Even if I have no interest in the topic of the video, I still watch because I know it will be entertaining. Can't say that about alot of other youtubers.
My second Model S is in the shop now for this very issue. They said they don't have the part because they're changing suppliers. My other Model S had it done last year LOL
I do not have a Tesla nor do I have a particular interest in getting one; but your videos are educational and done quite well. As an electrical engineer who has designed industrial products it is always helpful to have someone else give a review of design practices and the choices we make. I have subscribed!
I personally have owned a few Audi TT's and they all have those same micro switches in the door handle to allow the window to drop a quarter inch as soon as you pull on the handle. and i have replaced HUNDREDS of them because they all wear out and fast. they are super soft plastic and have no form of lube or even graphite powder....
Not for complexity's sake, for the sake of reducing drag, but yeah, model 3 design is arguably better, but then everyone has 20:20 vision in hindsight.
"you're not a true Tesla owner, Unless your car is on a flat bed" I'm fuckng dying. Dude you should do stand up fo'real. You might be the next Richard Pryor. I'm still laughing men. Otfr
So who's the brain dead engineer who decided to mount the switches to the moving handle rather than to the stationary handle mount? Unbelievable how junky that is made for a $120k car.
You’d be shocked about how many engineers think so little through in common day to day applications. Also, not justifying Tesla’s poorly designed parts, but look at pretty much any vehicle out there and you’ll see tons of design flaws everywhere
Theyre not built to last, thats why. The design they went for was probably the cheapest they could get away with for a certain number of cycles i.e the warranty period of the vehicle. They also have the monopoly on spare parts and technicians who can carry out the work (for now), so they are perfectly happy to sell you another whole handle assembly because one wire is snapped...So much for an environmentally conscious car, its just another source of e-waste (for now).
The way to have Engineers design and fabricate is 2 give them the smallest budget possible. If you give them the sky's the limit buget the product would be too expensive. And if you use GM's old marketing plan of building in defects so the automobiles would come back to the dealership for Servicing.
That’s why I’m personally waiting to see what comes from the bigger companies. Now that you have ford’s Mach e officially jumping in the arena with Tesla, we will be seeing the other big guys releasing ev’s people actually want and they’ll deff be better built and better prices then Tesla
@@9393jack not Musks invention. Was allready build by McDonnel Douglas in the early 1990s and testing with success. But thanks to the Iraq war and funding problems the program was terminanted from goverment fundings.
@@Zozo806 If you do the research, you'll find that the "work" that McDonnel Douglas did on re-usable boosters was pathetic. Wouldn't be what anyone with standards would call "work".
@@9393jack It worked even still in the experimental phase. SpaceX like Jeff Bezos bought the tech leftovers and employess after Douglas was done. The same will happen to the Hyperloop. Why you think so many companys become patreons? If the project will be terminated Virgin, Siemens, DeutscheBahn and so on will get patent rights for little money.
This is a mechanical issue, not a programming issue...Also by no means, Tesla made this with planned obsolescence, do you really think they would make something like the door handles to break in a certain amount of time or do you think it would be smarter for them to make something less easy to get to and less obvious that it is planned obsolescence. The problem here is just tesla using new door handle technology that is cool but has a ton of parts and electronics and knowing that they were in a time crunch to get it released they made a bunch of little mistakes some obvious such as the exposed PCB on the first 2 designers and some not so obvious such as the gear.
As much as I like the work the Tesla engineers are doing for electric cars there is no way that company isn't a bunch of scumbags. I wouldn't put it past them to have parts with planned obsolescence. Actually, I don't trust *any* companies not to have planned obsolescence.
@@THEGAMINGHELP101 A cast gear is a sure sign of cost cutting. Every aspect is tested to a certain amount, built to a certain cost and built to last a certain amount of time. Usually when the warrenty runs out. Mechanic by trade. Even the way the wires are positioned is designed to wear out. The average person is not going to take it apart or to be honest really care as long as it's replaced and working. Guys like rich and sexy hands give me hope.
WROOOONG, they dont need this guy, Tesla knows exactly what they are doing, they program this cars to brake down so you go an service them. The truth is out open up your eyes 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪
you should send people a fixed door handle for a price, and then offer to buy their faulty one. that way, if i'm a model s owner, i can buy a fixed part from you, take mine out of my car, and ship it to you in the same box in which you sent the fixed one. then the only car downtime i have is taking the old one out and immediately putting the new one in. you then have a constant stream of handles to fix & ship, and the convenience encourages more people to buy the service/part.
i believe i heard rich say something about firmware on the door handles. Dont get me wrong, i know nothing about these cars, but i wouldnt put it past tesla to make the door handle car specific.
@@randomness13 and I wonder why we are no longer seeing new Tesla videos from proud new Tesla owners. They didn't even have time to make a 20 minutes video of their car before it had to be towed back
I dont get why they not reversed the switches mounting point so both switches are fixed on the case (like the pressure sensor on first version) and the opening handle pushes them. Then the wires for switches dont have to move at all.
Tomasz Biskup Probably just wanted to avoid manufacturing new molds and instead just screwed the switches on. (I don't see a way with the current design to screw the switches to the non-moving part) Short sighted cost cutting...
Excellent and informative video, as usual Rich. Great job and glad to know these aftermarket options are available. Please continue to focus on aftermarket if you can, as a lot of people are at the end of their rope on the warranties and don't want to deal with Tesla on their Crazy Prices.
WROOONG, they know exactly what they are doing. Progarammed to brake down so you have to go service it. They dont fool a lot of people any more, at least me any way.
