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Frunk hood spontaneously unlatching

rockybrockyb
edited June 2017 in Model S
Happened this weekend as I was sitting in my car. Fob was never touched. Heard the characteristic sound of the frunk spontaneously unlatching. Couldn't get the frunk to latch closed. Couldn't open it either, despite manually pulling on the frunk release tab below the glove compartment, pressing the fob, pressing the frunk release on the screen, or rebooting the screen. Drove home slowly and ignominiously. Arrived home and successfully closed on first attempt! Weird but ok. A one off I thought and Tesla service agreed. Well, it happened again today WHILE I WAS DRIVING, fortunately on a local road going 35 and not 80 on a highway. After getting home, repeated all prior steps and still wouldn't close. I read the forums and got the idea to manually pull on the frunk release lever below the glove compartment about 20 times, and the frunk finally closed.
Has this happened to anyone else? I'm hoping I won't have to bring it in for service if someone here can give me a magical remedy. I'm guessing it's a faulty fuse.

Comments

  • TeslaTap.comTeslaTap.com
    edited November -1
    Not sure how a fuse could cause this. If the fuse was intermittent or blown, the latch would not unlock electrically. With the intermittent nature, might be a short somewhere in the wire bundle or perhaps a bad door control module (which controls the frunk too). It could be a pain to find and fix, but that's for service to deal with. If possible, next time it occurs, note the time down. When convenient call Service and have them pull the logs and tell them what time it occurred. That may help them isolate the issue.
  • TeslaTap.comTeslaTap.com
    edited November -1
    On further thought, I don't think a wire-bundle short could cause this. More likely a flakey door control module. If you take it to service and they fix it, let us know what the problem was.
  • kevin_98067821kevin_98067821
    edited April 2017
    When in doubt, E-Brake | Power Down the car for 2 minutes. It power-cycles the hardware.
  • JayInJapanJayInJapan
    edited November -1
    It sounds like your latch needs an adjustment. Call your SvC.
  • JayInJapanJayInJapan
    edited November -1
    Do you have any creases in your hood?
  • rockybrockyb
    edited November -1
    I probably have creases now after trying to close the hood about 100 times. But... no, to answer your question.
  • rockybrockyb
    edited June 2017
    To conclude this issue, I took my MS to the service center and they diagnosed it as a mechanical issue and replace the front hood latch. The pathognomonic symptom of this failure is the spontaneous unlatching of the hood during warm / hot conditions, and not being able to relatch and secure the hood until the exterior temperature cools somewhat by keeping the car in the shade or inside a cooled garage for a period of time. After reading other threads, this is apparently not a rare problem, with the earlier 2012-2013 models. My VIN is 4xxx
  • JoeBadgeJoeBadge
    edited August 2018
    Is the only resolution for the MS to replace the latch? Same issue just happened on my 2013 MS. Thank you.
  • Silver2KSilver2K
    edited November -1
    Duct tape is option 2
  • dr_gkodr_gko
    edited August 2018
    This happened to me several years ago. Frunk opening by itself while parked, triggering the alarm several times. Took it to the service center which was only a few miles away. Thankfully did not open during the drive. They found that the switch inside the frunk that unlocks it has corroded, most likely because I had issues with a leaking frunk seal that allowed water in. Has never had this problem again after the switch was replaced. VIN 4295 2013 S85.
  • jaydolph_98335416jaydolph_98335416
    edited December 2018
    Frunk is opening while driving. Scared me today, i can hear the switch cycling and it keep popping open. Every few miles it pops and scares me. any ideas?
  • jaydolph_98335416jaydolph_98335416
    edited December 2018
    Frunk is opening while driving. Scared me today, i can hear the switch cycling and it keep popping open. Every few miles it pops and scares me. any ideas?
  • SOSO
    edited November -1
    Don’t drive it. Contact Tesla
  • dmicelli_98187210dmicelli_98187210
    edited December 2018
    Had the issue, it was one of the FOBs, they couldn't explain it but replaced the FOB and fixed it!
  • egonzo21_98369100egonzo21_98369100
    edited November -1
    This happened to me yesterday, was 92 degrees F in Austin, TX...........fronk spontaneously unlatched........luckily I was in my neighborhood and got home safe. Later on last night about 9pm I found this thread and sure enough, the car had cooled and the fronk latched close. I've called service and roadside and they said to sch'd an appt. So I did, however the 1st available is April 25th..............So I'm hoping a ranger or someone will reach out to me to help get this rectified ASAP. Today I felt it prudent to take the Moto Guzzi back up, as it is supposed to be in the 90's again.
    I guess I'll wait and hope............................ MS60 '13
  • egonzo21_98369100egonzo21_98369100
    edited April 2019
    Update........I got impatient and called Service again and requested to be transferred to my local service center in Austin. They kindly obliged and WOW what a different level of customer service at the local level. They had my appt moved up to Monday as a place holder, but also put a note for the mobile team to contact me. About 5 mins later the mobile team contacted me from my local service center and is looking into fixes. I informed the Mobile tech about the fix presented by @rockyb and she was very thankful. I should be back on the road again in the next few days.

    So takeaways from this:

    Always request to be transferred to your local service center. From my experience the team members that field the service calls from Cali are working off a scrip and FAQ docs. I found that you good folks on this forum as well as myself to be far more knowledgeable about known issues than the employees at Tesla. It would be nice if Tesla could put together a known issues by year packet for all their service center representatives to help these types of situations.

    Anyways, just wanted to give the update and once again say; Thanks to the Community of Tesla owners on this forum!

    Grin on!
  • Kkumar99Kkumar99
    edited April 2019
    Happened to me once. Kept unlatching while driving, coincidentally when I would drive over a bump. Took to service center, and once I got there, I realized the frunk was just full and a bag kept hitting the emergency release when I went over a bump! At least it was an easy fix.
  • BighornBighorn
    edited November -1
    @egonzo
    Usually calls are fielded in Draper, Utah. If you look at the app scheduling function, your local service center number is listed. The national folks only answer if it rolls over because nobody answered the phone at the service center.
  • egonzo21_98369100egonzo21_98369100
    edited April 2019
    Hi BH, oh cool, I did not know that the call center was out of UT not CA. I of course call the local service center number and have it saved in my phone, but ever time it routes me to the "call center folks" . I guess that means that no one ever answers the main number. Interesting. I always found it odd that I would call the local number but could never get through, so thanks for some insight on that. Side note, the mobile unit is coming out tomorrow to replace my latch, they had one in stock! Also the fronk popped again today once the sun was on it and the ambient temp was over 94.
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