Tesla Leaves Man Stuck Outside in Cold After Winter Weather Renders Car Useless
A Tesla owner recently shared a series of videos highlighting his struggles to accomplish basic tasks with his electric vehicle in extremely cold conditions.
The videos, which were posted by TikTok user ddcustomz, highlight his problems opening his car door, charging port and “frunk” (front car trunk).
He had to record all of them in the freezing cold.
In the first video, he couldn’t gain purchase on the car door’s handle because the entire vehicle was covered in ice.
“The door won’t open and I’m stuck outside in the cold,” ddcustomz wrote in the post’s caption.
He then had to wrestle the door to break the ice and gain access to the car. According to the video, doing so took him 10 minutes.
@ddcustomz Frozen Tesla Door Opens #tesla #teslatok #teslacheck #fyp #carlife #carlover #carcommunity #trending #teslamodel3 #viral #fypシ #elonmusk #carsoftiktok ♬ Steven Universe – L.Dre
The Tesla owner was right to be frustrated — who wants to have to fight to get into his car in miserable weather?
He seemed to have had a similarly poor experience with his frunk and car charger.
@ddcustomz Tesla Frunk Frozen #tesla #teslatok #carlife #carlover #cars #trending #teslacheck #elonmusk #carlifestyle #model3 #carguy #viral #fypシ #fyp #spacex #electric #car #ddcustomz ♬ Night Trouble – Petit Biscuit
@ddcustomz Tesla Charger Frozen #tesla #teslatok #carlife #carlover #cars #trending #teslacheck #elonmusk #carlifestyle #model3 #carguy #viral #fyp #fypシ #spacex #electric #car #teslacharging #ddcustomz ♬ Dreams (2004 Remaster) – Fleetwood Mac
Tesla is aware of the potential of the latter problem and might have a counter, at least in some vehicles.
“In extremely cold weather or icy conditions, it is possible that your charge port latch may freeze in place,” the Tesla Model 3 owner’s manual points out.
“Some vehicles are equipped with a charge port inlet heater that turns on when you turn on the rear defrost in cold weather conditions,” it says.
“You can also thaw ice on the charge port latch by enabling Defrost Car on the mobile app.”
It’s not unusual for people to struggle with some of the necessities of car operation in difficult conditions.
With weather as foul as what’s showcased above, it’d be no surprise to have to wrestle open a frozen-shut door.
There’s little question, however, that even if the defrost app works for the issues documented above, the form-over-function design philosophy Tesla seems to favor makes little things such as door and charging port access more complicated than they need to be.
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