This is an incredible video! Really, really helpful to me. I could not have completed a DIY door handle fix without it. However, there were several challenges to overcome that I'd like to share: 1) getting the inside door panel off is straightforward so just remember to put the parts (one small rubber cover, one small plastic cover, three screws, two ) in a place where you can find them later 2) disconnect the three wires holding the inside door panel to the door so that you can put the inside door panel to the side and avoid scratches or damage 3) getting the door handle out is a big challenge a) there are four bolts (one in each corner) and at least two of them are very hard to access b) the upper left one can be easily accessed if you remove the silver tape covering the access hole c) the upper right one is a real problem -- eventually, I figured out that lowering the window and removing the window strip allowed me to access the bolt from above -- once I got it loosened, I was barely able to get my hand in there to remove manually -- this was the most difficult step d) there is no need to remove the window but you may find it helpful moving the window all the way up (note: the window can go up a little more, which is helpful, if you press the lever where the door catches the body of the car) e) there is no need to remove the black metal bar inside the door which is in a very inconvenient place 4) you need to figure out if you have a broken relay or a broken metal "paddle" (where the bottom holes have broken so that the paddle is not moving anymore with the gear below it) -- I had a broken paddle and found a new one on eBay for around $30 5) be sure to remove the gear (three bolts) before inserting the new paddle 6) be sure to remove the "C" clamp before moving the lever over or else you will break the "C" clamp 7) the sensor by the paddle has a metal piece sticking out of it -- you may need to remove it, then insert the new paddle, and then reinstall the metal piece -- basically, you want the paddle to hit the metal piece to then touch the sensor so that the door handle does not recede too far in -- that's what the sensors are for: keeping the handle from moving too far in or too far out 8) when putting the handle back into the car, make sure to position it so that the chrome part does not rub the opening when you open or close -- try locking and unlocking the door a few times to test before tightening the bolts (note: make sure you have reconnected the one wire from the doorhandle to the other wire inside the door 9) your door handle may have a yellow wire that does not connect to anything (mine did) -- this is for an accessory LED light to illuminate the handle -- I did not find an aftermarket part to add this although it seems simple to install if it existed 10) when reassembling the inside door panel, there may be two wires from the car that don't connect to anything -- also, it is not necessarily the case that wires are the same color on each side after being connected (because, I guess, that would make too much sense) 11) if you haven't gotten your hand covered with grease and scratches, you're doing something wrong -- have a child assist you with smaller hands is a good idea to reach into tight places
I would like to point out that wires that don't fatigue (or better said, experience fatigue slower) exist for at the very least 17 years now, as i have them installed in what used to be the hood sensor on a GPS find and retrieve unit. I'll repeat that 17 years of monthly (or more ) constant checks and having the wires constantly flex. There's no damage to the sleeve, there's no damage to the wire. SHAME AND DISPRAY on Tesla. AND that, is without discussing the simple addition of a pivot supporting flexture or simply having a trace based transfer system, things that have been around since they sent man to (the) Moon. Cheap crap is exactly that, cheap crap.
Would also like to point out that whomever does potting at Tesla should be shot by each and every electrical engineer in business today. That's quite literally the sloppiest expensive bit of electronics i've seen, and i've been in some sloppy, expensive, electrics (you'd be amazed what hospitals leave behind when they have to vacate a building).
The wires on the focusing lens servo on a CD or DVD player (or any other laser disk storage) flex multiple times for every single disk insertion (or power on, read/write cycle begin/end, etc...) ... and they last years. It's more a matter of properly calculating the minimum bend radius. Wires can bend a lot of times before fraying, you just need to abide by the minimum bend radius. This is why we have such things as "strain reliefs" on wire entry points. (Classic examples are on charging cords. Apple is known to have a poor strain relief design on their Macbook chargers, causing them to short out, spark, and even start fires.)
aserta keep in mind Tesla didn't design it, they have a supplier that design and test them and then gives Tesla a bid for what each unit will cost with said materials. Now they have switched suppliers which I assume are using better components or a better overall design, simar to what this retrofit has accomplished
Benjamin Esposti More like no strain relief. I've been through two chargers already although they were all replaced under warranty. Tesla is just like Apple, looks good but with occasionally shoddy engineering.
Thanks Rich, luv your videos, especially the technical ones. I'm a fixit guy for everything. Whether it be for mechanical or electrical in my house As well as my vehicles. I'm thinking of getting myself a Tesla in the near future. So everything you are posting is very important for me to understand this vehicle Once I get it. Keep up the good work !!!!
Everytime I try to post these informative videos on the Tesla SubReddit forums they delete them. Anything remotely critical of Tesla gets shut down. And these subreddits aren’t supposedly moderated by Tesla employees. It’s hardcore fanboys shutting down good videos like this.. Keep up the good content Rich. We appreciate you brah 👌🏽
This is a good redesign that Chris came up with. Keep in mind many cars have door handle problems, I have had that on Honda, Nissan, and Toyota, and looking at those the Tesla looks designed for failure.
Well Done!!! What an awesome way of fixing this issue by addressing it‘s root Problem instead of coming up with a stupid workaround :) very original...
You Sir are an EV pioneer. I love what you do, I love your tenacity and the fact you have basically built your own Tesla, amazing. Bravo. I have an awful lot of respect for your ability.
Yeah Rich, you should do like Samcrac does. Quit your job, make videos everyday on fixing cars up and losing half your money when you sell them at auction. LMAO! Poor Sam.😪
danot3 Other cars have flush/nearly flush door handles that wouldn't ruin your cd. It's not some sort of voodoo science, papa Elon didn't invent aerodynamic door handles.
You're correct. Tesla just removed over 300 welding points that they deemed unnecessary in the current model just to make production numbers. True data, just finished the story on their production numbers.
Non-Tesla experts showing up Tesla engineered designs that aren't the best solutions will perhaps force Tesla to step up their quality levels of engineering and design. Great video Rich.
I feel like Tesla has way too many issues I would not have time to deal with this constantly. I own a Toyota highlander and it never had to be towed or broke down.
yousifhela yousifhela you’re rationalizing yourself out of wanting more than you already have because it’s easier for you to cope with your mundane life if you convince yourself its better than it actually is. By the way, Tesla has been around for a few years and gotten further than most NEW auto companies, who never make it into the market or production. Toyota is how old? Don’t be ridiculous, you can’t even compare the two. Context context context. Tesla’s conglomerate has essentially accomplished three or four “impossible things” to accomplish in a lifetime that had never been done and they’re continuing to be the first to do so.
