2013 Tesla Model S: doors won't lock, open or latch

Filed Jun 24, 2026 · Electrical, Steering · IL

The vehicle has suffered a catastrophic, intermittent low-voltage network crash caused by a failing Body Control Module (BCM), resulting in multiple dangerous safety-critical failure modes. On a previous occasion, the vehicle woke up with severe network faults and automatically forced itself into Neutral. When the driver stepped out to get the child and shut the door, the system crashed entirely and the exterior electronic door handles failed to present, trapping an infant child inside the running vehicle. Most recently, while driving in a rainstorm, the vehicle suffered a complete failure of the windshield wipers, a total loss of the high-beam headlights, a total loss of the horn, and a total loss of electronic communication to the electronic parking brake system. Most critically, the vehicle experienced an uncommanded propulsion hazard where it hard-locked itself in the 'Drive' gear and absolutely refused to shift into 'Park' or 'Neutral,' forcing the driver to physically maintain heavy hydraulic brake pressure to keep the vehicle from creeping forward. Because the horn failed and the parking brake was disabled, the driver was trapped in the driver's seat holding the brakes and was forced to call 911 for emergency first responders to come and physically block the wheels so the driver and infant could safely exit. Tesla Service has diagnosed the issue as a failed central Body Control Module (Part #1010906-00-D), but the cascading network failure modes present an extreme, life-threatening hazard regarding vehicle control and child entrapment.

Filed Feb 17, 2026 · WA

I have a 2013 Tesla Model-S, I have so far spent thousands on this car for door handle related problems over its lifetime. And Tesla still keeps charging for any door repairs. As of now, the driver side door doesn't open from outside and this is a serious safety hazard in case of an accident

Filed Jul 3, 2023 · Body · CA

First the passenger door handle broke and Tesla fixed it, now the driver door handle broke. Seems like a safety issue and these things are just designed to break.

Filed Jun 11, 2023 · NJ

The driver's side rear door handle stuck open and you can't get door open. This is the 3rd driver's side rear handle for this vehicle. Tesla would not cover the repair.

Filed Jun 29, 2022 · Body · IL

The Model S door handles extend/retract. The handle mechanism involves a gear that extends the handle out and a spring of sorts that retracts the door handle. The door handle can be programmed to automatically extend when in proximity to the key fob or be programmed to extend only when the car is physically unlocked with the key fob. Over the course of ownership (9 years) I have needed at least 7-8 door handles replaced because of a failure of the door handle to extend. When the door handle does not extend, the door cannot be opened from the outside. It can be difficult to pry open the door handle if the door handle cannot extend. If the driver door handle does not function, and if the driver becomes unconscious or incapacitated, there is no easy way for an individual outside the car to open the driver door without breaking the window or climbing into the car via another door that can be opened with a functioning door handle. This represents a significant safety concern and could render the door unusable and impede the efforts of rescue personnel from intervening on behalf of the driver. These door handles seemingly have a shelf life before failure, and I have been told by Tesla that they consider door handles to be "consumables," which suggests that they, like belts, brake pads, tires, etc. simply need to be replaced after a certain time. Over 30 years of owning and driving automobiles, I have never had to replace defective door handles at all, and certainly not once every year or two. Not to mention the safety issue, but Tesla also charges for parts and labors every time a door handle needs to be replaced.

Filed Apr 22, 2021 · Body · 84,000 miles · WA

Driver's front side door handle failed to present and required repair. Repaired with latest generation handles. This is not the first time a handle has had issues on my car (it is the 3rd time a handle has been replaced). This is concerning as it is difficult to get into the vehicle. I was without a working handle for about 2 weeks before I could get it fixed. If an accident were to occur during this time - and someone was trying to open the door and unable to due to this defect - this could easily cause a delay in extraction and potentially a loss of life.

Filed Oct 6, 2020 · Lights, Suspension · 90,000 miles · NC

Was supercharging about 7 hours away from home, my screen turned off and would not reboot.. The dreaded mcu failure every tesla owner fears, and every service center pretends does not exist. My car would not power off, as we were at the beach my A/C was on full blast. My car was now driveable with no key, and the doors would not lock whatsoever. Anyone with or without a key could just walk up touch the handle and get into my car. I had to stay close to superchargers as my A/C drained the battery heavily. Tesla essentially told me they would have to have me take it to a service center which were closed for the next 2 days because a mobile tech would not be able to replace it on spot. So now I get to drive 7 hours home in the most stressful situation of my life. As we got away from the coast and the temperature rapidly dropped I had water pouring off my windshield and down the sides of my car and out of my air vents! It was almost impossible to see and incredibly dangerous. My fiancee had to keep a towel in her lap to wipe the windshield every few seconds. Putting the lack of visibility aside and safety of a vehicle thats unable to lock. I had to manually find all tesla superchargers along the route I also had to guesstimate how much charge I would need to make it to the next station which was quite the task due to the high A/C drain. After our last charging stop we had maybe 120 miles to go and I charged to 170ish.. At least 50 more than necessary. There was one point on our trip where we had 16 miles remaining and 17 to go. Somehow through a little help from the man above we made it home with a couple miles to spare. It completely astounds me that tesla could just brush off such a horrendous failure of a very well known and documented issue. It's not a chance of if it fails as to a matter of when. Stock prices matter more than a customers safety.

