Tesla Owner Makes Accidental Discovery While Playing Around With His Settings—It's Going To Come In Handy This Winter

"How did I not know about this?"

Tesla owner tries to open charge port

Photo by: Unsplash

Mustafa Gatollari

By: Mustafa Gatollari

Sep 25, at 10:00pm ET

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Tesla’s flush, recessed door handles provide a sleek aesthetic for its vehicles. However, they do pose some problems, especially in winter months when frost cakes over them, making them stuck. As a former 2019 Model 3 RWD owner, I can’t count how many times I had to punch the handle until it was free from its icy prison. Another problem area on Teslas in the wintertime is the cars’ charge ports.

This is a problem that Matthias Tayala (@matthiasdaily) says he found a solution for.

“Winter is coming, and I just found out something on my Tesla that I actually never knew about,” he says in a now-viral TikTok.

He points to his Tesla’s charge port and says, “Lot of stories on this charge port … not opening. Even chargers getting stuck inside of that.”

He ponders, “And I was like, 'If I’m ever in that situation, what the heck am I gonna do?' I definitely don’t want to just like wiggle it around and bang on it because I don’t want to break that. But I was messing around with the settings in my Tesla, and I found something that I never knew about,” he tells his audience.

How To Fix A Stuck Tesla Charge Port

His video cuts to him back inside the vehicle, tapping his Tesla’s infotainment screen. “So in order to get there, you go to the bottom left here, and then go over to service. When you click 'service,' you’re just gonna scroll down. And you’re actually gonna see something at the bottom left-hand side that says, 'charge port heater,'” he relays.

Sure enough, after hitting the car icon and navigating to the service option, there's a "charge port heater" option. As its name suggests, this feature heats the car’s charge port, effectively defrosting it.

Viewers were stunned by the newfound information.

"I had to run out to the garage and check ours. Thanks for this!" one said.

"How ... did I not know this?" a second questioned.

Another Tesla driver who has experience using the feature shared, "I learned about that feature after 2 years into owning my first Tesla. I used to attempt to thaw the charge port with a hair dryer."

Tayala's video has been viewed over 372,000 times. He told Motor1 he was "surprised" by how viral it went and called the response "really cool to see."

"I started the account to share things I’ve been learning as a new Tesla owner, and I’ve found that some of the simplest discoveries are the ones other owners find the most useful," he shared.

Tayala lives in Ohio and believes the feature will come in handy during the winter months.

"I personally haven’t had my door handles or charge port freeze or get stuck yet, but living in an area that gets plenty of cold weather and snow, it was definitely something I wanted to know how to handle before it happened. When I discovered the feature, I figured other Tesla owners probably didn’t know about it either," he said.

How To Defrost Your Tesla From The App

Tesla drivers don't need to be in their vehicles to defrost the charge port. This is something they can do right from their apps, according to the company.

In its online Owner's Manual, the EV maker explains how drivers can defrost their Teslas. It notes, “In the mobile app, navigate to Climate > Defrost Car to melt snow, ice, and frost on the windshield, charge port, windows, and mirrors. This also warms the high voltage battery as needed.”

“In extremely cold … or icy conditions, it is possible … your charge port latch may freeze in place … you can thaw ice on the charge port latch so the charge cable can be removed and inserted. To do so, enable Defrost Car using the mobile app,” the manufacturer writes.

Additionally, Tesla states that folks with stuck charge ports can activate its “Inlet Heater” option, listed under the service menu on its infotainment display, similar to what Tayala was showing off in his video.

Conditioning charge ports may help prevent them from breaking or pins from getting bent or snapped off, as this Cybertruck owner endured.

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Moreover, a blogger highlighted a warning message that some Tesla drivers may encounter when driving in icy conditions. It reads, “Charge rate reduced - Charge port may be frozen.” To remedy this, Scott on EVs recommends defrosting the car and checking for any ice or debris that could be blocking the car charge port.

Motor1 has reached out to Tayala via email for further comment.

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