I am amazed that Tesla is using design techniques from the 60s based on my history and learning from the same mistakes. I guess the older engineers have moved on and the young guys have to learn this all over again. I admire Rich, he is fearless how he evaluates and fixes problems.
Great DIY revision guys. Like I mentioned before, this is no 100K car. Those assemblies almost look throw-away like. I wouldn't be so critical, but when something so minor leaves you stranded - that's another story.
Great Vid! I found a great way to prevent corrosion on my electronics; I use a silicone spray called “Corrosion X” it comes in a spray can and a little bit goes along way
I'm glad to see guys like Chris making replacement parts. Given the potential popularity of the Model 3, I foresee a lot more of this sort of thing happening. Lots of a popular car sold = lots of potential for aftermarket support.
I am Senior Electronic Maintenance Engineer and have done this kind of modifications a lot. This one looks really good and will probably work for a long time. Using that black silicone over the microswitch solderings is good idea because it takes the stress off the solderings and seals them too. I’ve done the same. Too bad that one of the most innovative cars have these kind of trivial faults.
Elon made 6000 model 3s last week but I heard half of them didn't have any battery packs or motors in them? WHY does a door handle have to be this complicated?
Get the 1952 Chevy to Tesla door handle conversion kit. Follow that with the Mercedes manual window crank. Replace all transistors with germanium junction transistors, no silicon transistors.
@MichaelKingsfordGray lol bro. It metaphor. I don't even believe in "God" per se. But I do respect other people's beliefs. "God's work" in this sense means that he is doing something that no one else is doing in terms of tesla repairs. There is a back log of teslas waiting to be repaired at the shops and here is this guy showing us how to do it. Hence, he is doing God's work.
See, part of Rich's genius - besides understanding systems - is that he connects with people, and especially with hidden experts like Chris scattered all over the place.
nice sensible, well thought out and engineered solutions! billet stainless seems a bit "overkill" for that gear, but one can rest assured it will probably survive even a nuclear war scenario, lol. "a little over-spec'd" certainly beats a zamak casting with questionable load bearing properties for the application.
nice video , many cars with soft-close feature have similar issues. It fails after some use , often after expired warranty. having small servos, sensors and other electronics in a door handle doe not make it last longer ..however this original design of the switch solution is some of the worse ones i have seen...but at least they looks repairable. many of the soft close handles on other cars are basically impossible to fix , clean the sensors and hope for the best...
The silicone insulated wires make sense for low temp flexibility but I hope they have properly tested the moisture sealing around the switch connections as silicone is hard to seal to without a physical gland.
i forsee this actually helping me out in a few years... thanks for posting this! I hope to have a tesla by then and this knowledge makes me feel much more relaxed about purchasing one.
Rich I have to say you do some great work. I can't afford a Telsa yet but soon they will fall into my price range and I will be back referring to your videos for support. One question- Have you thought about finding a wrecked Bolt and comparing the engineering between Tesla and GM when it comes to minor parts and their "build for reliability"?
hey if everything is properly sealed, the only snorkel a car would need would be for the occupants! or they could just put on scuba gear and call it a day!
You're really awesome Rich. I don't even own a Tesla yet, but having these resources to not spend a fortune when time comes to fix failures gives me security and confidence. Do you have a backup for your videos somewhere?
Very informative, very valuable info, and very funny! (I've never seen the hilarious Jordan Peele and Rich in the same room, together, so I suspect Rich really is Jordan Peele!) One more thing about wires- Super flexible insulation is great, and stranded wire is certainly better than solid wire for flexibility, but there's one more thing- Super-fine stranded wire, which has finer strands than standard stranded wire, (and more of them). Its WAY more flexible than standard stranded automotive wire. Why doesn't every manufacturer use it, if it's supposedly so good, you ask? Because manufacturers are always shaving pennies wherever possible. Anyway, you can find this kind of wire with super flexible insulation, and that's the very best solution for that application.
EV tuning solutions should rebuild a bunch of handles and sell them with a core charge to return the old ones. The solution looks great but a lot of customers don’t want their cars sitting idle for days/weeks waiting for handles to come back.
The issue is firmware. It's car specific in most cases depending on firmware level. We can typically turn them around in a day or two and back out to you. Shipping charges are where it gets pricey otherwise we offer a full rebuild for 350$
Here's what Telsa should include. A cable or rod of some kind physically connecting the handle to the door's latch. It can still be motorized so that it goes inside the door but should be out just enough you can pull the handle and unlatch the door without having to worry about a dead battery or faulty electrical. Also a physical key override, if the car is locked and the battery is dead/ the lock system fails you need some physical way to unlock it without having to call a wrecker to break into your own car.
. Overly complicated mechanical and electrical crap, just to open the door. I'm sorry but that's just asinine designing. Yes I know it's cool to the handles pop out. but they could probably say 5 grand and skip the fancy door handles. Yes I know they did that on the model 3. And I think on the model X the door just pops open when you touch the door handle. That's probably a more reliable design. Good for these guys that have designed that's definitely awesome, and as these cars come out of warranty I suspect they're going to do quite well. but a bad door handle design is not something any other car company would fail at so badly.
kens97sto171 Now apply your comment to every fancy thing every car out there has. By your logic we should all be using horse wagons. And having horses is fancy too... You're an idiot.
mudemmeonick Most "fancy" things in other cars don't prevent you from getting in the fucking car and driving it. I'm sorry but a door handle not working is major fail. And not something that should fail ever. I've got a car from 2008 with 230, 000 miles on it and the door handles still work. YOU'RE the idiot.
