NHTSA Complaint #11490448 — 2016 TESLA MODEL X

Vehicle's "Falcon Wing" doors would malfunction when exposed to direct sunlight where door panels would become hot. Doors would not open remotely due to the sensor believing an object was blocking the door, the message on screen would read "Obstacle detected" when no object was present. Occupants would manually have to hold down the open button on screen or the physical button in order to open the door. Which would open very slowly or stop oppening halfway due to a phantom object being detected. This would pose a risk for rear occupants unable to exit the vehicle in a timely manner in case of an emergency. The vehicle was taken into service 8 different times to address the issue. Service center claims they could not recreate the problem but found the tripod mounts for the infrared door sensor to be misaligned. Each time a temporary fix was performed and the problem would reappear not long after. Contact sent a certified mail letter to the manufacturer demanding a resolution or compensation for the issue. No response was ever received from the manufacturer. A 9th visit to the Tesla service center for the same issue netted a result where new tripod mounts that hold the infrared door sensor were installed. Since this repair, the Falcon wing doors operate normally most of the time but will still occasionally malfunction if the doors are exposed to direct sunlight for extended periods of time.