resulted in the trunk lid having a large gap right above the left tail light. It’s pretty ugly. I’m gonna have them adjust it again and try to find a middle ground.
 
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