It turns out that the fancy retractable door handles refused to let its test driver in rendering the car ‘undriveable.’ The sad part is that the P85D that was being tested was for a mere 27 days only and it just has a little over 2,300 miles on its odometer when the driver-side door handle failed.
The test driver was able to fix the problem using a smartphone app that allowed the him to unlock the car and authorize two minutes of keyless driving, enabling him as well to climb behind the steering wheel from the passenger seat.
The problem encountered by the test driver only confirmed the a recent car reliability survey that shows that Tesla’s biggest trouble areas are its doors, locks and latches, with the Model S experiencing the highest number of problems than the other models.
The Tesla Model S connectivity along with the over-the-air software updates allowed Tesla to diagnose and fix most problems in the Model S without the owner coming in for a service to a Tesla Motors dealer. According to a spokesperson from Tesla, their company always strive to make it painless for a customer to get their Model S serviced.