A WARNING AND A SURPRISE!!!

[Beasts]

Be careful when using your garage and gate opening feature. Foolish me but I never thought about the computer not knowing whether the gate or garage door was open or closed. Clearly I expect too much. Driving up to an open gate, because another vehicle had just passed through, the gate started to close well before the 40 seconds it normally stays open. Of course it did! Because the signal from the car simply says "go to the opposite from the position the gate is in now." Happily, my incredibly intelligent wife considered this possibility and hesitated and sure enough saved our brand new S from some nasty scratches. Whew!
Beasts

 

[Ostrichsak]

Be careful when using your garage and gate opening feature. Foolish me but I never thought about the computer not knowing whether the gate or garage door was open or closed. Clearly I expect too much. Driving up to an open gate, because another vehicle had just passed through, the gate started to close well before the 40 seconds it normally stays open. Of course it did! Because the signal from the car simply says "go to the opposite from the position the gate is in now." Happily, my incredibly intelligent wife considered this possibility and hesitated and sure enough saved our brand new S from some nasty scratches. Whew!
Beasts

This is exactly why I tell everybody not to rely on the automatic garage/gate open/close feature on these Teslas. The juice definitely isn't worth the squeeze.

 

[Beasts]

I find the learning curve very steep and challenging but hope that experience will make a lot of the knowledge helpful and second nature. This feature is definitely better than 2 separate remotes rattling around the center console or attached to the visor, for me.

 

[DerbyDave]

Hopefully the car will stop or alert you before crashing into the gate /door at that low of a speed, but I haven't tried it. However, if the door comes down on the roof or hood, there is no second chance!

 

[PDX-Y]

Clearly I expect too much. [...]. Of course it did! Because the signal from the car simply says "go to the opposite from the position the gate is in now."

You kinda did. This isn't really a Tesla product, it's just a UI integration on top of a HomeLink garage door (well, gate, but it's the same thing) opener. Garage doors (with a tiny handful of exceptions) just speak a toggle protocol. They always have. Tesla didn't fix that because they can't teach your garage door opener to speak a new language.

Believe me, I'd be first in line to purchase a Tesla-branded genuinely smart garage door that integrated with the cars ultrasound sensors and whatnot. But they don't offer one. It's just a pushbutton door opener on a touchscreen.

 

[DerbyDave]

Smart Summon won't run into your closed garage door, and will open it if closed.

 

[Beasts]

Correction. I suppose you would have to have a very deep garage to have the problem I described with the garage door opener. Then again if you triggered the opener and then had to delay entering the garage you might run in to the same problem. Computers are such fun.

 

[pilotSteve]

Smart Summon won't run into your closed garage door, and will open it if closed.

Wouldn’t it be great if only……. But nope!

 

[WilliamG]

This is exactly why I tell everybody not to rely on the automatic garage/gate open/close feature on these Teslas. The juice definitely isn't worth the squeeze.

I use the automatic open. I’d never use automatic close. No way, no how. Automatic open doesn’t give me any issues that would endanger the car.

 

[DerbyDave]

Wouldn’t it be great if only……. But nope!

Of course, Smart Summon is in Beta, but according to the manual it does open and close the garage door as needed. Anyone willing to try it?
P. 107 of my 2020 Manual, Smart Summon:

"Use Auto Homelink (if equipped): Set to ON if you want to activate Homelink to open/close a programmed Homelink device (such as a gate or a garage door) during the parking process when using Summon. If enabled, the device automatically opens and closes when Model S enters or exits during a Summon session. In a Smart Summon session (if equipped), the device automatically opens when, at the beginning of a session, Smart Summon detects that Model S is parked in a garage.

A Warning: Always ensure that Model S is fully in or out of a garage before Homelink lowers the garage door. Summon and Smart Summon (if equipped) cannot detect where an overhead door will lower. Note: When enabled, the Homelink device automatically opens and closes when using Summon, and automatically opens as needed when using Smart Summon (if equipped). To automate Homelink in
other situations (such as normal driving), you must adjust the Homelink device's main settings by touching the Homelink icon at the top of the touchscreen (see Homelink Universal Transceiver on page
153)."

 

[emailforbrett]

I use the automatic open. I’d never use automatic close. No way, no how. Automatic open doesn’t give me any issues that would endanger the car.