Start stop buttons. Anti-theft devices. Ignition switches. Electric fuel pumps. Fuel injection systems. And the list could go on. Those are all "fancy things". It just happens that you either got born when they were already common or you got so used to them that you don't consider them "fancy" anymore. Rewind time, look for some articles, if you manage to, and see how much flak every single on of them got when them came out. Just like the freaking Tesla door handle. You're a idiot incapable of putting your brain to work.
always protruding door handles would probably remove about 1 up to 5km from the car's range... Personally (being young etc) I don't see the issue with Model 3 door handles though. I know people expecting more premium products can...
Remove the mechanical switches in the door handles, because water intrusion. Use infrared emitters and sensors (the lenses will have to be cleaned periodically, you solve that one) to activate the thing. You must choose a special coded frequency, which you can interrogate on your main viewscreen, if you like. Just don't run out of error codes.
Jeremy is right--simplicity is the source of long term use without failure. Those door handles look like they were designed by a committee. Make the parts that unlock and open and the door mechanical, and for other electronic requirements make a completely separate circuit that will operate the mechanical system. In other words, backup the electronics with a purely mechanical system.
Great to see aftermarket for Tesla and hopefully other EVs. Maybe aftermarket battery-swapping & upgrades will be available after market. Probably need high production first.
Dope. The world needs Elon, but because of that, the world needs people like you and sexy hands. I hope EM is watching. Great video. (And that's from a dinosaur who much prefers internal combustion.)
I think this guy should cooperate with Tesla service centers. When Tesla S/X owners come to have maintenance, he could provide door handle repair service and make money.
Even if I have no interest in the topic of the video, I still watch because I know it will be entertaining. Can't say that about alot of other youtubers.
You are a lot of fun yourself...
OH yeah..i did one better than you. I have no interest in the topic ,have no Tesla and i watched it twice.
Same here, I have no Tesla and as a result of that, no doorhandle issue. Still watchted...til the end.
My second Model S is in the shop now for this very issue. They said they don't have the part because they're changing suppliers. My other Model S had it done last year LOL
E for Electric we have these things called physical keys and mechanical locks. Not sure if you’ve heard of them... ;-)
LOL LOL LOL LOLS AT THE END ALWAYS MAKE THINGS BETTER LOL
mudemmeonick if it was me ffs would have been more appropriate.
I hope they're changing suppliers to EV Tuning Solutions.
Ola Leier yep lol
My 2013 Tesla Model S had 10 door handles ! I never knew why they just failed over and over.
Instead of saving u spent money on the car
@@TITO1995100 i think it was replaced under warranty
Yes, I can attest. Paper clips do in fact break after bending them back and forwards many times. "That's Correct"
I do not have a Tesla nor do I have a particular interest in getting one; but your videos are educational and done quite well. As an electrical engineer who has designed industrial products it is always helpful to have someone else give a review of design practices and the choices we make. I have subscribed!
I personally have owned a few Audi TT's and they all have those same micro switches in the door handle to allow the window to drop a quarter inch as soon as you pull on the handle. and i have replaced HUNDREDS of them because they all wear out and fast. they are super soft plastic and have no form of lube or even graphite powder....
yah, i use similar microswitches in security devices, they don't like being pressed repeatedly for too long...
Insane levels of complexity for complexity's sake. Horrific design.
Not for complexity's sake, for the sake of reducing drag, but yeah, model 3 design is arguably better, but then everyone has 20:20 vision in hindsight.
"you're not a true Tesla owner, Unless your car is on a flat bed" I'm fuckng dying. Dude you should do stand up fo'real. You might be the next Richard Pryor. I'm still laughing men. Otfr
Even minor repair ends up on a flatbed because you can't drive to a mechanic. It is not a good look though.
So who's the brain dead engineer who decided to mount the switches to the moving handle rather than to the stationary handle mount? Unbelievable how junky that is made for a $120k car.
Even if you want to go this unreliable high-tech route, it should be sealed opto switches or reed switches. California engineering...
You’d be shocked about how many engineers think so little through in common day to day applications. Also, not justifying Tesla’s poorly designed parts, but look at pretty much any vehicle out there and you’ll see tons of design flaws everywhere
Theyre not built to last, thats why. The design they went for was probably the cheapest they could get away with for a certain number of cycles i.e the warranty period of the vehicle. They also have the monopoly on spare parts and technicians who can carry out the work (for now), so they are perfectly happy to sell you another whole handle assembly because one wire is snapped...So much for an environmentally conscious car, its just another source of e-waste (for now).
The way to have Engineers design and fabricate is 2 give them the smallest budget possible. If you give them the sky's the limit buget the product would be too expensive. And if you use GM's old marketing plan of building in defects so the automobiles would come back to the dealership for Servicing.
That’s why I’m personally waiting to see what comes from the bigger companies. Now that you have ford’s Mach e officially jumping in the arena with Tesla, we will be seeing the other big guys releasing ev’s people actually want and they’ll deff be better built and better prices then Tesla
Elon are you watching this? A backyard tinkerer just improved your buggy doors. Give him an award or something cool?
Jim Whitehead so much for that space ship. Or should I say space shit.
@@lilbuddylee131 You mean those space ships with boosters that go to space, come back, and land and can be re-used again? Yeah... space shit for sure.
@@9393jack not Musks invention. Was allready build by McDonnel Douglas in the early 1990s and testing with success. But thanks to the Iraq war and funding problems the program was terminanted from goverment fundings.
@@Zozo806 If you do the research, you'll find that the "work" that McDonnel Douglas did on re-usable boosters was pathetic. Wouldn't be what anyone with standards would call "work".
@@9393jack It worked even still in the experimental phase. SpaceX like Jeff Bezos bought the tech leftovers and employess after Douglas was done. The same will happen to the Hyperloop. Why you think so many companys become patreons? If the project will be terminated Virgin, Siemens, DeutscheBahn and so on will get patent rights for little money.
