Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Tesla owners share videos of cars struggling in below-freezing temperatures

Tesla owners share videos of cars struggling in below-freezing temperatures

The freezing temperatures sweeping Canada and the US over the holidays have left some Tesla owners unable to use their cars.

Ontario-based meteorologist Rachel Modestino found the door to her Tesla frozen shut on December 23 when the mercury dropped to -15°C.

In a Twitter video seen more than 10.1 million times, Modestino showed how the handles were covered in thick frost.

Tesla door handles sit flush with the car’s body and pop up out of the door to use, meaning she couldn’t just grab onto it and tug the door open to get inside.

Modestino tweeted: ‘@elonmusk bet ya didn’t think of ice in the Tesla design.’

She stressed that she did preheat the car before trying to open it and used the vehicle’s defrost feature.


‘First Tesla winter, learning a lot,’ she added. ‘Absolutely love the car, don’t get me wrong.’

Twitter users were polarised, to say the least, by Modestino’s struggle to open her Tesla.

One said, ‘If you have a tesla you should have enough money to have it in a garage,’ though Modestino replied saying she doesn’t.

A second user said: ‘You shouldn’t need to use Twitter to learn how to use your expensive car.’

As some people hounded her, Modestino said: ‘OKAY, this went off… Not meant to dig Elon (I love my car). Only tweeted because I thought it was a silly flaw for the price.’

Modestino later revealed that by updating the Tesla smartphone app, she was able to manually open the latch.

The meteorologist eventually used the Tesla app to get inside the cabin


A few other Tesla-owning Twitter users said they were also struggling with this too. One person said on Christmas Eve: ‘Can’t even get into my model Y in these temperatures, handle frozen shut… what’s the answer?’

A second said: ‘It it’s freezing outside. My Tesla door handle was frozen – took few minutes just to open the door.’

Another Tesla owner said he was stranded on Christmas Eve when below-freezing temperatures meant his car wouldn’t charge.

TikTok user Domenick Nati showed his dashboard listing the temperature as -7°C and 19 miles remaining until the battery dies.

When Nati tried plugging his car into a charging station by Lynchburg Regional Airport in Virginia, the vehicle’s screen read: ‘Battery is heating – keep charge cable inserted.’

Two hours later, the same message remained.

In a follow-up video, Nati says Tesla towed his vehicle and provided him with a Tesla Model 3 while his was serviced.

Some Twitter and TikTok users used the issues as an excuse to knock electric vehicles in general.

Electric car batteries generally don’t fare too well in the cold, with experts recommending heating up the vehicle’s interior while the battery is recharging.

But electric cars are substantially better for the environment, producing fewer planet-warming fumes and air pollutants than petrol or diesel cars.

And frozen door handles – in chilly Ontario no less – certainly aren’t a Tesla-only problem and do happen to petrol and diesel cars too.

One Twitter user told Modestino: ‘If you park your car outside in freezing rain, you have to be prepared for the aftermath,’

Another added: ‘I have a Nissan Titan XD and it was frozen solid all entries for 9 hours after a road trip to Albuquerque, NM 3 weeks ago. This is life in the zone where stuff freezes.’

It comes as across the pond in the UK, videos of snaking queues of Teslas waiting at charging ports over the holidays went viral.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×