Auto industry is continuously experimenting with newer technologies to make vehicles safer and convenient for the users. On a conventional vehicle, a fuel filler door now is a part of Tesla electric vehicles as a charge port door for covering its charge port. The charge port on Tesla is located on the left rear of the vehicle near the taillight assembly and integrated in such a way that the charge port door is hidden and neatly integrated into the design. The charge port for plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles is typically externally mounted which allows easy locking of passenger’s compartment while the vehicle is being charged. Sometimes, this charge port door gets stuck and won’t open. You will then experience a message popping up on your dashboard screen saying “Charge Port Door Needs Service- Contact Tesla Service when Convenient”.
No doubt, Tesla can be anyone’s dream car but to keep up with this dream could be challenging when its charge port gets stuck and won’t open. However, the simple fix to this error message could be just manually press and release the middle of the charge port door. By doing this, you should be able to open it without engaging it via your smart-phone app, touch-screen or key fob. However, you may need to press and release a few times to find the right spot on the charge port door. If you succeed in doing that, you should be able to make this message disappear, get back into your charge port, charge your car and continue your drive; but this trick may not always work and problem may not be so easily fixed.
So, What To Do When ‘Charge Port Door Needs Service Warning Message’ Pops Up?
Mostly Tesla users despite being on the latest and greatest of software updates run into this error right after they’ve had a car wash which means that the issue is related to the hardware when the water during the wash gets and sits in the port door and causes it to seal.
As the message reads with contacting Tesla service, it’s a known issue to Tesla and they usually replace it with a new one which takes about good 2-3 hours to fix this issue. Once the charging port is replaced, your car will not exhibit the same failure to open and the error message should go away.
Why Does the Charge Port Door Stuck On Tesla?
Usually people complained about this problem after they got a car wash service but there could be some other reasons as well contributing to the freezing of charge port door. Cold temperatures that are below freezing point, can make charge port door to stick or even sometimes if it is not the door, it may ruin the inner functioning of the technological device causing harm to the charging port. In this case, no manual attempts will do any good to you, and you will have to visit Tesla Service Center to get the vehicle serviced.
Tesla being a leader in handling electric cars industry offers high-end technology gadgets and software devices controlled, and operated through software system. Therefore, sometimes it could be the software that could not keep up the control on the charge port and fails to work as per standard. However, the chances are rare but still present. Hence, it is always a good idea to keep your software updated.
Is There Any Other Way To Fix The Problem?
Like anything else, there could be some hacks such as you can pry open the charge port with the help of a screwdriver but the chances of damaging your car are high so the safest and best way to fix this problem is to call Tesla’s service and get this problem fixed with the installation of a new part. Tesla Roadster, Model X, Model S, Model Y, or Model 3, whatever model of Tesla you own, going into the tricks of opening charge port door yourself with manual interventions is not recommended in any case.