You guys ruin a hard work of engineers who program these stuff to break after a certain time 😀
This is a mechanical issue, not a programming issue...Also by no means, Tesla made this with planned obsolescence, do you really think they would make something like the door handles to break in a certain amount of time or do you think it would be smarter for them to make something less easy to get to and less obvious that it is planned obsolescence. The problem here is just tesla using new door handle technology that is cool but has a ton of parts and electronics and knowing that they were in a time crunch to get it released they made a bunch of little mistakes some obvious such as the exposed PCB on the first 2 designers and some not so obvious such as the gear.
As much as I like the work the Tesla engineers are doing for electric cars there is no way that company isn't a bunch of scumbags. I wouldn't put it past them to have parts with planned obsolescence. Actually, I don't trust *any* companies not to have planned obsolescence.
@@petlahk4119 tell that to audi after the warranty the car starts breaking down
@@THEGAMINGHELP101 A cast gear is a sure sign of cost cutting. Every aspect is tested to a certain amount, built to a certain cost and built to last a certain amount of time. Usually when the warrenty runs out. Mechanic by trade. Even the way the wires are positioned is designed to wear out. The average person is not going to take it apart or to be honest really care as long as it's replaced and working. Guys like rich and sexy hands give me hope.
@@nando1679 my sister owns a Audi TT the joy of post Warrenty Audi. No joke 😊
Tesla should hire this man.
MyShowBro Agreed!
THAT'S CORRECT.
MyShowBro Why would they hire him when he just explained his design to them for free and showed how it works?
They can hire him to be their new supplier
WROOOONG, they dont need this guy, Tesla knows exactly what they are doing, they program this cars to brake down so you go an service them. The truth is out open up your eyes 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪
you should send people a fixed door handle for a price, and then offer to buy their faulty one. that way, if i'm a model s owner, i can buy a fixed part from you, take mine out of my car, and ship it to you in the same box in which you sent the fixed one. then the only car downtime i have is taking the old one out and immediately putting the new one in. you then have a constant stream of handles to fix & ship, and the convenience encourages more people to buy the service/part.
i believe i heard rich say something about firmware on the door handles. Dont get me wrong, i know nothing about these cars, but i wouldnt put it past tesla to make the door handle car specific.
Yep, they would have to be reflashed for each car
Insanity at it's best... No reason for this whatsoever other than to require you to be dealer dependent.
apagoogoo ... Brilliant
@@randomness13 and I wonder why we are no longer seeing new Tesla videos from proud new Tesla owners. They didn't even have time to make a 20 minutes video of their car before it had to be towed back
I dont get why they not reversed the switches mounting point so both switches are fixed on the case (like the pressure sensor on first version) and the opening handle pushes them. Then the wires for switches dont have to move at all.
Tomasz Biskup Probably just wanted to avoid manufacturing new molds and instead just screwed the switches on. (I don't see a way with the current design to screw the switches to the non-moving part) Short sighted cost cutting...
They did that with the model X.
Because the people who made the car know nothing about cars.
Fingerprints left behind! NAILED! Great video! Nice to see there are people in America who really know their stuff!
144Donn very few people have prints on file,rich criminals have them altered or erased.
Why couldn't they just use regular door handles and door locks? Sometimes they overdo things. Just something else to break.
sewashburn0529 that's the cancerous pretentious "think different-esque" cancer Apple and its likes brought upon the world.
protruding handles would probably eat 1-2% of the range..
Because it's a gimmick that sells.
Potential future autonomus ride-share, I guess.
No, the handles are designed that way for aerodynamics, to cut drag, you know-it-all dipshit. *Their
Excellent and informative video, as usual Rich. Great job and glad to know these aftermarket options are available. Please continue to focus on aftermarket if you can, as a lot of people are at the end of their rope on the warranties and don't want to deal with Tesla on their Crazy Prices.
That’s the ultimate goal. To help others
Failed engineering at it's finest.
WROOONG, they know exactly what they are doing. Progarammed to brake down so you have to go service it. They dont fool a lot of people any more, at least me any way.
They did this so you keep buying or service the vehicle
This is an incredible video! Really, really helpful to me. I could not have completed a DIY door handle fix without it.
However, there were several challenges to overcome that I'd like to share:
1) getting the inside door panel off is straightforward so just remember to put the parts (one small rubber cover, one small plastic cover, three screws, two ) in a place where you can find them later
2) disconnect the three wires holding the inside door panel to the door so that you can put the inside door panel to the side and avoid scratches or damage
3) getting the door handle out is a big challenge
a) there are four bolts (one in each corner) and at least two of them are very hard to access
b) the upper left one can be easily accessed if you remove the silver tape covering the access hole
c) the upper right one is a real problem -- eventually, I figured out that lowering the window and removing the window strip allowed me to access the bolt from above -- once I got it loosened, I was barely able to get my hand in there to remove manually -- this was the most difficult step
d) there is no need to remove the window but you may find it helpful moving the window all the way up (note: the window can go up a little more, which is helpful, if you press the lever where the door catches the body of the car)
e) there is no need to remove the black metal bar inside the door which is in a very inconvenient place
4) you need to figure out if you have a broken relay or a broken metal "paddle" (where the bottom holes have broken so that the paddle is not moving anymore with the gear below it) -- I had a broken paddle and found a new one on eBay for around $30
5) be sure to remove the gear (three bolts) before inserting the new paddle
6) be sure to remove the "C" clamp before moving the lever over or else you will break the "C" clamp
7) the sensor by the paddle has a metal piece sticking out of it -- you may need to remove it, then insert the new paddle, and then reinstall the metal piece -- basically, you want the paddle to hit the metal piece to then touch the sensor so that the door handle does not recede too far in -- that's what the sensors are for: keeping the handle from moving too far in or too far out
8) when putting the handle back into the car, make sure to position it so that the chrome part does not rub the opening when you open or close -- try locking and unlocking the door a few times to test before tightening the bolts (note: make sure you have reconnected the one wire from the doorhandle to the other wire inside the door
9) your door handle may have a yellow wire that does not connect to anything (mine did) -- this is for an accessory LED light to illuminate the handle -- I did not find an aftermarket part to add this although it seems simple to install if it existed
10) when reassembling the inside door panel, there may be two wires from the car that don't connect to anything -- also, it is not necessarily the case that wires are the same color on each side after being connected (because, I guess, that would make too much sense)
11) if you haven't gotten your hand covered with grease and scratches, you're doing something wrong -- have a child assist you with smaller hands is a good idea to reach into tight places
It looks like these cars were designed be Engineers who had no auto design background
I'm not an engineer and I know rigid moving wires are asking for trouble. I guess those handles were designed by interns.
