2015 Model S - Trunk Won't Open When Approached From Behind

[MS16]

Thanks for all of the input.

I went into the service centre today and showed them the behaviour (again) and they finally admitted it is a problem and should not behave like it is. They have checked all of the antennas and say they are fine so they are not sure what might be the cause.

I'll post again tomorrow when I hopefully will get the car back fixed with an explanation of what was wrong.

Thanks, keep us posted.

The trunk on my refresh will not open unless the door handles have presented. When I approach from the rear, the handles do not present, therefore I can't get into the trunk without walking near the doors or pressing the trunk on the fob.

 

[dragoljub]

I heard this low power mode was also to blame for drivers side mirrors not unfolding fully. Im on 17.5.36 but when the car is in deep sleep approach from behind and pressing the trunk lift button did not work for me.

Why just the facelift cars? Possibly something to do with the new bumper design. There is a rear antenna behind the bumper that's supposed to detect your keyfob. However, in "energy saving mode" perhaps this particular antenna is inactive? Who knows? Anyway, it's something that has been annoying me at least twice a day for the past six months!!!

 

[cwave1]

So the final answer was ....

Both keys needed to be reprogrammed. I don't quite understand why the fobs would work on the door handles and both key fobs would open the trunk if the fob button was pressed but wouldn't allow me to open the trunk when approaching the car.

It took Tesla 2 full days to figure it out so hopefully this experience can help someone in the future.

 

[MS16]

So the final answer was ....

Both keys needed to be reprogrammed. I don't quite understand why the fobs would work on the door handles and both key fobs would open the trunk if the fob button was pressed but wouldn't allow me to open the trunk when approaching the car.

It took Tesla 2 full days to figure it out so hopefully this experience can help someone in the future.

So now you can approach the car from behind and the trunk will unlock based on the proximity of the fob? Do the door handles present at the same time?

 

[d.c.palmer]

So the final answer was ....

Both keys needed to be reprogrammed. I don't quite understand why the fobs would work on the door handles and both key fobs would open the trunk if the fob button was pressed but wouldn't allow me to open the trunk when approaching the car.

It took Tesla 2 full days to figure it out so hopefully this experience can help someone in the future.

I'd be curious to know whether this works when your is in energy-saving mode!

In my case, if I turn energy-saving mode OFF and later approach the car from the rear, I can still open the trunk (boot) by pressing the trunk button (i.e., the button on the car).

...However, if energy-saving mode is ON - and the car has gone to sleep (you have to leave it a few minutes for this to happen), then there's no way I can open the trunk.

 

[Reeler]

I have the same issue. It is a pain to pull out the fob and unlock when carrying a load to the back of the car.

 

[d.c.palmer]

I have the same issue. It is a pain to pull out the fob and unlock when carrying a load to the back of the car.

- is yours a facelift car?

 

[Reeler]

Yes. Bought it in summer.

 

[cwave1]

So now you can approach the car from behind and the trunk will unlock based on the proximity of the fob? Do the door handles present at the same time?

Yes, now I can approach from behind and the trunk will unlock and open when I press the button on the trunk. Once I press the button on the trunk, the door handles also unlock but not before (e.g. the door handles do not unlock just by approaching the rear of the car).

 

[Reeler]

If I get the door handles to autopresent by getting near them, the trunk will open. How much did Tesla save by not putting sensors in the rear.

 

[calisnow]

Somewhere in the thread title there's a joke but I don't wanna bring down the banhammer so I won't try too hard to find it.

 

[d.c.palmer]

Yes, now I can approach from behind and the trunk will unlock and open when I press the button on the trunk. Once I press the button on the trunk, the door handles also unlock but not before (e.g. the door handles do not unlock just by approaching the rear of the car).

Yes, but have you tried this experiment with:-

(a) Energy-saving enabled.
(b) Having left the car long enough for it to go into a deep sleep?

As I have noted earlier, it is a well-established fact that all facelift cars have the same bug: when the car is in energy-saving mode and has gone into deep sleep, then pressing the rear (boot/trunk) button will NOT do anything.

However, if the car doesn't have energy-saving enabled - or if it hasn't yet gone to sleep, then the boot/trunk opens fine.

(It rather sounds as if your car may have had a separate, key synchronization issue)

 

[d.c.palmer]

If I get the door handles to autopresent by getting near them, the trunk will open. How much did Tesla save by not putting sensors in the rear.

But there ARE sensors in the rear! There's an antenna behind the rear bumper precisely to detect your key fob. Except that, because of the aforementioned bug in the facelift cars, the antenna appears to become inactive when the car has gone into a deep sleep. (I'm told this may simply be a software bug - so there's hope we get an update soon.)

 

[MS16]

Yes, but have you tried this experiment with:-

(a) Energy-saving enabled.
(b) Having left the car long enough for it to go into a deep sleep?

As I have noted earlier, it is a well-established fact that all facelift cars have the same bug: when the car is in energy-saving mode and has gone into deep sleep, then pressing the rear (boot/trunk) button will NOT do anything.

However, if the car doesn't have energy-saving enabled - or if it hasn't yet gone to sleep, then the boot/trunk opens fine.

(It rather sounds as if your car may have had a separate, key synchronization issue)

Did the SC tell you about the software bug?

My SC told me it's operating as designed, as in I have to unlock the doors before the trunk will open with the button.

 

[d.c.palmer]

Did the SC tell you about the software bug?

My SC told me it's operating as designed, as in I have to unlock the doors before the trunk will open with the button.

Not my SC, but the Tesla director for Western Europe!

This bug was discovered at my SC (when investigating my complaints about not being able to open the boot/trunk back in September last year). The issue was pushed to Fremont, and Georg Ell (Tesla director for Western Europe) confirmed in person it was being investigated at a high level - and was likely a software bug.

 

[d.c.palmer]

My SC told me it's operating as designed, as in I have to unlock the doors before the trunk will open with the button.

They're telling you nonsense. Try walking up to any pre-facelift car with the key in your pocket. Even with energy-saving mode enabled, you can still unlock the boot/trunk - without having to walk around to the side of the car and have the door handles pop out.

I know, because our two Tesla Model S cars sit side-by-side in our garage, so I can do this test every day!

 

[MS16]

Thanks for information, you know a lot more than my SC does.

Do we now just sit and wait for Tesla to fix the bug or what?

 

[BerTX]

Thanks for information, you know a lot more than my SC does.

Do we now just sit and wait for Tesla to fix the bug or what?

It will definitely be on my list next SC visit. Hopefully they will have the solution distributed to Service Centers by then,

 

[d.c.palmer]

Thanks for information, you know a lot more than my SC does.

Do we now just sit and wait for Tesla to fix the bug or what?

To be fair to your SC, this is "normal behaviour" for all post-facelift cars... but it's certainly not "operating as designed".

My experience of Tesla is that they tend to respond when there's enough noise from owners. So, my advice would be to complain to your SC, point out that other owners have this bug, that it has been acknowledged, but no fix has been issued yet - and that maybe they can push from their end to speed things up. As the old saying goes, "the squeaky wheel gets the oil" - or in our case, the "broken boot button gets the bump" ?!

 

[MS16]

I've also noticed that even when the car is unlocked, and no key fob is required for access, the trunk still remains inaccessible unless you touch a door handle first.