Thats the problem, automatic open and close are the same thing with our dumb doors. It doesn’t matter which function is checked off in the Homelink menu. The Tesla doesn’t know if the door is already open when you use automatic open. This just happened to me last week. My wife was backing out of the garage in her Volvo. I was coming around the corner and automatic open triggered the garage. The door closed as requested. Right on top of my wife’s SUV. Knocked the wheel out of the track. (Easy fix but a PITA). Scratched up the GPS/SiriusXM shark fin antenna on her SUV. Polishing it still left some visible scratches. Could have been much worse had I rounded the corner a few seconds sooner. I now have it set to chime before transmitting the command. Hoping I can act fast and hit the cancel button if she’s in the way next time. Needles to say, she hates my Tesla. Thinks there’s no reason for automatic anything.

 

[WilliamG]

Thats the problem, automatic open and close are the same thing with our dumb doors. It doesn’t matter which function is checked off in the Homelink menu. The Tesla doesn’t know if the door is already open when you use automatic open. This just happened to me last week. My wife was backing out of the garage in her Volvo. I was coming around the corner and automatic open triggered the garage. The door closed as requested. Right on top of my wife’s SUV. Knocked the wheel out of the track. (Easy fix but a PITA). Scratched up the GPS/SiriusXM shark fin antenna on her SUV. Polishing it still left some visible scratches. Could have been much worse had I rounded the corner a few seconds sooner. I now have it set to chime before transmitting the command. Hoping I can act fast and hit the cancel button if she’s in the way next time. Needles to say, she hates my Tesla. Thinks there’s no reason for automatic anything.

Yes, I wouldn’t use the feature with two cars either. As a one-car family, I see no issue with using automatic open.

 

[lbowroom]

Thats the problem, automatic open and close are the same thing with our dumb doors. It doesn’t matter which function is checked off in the Homelink menu. The Tesla doesn’t know if the door is already open when you use automatic open. This just happened to me last week. My wife was backing out of the garage in her Volvo. I was coming around the corner and automatic open triggered the garage. The door closed as requested. Right on top of my wife’s SUV. Knocked the wheel out of the track. (Easy fix but a PITA). Scratched up the GPS/SiriusXM shark fin antenna on her SUV. Polishing it still left some visible scratches. Could have been much worse had I rounded the corner a few seconds sooner. I now have it set to chime before transmitting the command. Hoping I can act fast and hit the cancel button if she’s in the way next time. Needles to say, she hates my Tesla. Thinks there’s no reason for automatic anything.

It doesn’t override a garage doors optical sensors. Must be a pretty high SUV to be over the sensors.

 

[brkaus]

It doesn’t override a garage doors optical sensors. Must be a pretty high SUV to be over the sensors.

Code requires the sensors to be between 4-6 inches off the floor. No more, no less. That’s really not very high at all.

 

[emailforbrett]

It doesn’t override a garage doors optical sensors. Must be a pretty high SUV to be over the sensors.

True, but the rear wheels have to break the beam for that to function. That’s about a few second ”window of safety”. In this case last week, the SUV’s rear end was beyond the beam already (and under the garage door’s path), but the rear tires had yet to reach the beam and break it for that few second “window of safety”.

 

[lbowroom]

A perfect storm then

 

[emailforbrett]

A perfect storm then

Unfortunately yes, it was. Perfect timing, or perhaps I should say, “Imperfect“ timing.

I do think you’re on to something, though. I could raise the optical sensors up to about two feet off the ground. That would ensure that any part of the body of her car would break the beam. I’d imagine that’s against some code, however. They are always installed a few inches off the ground. I suppose to protect things lower to the ground like small kids, pets, toes, etc. I wonder if I could daisy chain another pair of sensors spliced two feet above the original sensors. Have two pairs operating at the same time, so either pair tripping would stop the garage motion.

 

[brkaus]

Raising them would be against code. Probably never have an issue, but if a kid got caught it would be bad.

They cannot be daisy chained. The sensors have a serial protocol they use to talk to the opener.

One could try mirrors.

One could add a second set of sensors that would disconnect the primary sensors with a relay. That would cause an error and the door would not operate.

 

[Beasts]

Easy! Get rid of that big wide door and install 2 single doors. Problem solved. Just guessing that is what your setup is.

 

[lbowroom]

I would think 8” would do it and would also prevent any toddlers from being pinned.