Filed Aug 18, 2020 · 45,000 miles · AZ

The mcu (main touchscreen computer) failed on my 2013 tesla model s around june 10th 2020, with ~45k miles. The mcu previously had some reboot issues but this time was different because the computer was constantly rebooting and wouldn't stop. This was after the car was left in the garage and not driven for about a week. I had tesla replace the mcu on my car which cost ~$1700+. When the tesla model s mcu goes out, the car can still be driven but this computer is central to operating most functions of the car. Many vehicle functions no longer work with a failed mcu including the AC/heater; backup camera display; navigation instructions, GPS, and maps; inside manual door locks and sunroof control; garage door opener; radio and all music play functionality; energy consumption displays; phone; vehicle charge settings and charge status display; selection of automatic personal positioning for steering wheel, seat, and mirror; many lighting controls; other vehicle settings; on-screen games; and more. There is a newer version of mcu that I pleaded with tesla to obtain and install in my car but they said they couldn't get it. The mcu failures are apparently related to overused computer memory chips and the mcu replacement was actually a remanufactured computer and wasn't new. The replacement did have a new touchscreen and upgraded let modem but later had new 'low disk space' error messages and rebooted repeatedly within weeks of the mcu replacement.

Filed Aug 6, 2020 · 49,000 miles · CA

Mcu chip failed. Screen went blank. All functions of car were inaccessible. Was unable to charge car. This happened while driving mutiple times. Totally unsafe. Currently passenger side door handle does not work. This is the 2nd time this has happened along with another door handle.

Filed Aug 5, 2020 · CO

My electric door handles. Which present upon approach or when activated, remain in the closed/locked position, which prevents me from being able to use the door. I have had 3 different handles on my vehicle replaced. Two of them have been replaced twice. I have complained that this should not be an issue that a consumer should have to pay for as it seems to be a "lemon" issue, having occurred multiple times. The first time it occurred was within 6 months of purchase in 2013. The last time it occurred was may of 2020. And three times in between.

Filed Oct 2, 2019 · Body · 38,000 miles · CA

The driver's door handle (exterior) will not present, which makes it impossible to open the driver's door from the outside. The vehicle is 6 years old with less than 40k miles on it. The tesla customer service rep said this was a known defect, but they are still charging over $400 to fix it. This happened when the car was stationary. I pulled over on the side of the freeway to help someone, and when I tried to get back into my car, the handle would not present and I had to enter from the passenger side which was very dangerous with oncoming traffic. The handle has not worked since. Many other tesla owners have reported this problem. Door handles are a necessity for all vehicles, and should last a reasonable lifetime for a car. Not being able to enter your car is a safety issue.

Filed Sep 6, 2019 · Body, Electrical · 21,000 miles · FL

11 days ago, the doors and windows stopped working on my tesla model s. The car was parked, and when I clicked on the "open" button to cause the door handles to extend, I discovered that the driver-side handle no longer opened. In fact, 3 of the 4 doors no longer opened. In addition, after crawling in through the passenger side door, I discovered that the windows no longer opened either. In addition to being a nuisance, this is a serious safety issue for several reasons. First, if the car is in an accident, emergency first responders will not be able to open the door. Second, if a driver is approached by law enforcement or another person, he/she cannot open the window to communicate. In fact, earlier this year, a driver perished in a fiery tesla crash. The police were unable to rescue him, because they could not open his door. See https://www.autoblog.com/2019/02/25/fatal-tesla-model-s-crash-fire/. "according to reports, emergency responders and onlookers say they were unable to rescue the driver. The automatically deploying door handles on the outside don't appear to have deployed." apparently there are hundreds if not thousands of tesla cars with this problem. See https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/door-handle-not-functioning for a snapshot. For an example, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4j3beb5nog. I contacted at least 7 different people at tesla, but none of them seemed to view this as a safety hazard. They were more focused on charging me for what they call an "out-of-warranty" event, even though this problem with defective windows and doors has persisted since the very beginning. In fact, I have documented a long list of service failures with this tesla model s. I have over 100 emails outlining these problems, ranging from defective doors/windows to a battery malfunction to more. I can share these upon request.