Front Trunk

Last updated: October 20, 2023

Component location and description

Table 1. Front Trunk Components

Component	Function
Hood	The sheet metal "door" that opens and closes.
Hood latch	The latch that secures the hood to the body. It lies outside of the frunk seal.
Rubber bump stops	Utilized to ensure contact between the hood and the body.
Latch actuator	An actuator that pulls the latch from primary to secondary to open.
Latch claw	The portion of the latch that hooks around the striker to ensure closure.
Latch pawl	The portion of the latch that moves the claw in and out of place.
Hood striker	The striker that engages with the latch to secure the hood to the body.
Hood baffle	Affixed on the underside of the hood, it is intended to improve performance of pedestrian protection in the event of an accident.
Front trunk (frunk)	The storage volume covered by the hood.
Frunk tub	The plastic interior portion that will comprise the bottom surface of the storage volume.
Frunk interior button	A small release button inside of the trunk which will be illuminated for a specific duration after the front trunk is securely closed.
Frunk seal	A seal that sits on the frunk tub and makes contact with the hood baffle to keep frunk tub interior dry.

Frunk Latch

Model Y is equipped with a double pull frunk latch. There is a single actuator that pulls the latch into one of three states. The hood latch has various states in order to ensure the hood is securely latched.

Table 2. Front Trunk Latch States

State	Function
Primary	The hood is closed and the striker is fully in the latch. The firmware reads this position as closed.
Secondary	The hood is still in the closed position, although the latch has moved from fully closed to partially closed. Secondary is a redundant feature to ensure that the latch does not open unexpectedly. The vehicle reads this position as open.
Open	The striker is no longer engaged by the claw and is free to allow the hood to fully open. The vehicle reads this position as open.

The hood latch is electrically operated by the front vehicle controller (VCFRONT). When the hood is opened from the touchscreen or mobile application, the latch actuator pulls the latch pawl which rotates the claw from the primary position to the secondary position. The actuator then pulls again on the pawl to rotate the claw to open allowing the striker to move freely out of the latch.

Electrical release of the hood latch is blocked when the vehicle is in drive, and would require two separate false electrical signals to fully release. If the latch is open during drive, both the force of the gas strut and airflow pushes the hood in the closed direction. Both features are intended to prevent loss of visibility when driving.

Hood

There is a spring within the latch that gives enough force to pop the hood open just enough before the gas struts take over to open and hold the hood up. The double latch state system and toggle of the strut is designed to prevent the hood from opening when driving. The first pull of the actuator will release the primary state to allow air flow inside of the front trunk, in case a person is trapped inside of the front trunk tub (this is per government regulations). The secondary catch will not allow the hood to release. Once the vehicle is at full stop, the front trunk can be fully released from inside of the cabin or the front trunk interior button.

Hood Operation

There are 2 methods of opening the front trunk:

• Press the front trunk button on the mobile application.
• From the touchscreen, press Controls > Front Trunk.

Lower the hood to the closed position and then push down gently on either side of the Tesla badge to engage the primary and secondary catches. The catches click into position.

Note

Do not push at the very edge or very center of the hood. The hood is aluminum and can be damaged if too much force is applied in one spot.

Warning

Do not drive the Model Y with the hood retained by the secondary catch alone. Lift the front edge of the hood to make sure that it is correctly closed.

Service and Operation Notes

If there is too much weight on the hood, such as the weight of snow or other objects, the latch spring will not be able to overcome this force in order to initially open the hood.

If vehicle logs indicate the hood is open and the customer is indicating the hood is remaining closed, the latch could potentially be stuck in secondary.

The gas struts that take over to completely open the hood are compressed gas. In cold weather conditions, the pressure in the struts reduce and cause the struts to not open fully.

The hood striker is locked on the underside of the hood and can be adjusted for alignment.

The rubber bumper stops can be adjusted up or down in order to make contact with the underside of the hood. Ideal contact of the bump stop to hood is the inability to remove a single piece of paper from the area once the hood is closed. - If there is a gap between the hood and bump stops, hood flutter can occur while driving - If the bump stops are too high, this can cause high closing efforts of the hood

In order to access the 12V battery and other components located under the frunk tub, there is circuit in that releases the frunk latch and allows the hood to pop open when it is powered. The system prevents access to the front trunk when the 12V battery is healthy, but allows access in case of emergencies.

• These jumper posts are located behind the tow cover on the front fascia.
• Applying voltage to the terminals when the 12V battery is above 12.2V will not release the front trunk latch.

×