More like designed for looks, then someone had to make the idea work, style over substance...
Doug F they don't
they look like crap is my first impression.
Doug F ...Bingo, The result of tech guys building a car. A $5,000 car handle. Not smart at all.
Great Video - Many thanks. I have had to replace my driver door handle already once - so this is very helpful.
Tesla has to open up and allow 3rd party repair. Thanks for sharing.
still no, sadly
Love it when we fix stuff better than factoria!
Make doorhandles simple again
Yeah. Old chrome door handles for my 68 buick was only 6.50 each.
Murica!
thats what they did with the model 3 door handels
So, door handles need firmware now. What a world we live in.
I would like to point out that wires that don't fatigue (or better said, experience fatigue slower) exist for at the very least 17 years now, as i have them installed in what used to be the hood sensor on a GPS find and retrieve unit. I'll repeat that 17 years of monthly (or more ) constant checks and having the wires constantly flex. There's no damage to the sleeve, there's no damage to the wire. SHAME AND DISPRAY on Tesla.
AND that, is without discussing the simple addition of a pivot supporting flexture or simply having a trace based transfer system, things that have been around since they sent man to (the) Moon.
Cheap crap is exactly that, cheap crap.
Would also like to point out that whomever does potting at Tesla should be shot by each and every electrical engineer in business today. That's quite literally the sloppiest expensive bit of electronics i've seen, and i've been in some sloppy, expensive, electrics (you'd be amazed what hospitals leave behind when they have to vacate a building).
The wires on the focusing lens servo on a CD or DVD player (or any other laser disk storage) flex multiple times for every single disk insertion (or power on, read/write cycle begin/end, etc...) ... and they last years.
It's more a matter of properly calculating the minimum bend radius. Wires can bend a lot of times before fraying, you just need to abide by the minimum bend radius. This is why we have such things as "strain reliefs" on wire entry points. (Classic examples are on charging cords. Apple is known to have a poor strain relief design on their Macbook chargers, causing them to short out, spark, and even start fires.)
aserta keep in mind Tesla didn't design it, they have a supplier that design and test them and then gives Tesla a bid for what each unit will cost with said materials. Now they have switched suppliers which I assume are using better components or a better overall design, simar to what this retrofit has accomplished
Benjamin Esposti More like no strain relief. I've been through two chargers already although they were all replaced under warranty. Tesla is just like Apple, looks good but with occasionally shoddy engineering.
tesla si trying to shave every cent possible off of the build, so doesn't surprise me there.
Thanks Rich, luv your videos, especially the technical ones.
I'm a fixit guy for everything. Whether it be for mechanical or electrical in my house
As well as my vehicles. I'm thinking of getting myself a Tesla in the near future.
So everything you are posting is very important for me to understand this vehicle
Once I get it. Keep up the good work !!!!
Everytime I try to post these informative videos on the Tesla SubReddit forums they delete them. Anything remotely critical of Tesla gets shut down. And these subreddits aren’t supposedly moderated by Tesla employees. It’s hardcore fanboys shutting down good videos like this.. Keep up the good content Rich. We appreciate you brah 👌🏽
indeed
@Cam Life; Reddit’s r/teslamotors? Read: "The Truth Behind Electrek's Shady Alliance with Tesla"
This is a good redesign that Chris came up with. Keep in mind many cars have door handle problems, I have had that on Honda, Nissan, and Toyota, and looking at those the Tesla looks designed for failure.
Well Done!!! What an awesome way of fixing this issue by addressing it‘s root Problem instead of coming up with a stupid workaround :) very original...
You Sir are an EV pioneer. I love what you do, I love your tenacity and the fact you have basically built your own Tesla, amazing. Bravo. I have an awful lot of respect for your ability.
This is what we need. Rich hands down you have the best Tesla channel out on TH-cam right now.
I have a 2013 Model S and I've had this happen to all 4 doors. When I get my next one I'm be in touch.
Excellent way to help all the Tesla owners out there, well done guys!
Wow
That’s good stuff
Thx mate
Will help all of us T owners who suffer on doorhandle Problems
We need daily videos man! Foreal
Yeah Rich, you should do like Samcrac does. Quit your job, make videos everyday on fixing cars up and losing half your money when you sell them at auction. LMAO! Poor Sam.😪
prolly gonna need about 1M subs for that..
Thanks for laying the groundwork when I buy my used Model S in 10 yrs
Redesign handles so they work all the time = use normal door handles with mechanical linkage like every other car.
bubba99009 retracting door handles help with aerodynamics
u need a switch anyways for the window though
danot3 Other cars have flush/nearly flush door handles that wouldn't ruin your cd. It's not some sort of voodoo science, papa Elon didn't invent aerodynamic door handles.
bubba99009 ...Lol but true, My 2014 dodge ball has 96,000 miles and never experienced a door failure.
Check out the Tesla Model 3. They have flush door handles that don't pop out.
Don't you love how neighbors always have to mow their lawn the 10 minute that you are trying to record a video?
That's just agents from the tesla factory trying to interfere.
Those dam guys in the white van you would think they would get tired of following Rich around everywhere. 🚐🚐
+Watch Lawn mowers are electric, they come with a 13 page manual and a website to look up error codes.
So true
Hope Elon is watching.. this guy might get an order for 80,000 units from Tesla! Haha
80,000 x 4 = 320,000 ;-)
He would subsequently lose his mind and go under from not having the capacity to fill said order lol
My question is if this is the level of poor quality going into something as simple as the door handles, what's the rest of the vehicle systems like
You're correct. Tesla just removed over 300 welding points that they deemed unnecessary in the current model just to make production numbers. True data, just finished the story on their production numbers.
That sounds very practical and very sound design! Things that if not for bean counters prob. would have been done at the factory!
Non-Tesla experts showing up Tesla engineered designs that aren't the best solutions will perhaps force Tesla to step up their quality levels of engineering and design. Great video Rich.
I feel like Tesla has way too many issues I would not have time to deal with this constantly. I own a Toyota highlander and it never had to be towed or broke down.
yousifhela yousifhela you’re rationalizing yourself out of wanting more than you already have because it’s easier for you to cope with your mundane life if you convince yourself its better than it actually is. By the way, Tesla has been around for a few years and gotten further than most NEW auto companies, who never make it into the market or production. Toyota is how old? Don’t be ridiculous, you can’t even compare the two. Context context context. Tesla’s conglomerate has essentially accomplished three or four “impossible things” to accomplish in a lifetime that had never been done and they’re continuing to be the first to do so.
Chris I can see your future, one of the biggest high tech companies in the automotive industry..
Yes Chris will be super busy with fix solutions for the horribly assembly rushed out the door Model 3's.
In Australia our design rules don't permit a door handle that needs power to be fitted without a mechanical over ride.
Finding a common problem and fixing it. NICE job good video!
I am amazed that Tesla is using design techniques from the 60s based on my history and learning from the same mistakes. I guess the older engineers have moved on and the young guys have to learn this all over again. I admire Rich, he is fearless how he evaluates and fixes problems.
Great DIY revision guys.
Like I mentioned before, this is no 100K car. Those assemblies almost look throw-away like. I wouldn't be so critical, but when something so minor leaves you stranded - that's another story.
I hope Tesla engineers are watching this channel and hire you guys ! . Thank you . Great info
very embarassing that a car company like tesla couldn't figure that shit out
This is why I want to wait for a real car company to make a comparable vehicle.
Elon doesn't care he already got your money if you bought a Model S.
like my dad says, one 'aw shit' cancels out a thousand 'attaboy's.
Really? Cause every other car is perfect lol. I can’t count how many days I’ve so by fixing similar stupidity in “high quality” German cars.
LOL mercedes had an indicator problem in their S class
Great Vid! I found a great way to prevent corrosion on my electronics; I use a silicone spray called “Corrosion X” it comes in a spray can and a little bit goes along way
This channel is revolutionary. Wheres the next Ev car manufacturer in America?
I'm glad to see guys like Chris making replacement parts. Given the potential popularity of the Model 3, I foresee a lot more of this sort of thing happening. Lots of a popular car sold = lots of potential for aftermarket support.
I am Senior Electronic Maintenance Engineer and have done this kind of modifications a lot. This one looks really good and will probably work for a long time. Using that black silicone over the microswitch solderings is good idea because it takes the stress off the solderings and seals them too. I’ve done the same. Too bad that one of the most innovative cars have these kind of trivial faults.
Elon made 6000 model 3s last week but I heard half of them didn't have any battery packs or motors in them? WHY does a door handle have to be this complicated?
Get the 1952 Chevy to Tesla door handle conversion kit. Follow that with the Mercedes manual window crank. Replace all transistors with germanium junction transistors, no silicon transistors.
Why even design the thing where wires can move around, if I had designed that I would be ashamed of myself.
Tommy Robinson flex circuits built to last
You are doing God's work in the space of EV uncle rich!
Rich is The Godfather of Tesla's. 👍👍
@MichaelKingsfordGray lol bro. It metaphor. I don't even believe in "God" per se. But I do respect other people's beliefs. "God's work" in this sense means that he is doing something that no one else is doing in terms of tesla repairs. There is a back log of teslas waiting to be repaired at the shops and here is this guy showing us how to do it. Hence, he is doing God's work.
This video should be EVERYWHERE!!!!!
See, part of Rich's genius - besides understanding systems - is that he connects with people, and especially with hidden experts like Chris scattered all over the place.
nice sensible, well thought out and engineered solutions! billet stainless seems a bit "overkill" for that gear, but one can rest assured it will probably survive even a nuclear war scenario, lol. "a little over-spec'd" certainly beats a zamak casting with questionable load bearing properties for the application.
Wow! This is the first video ever filmed at the EV Tuning Solutions headquarters. Right?
Watch RICH REBUILDS Channel yes , yes it is and we are one of the top fifty that watched it happen
The place needs some chickens walking around like Samcrac place.
nice video , many cars with soft-close feature have similar issues. It fails after some use , often after expired warranty. having small servos, sensors and other electronics in a door handle doe not make it last longer ..however this original design of the switch solution is some of the worse ones i have seen...but at least they looks repairable. many of the soft close handles on other cars are basically impossible to fix , clean the sensors and hope for the best...
The silicone insulated wires make sense for low temp flexibility but I hope they have properly tested the moisture sealing around the switch connections as silicone is hard to seal to without a physical gland.
i forsee this actually helping me out in a few years... thanks for posting this! I hope to have a tesla by then and this knowledge makes me feel much more relaxed about purchasing one.
Rich I have to say you do some great work. I can't afford a Telsa yet but soon they will fall into my price range and I will be back referring to your videos for support.
One question- Have you thought about finding a wrecked Bolt and comparing the engineering between Tesla and GM when it comes to minor parts and their "build for reliability"?
Rich asking about water ingress 🙄
hey if everything is properly sealed, the only snorkel a car would need would be for the occupants! or they could just put on scuba gear and call it a day!
What a ridiculous amount of hardware JUST TO OPEN A DOOR!!!! WOW!!! Still, big props for the fixes, a new business model is emerging :-)
Glad to know there's an aftermarket for such things! Nice! :D
Dude, I just got you video on my recommended stuff... New subscriber! hahaha you got me with your humor and good content
Great improvement. Will buy when my old once fail.
That was very cool. I'm surprised Tesla didn't foresee these problems.
You're really awesome Rich. I don't even own a Tesla yet, but having these resources to not spend a fortune when time comes to fix failures gives me security and confidence. Do you have a backup for your videos somewhere?
As a fellow engineer... these nuggets are like candy! Keep up the good work on the videos!
Very informative, very valuable info, and very funny!
(I've never seen the hilarious Jordan Peele and Rich in the same room, together, so I suspect Rich really is Jordan Peele!)
One more thing about wires- Super flexible insulation is great, and stranded wire is certainly better than solid wire for flexibility, but there's one more thing- Super-fine stranded wire, which has finer strands than standard stranded wire, (and more of them). Its WAY more flexible than standard stranded automotive wire.
Why doesn't every manufacturer use it, if it's supposedly so good, you ask? Because manufacturers are always shaving pennies wherever possible.
Anyway, you can find this kind of wire with super flexible insulation, and that's the very best solution for that application.
EV tuning solutions should rebuild a bunch of handles and sell them with a core charge to return the old ones. The solution looks great but a lot of customers don’t want their cars sitting idle for days/weeks waiting for handles to come back.
The issue is firmware. It's car specific in most cases depending on firmware level. We can typically turn them around in a day or two and back out to you. Shipping charges are where it gets pricey otherwise we offer a full rebuild for 350$
Here's what Telsa should include. A cable or rod of some kind physically connecting the handle to the door's latch. It can still be motorized so that it goes inside the door but should be out just enough you can pull the handle and unlatch the door without having to worry about a dead battery or faulty electrical. Also a physical key override, if the car is locked and the battery is dead/ the lock system fails you need some physical way to unlock it without having to call a wrecker to break into your own car.
And this is why design should always be kept as simple as possible. The pop-out door handle was a solution to a problem that never existed.
. Overly complicated mechanical and electrical crap, just to open the door. I'm sorry but that's just asinine designing. Yes I know it's cool to the handles pop out. but they could probably say 5 grand and skip the fancy door handles. Yes I know they did that on the model 3. And I think on the model X the door just pops open when you touch the door handle. That's probably a more reliable design.
Good for these guys that have designed that's definitely awesome, and as these cars come out of warranty I suspect they're going to do quite well. but a bad door handle design is not something any other car company would fail at so badly.
kens97sto171 Now apply your comment to every fancy thing every car out there has.
By your logic we should all be using horse wagons. And having horses is fancy too...
You're an idiot.
mudemmeonick
Most "fancy" things in other cars don't prevent you from getting in the fucking car and driving it. I'm sorry but a door handle not working is major fail.
And not something that should fail ever. I've got a car from 2008 with 230, 000 miles on it and the door handles still work.
YOU'RE the idiot.
Personally I think they all should get the model 3 handles.It saves on production cost and warranty issues.
Start stop buttons. Anti-theft devices. Ignition switches. Electric fuel pumps. Fuel injection systems. And the list could go on.
Those are all "fancy things". It just happens that you either got born when they were already common or you got so used to them that you don't consider them "fancy" anymore. Rewind time, look for some articles, if you manage to, and see how much flak every single on of them got when them came out. Just like the freaking Tesla door handle.
You're a idiot incapable of putting your brain to work.
always protruding door handles would probably remove about 1 up to 5km from the car's range... Personally (being young etc) I don't see the issue with Model 3 door handles though. I know people expecting more premium products can...
The redesign is awesome!
It's great to see the common guy fix problems that a multi million dollar company could not do for years!
I used to work for the company that makes the first generation pressure sensors, the company calls the problem delamination, it happens frequently
Cool vid.......nuts and bolts. And finally the after-market is catching up.
Remove the mechanical switches in the door handles, because water intrusion. Use infrared emitters and sensors (the lenses will have to be cleaned periodically, you solve that one) to activate the thing. You must choose a special coded frequency, which you can interrogate on your main viewscreen, if you like. Just don't run out of error codes.
Them micro switches are the exact ones on *Vaillant Turbomax boilers, Diverter Valve micro switch,* very cheap, I change them often...
Jeremy is right--simplicity is the source of long term use without failure. Those door handles look like they were designed by a committee. Make the parts that unlock and open and the door mechanical, and for other electronic requirements make a completely separate circuit that will operate the mechanical system. In other words, backup the electronics with a purely mechanical system.
Awesome stuff! Strange that Tesla hasn't made these changes themselves.
Genius. love the rebellion repair aspect...
Excellent solutions! Better than Tesla OEM! Thanks for sharing!
Well...
Very smart cookie 💪
Good job 👍
Anyway... this door handle fix, looks expensive...but still worth it...✌️😝👍
Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪
Tesla should take note !
Excellent work. If I ever manage to get a Tesla, I'll have to make sure I pre-fix my door handles. :P
Great to see aftermarket for Tesla and hopefully other EVs. Maybe aftermarket battery-swapping & upgrades will be available after market. Probably need high production first.
Dope. The world needs Elon, but because of that, the world needs people like you and sexy hands. I hope EM is watching. Great video. (And that's from a dinosaur who much prefers internal combustion.)
I think this guy should cooperate with Tesla service centers. When Tesla S/X owners come to have maintenance, he could provide door handle repair service and make money.
Always learn something in every video. And love your sense of humour 😉
Gotta mark the micro switches for left and right placement
cmon rich, more vids please. im one of ur first subs. im %#%}% of waiting for ur vids 😂 Love from Germany ❤️
Chris does have beautifully shaven hands and great solutions for common Tesla design flaws!
haha thank you! I uh... think?! haha
Thanks for coming onto Rich's channel www.evtuningsolutions.com