Alert for leaving phone (key) in car

[Feathermerchan]

Other cars require you to push a button to lock/unlock. Tesla senses where your phone is and when it is sufficiently far away, it locks (if the correct options are set up in the car). That is a big difference.
The keycard has an RFID chip in it. It uses NFC (near field communication) to lock/unlock the car. I carry my card in my wallet at all times as a backup key.
I also have NFC on my phone and can use it as a keycard.
If you walk away from the car without the phone and with the card, it will not lock. You must present the card to the terminal in the B-pillar. If you unlock the car with the keycard, and walk away with the phone it will lock. If you have no phone it will not lock or unlock except with the card. I would never leave my phone in my car anyway just for security.

 

[tangible1]

Except you can hear the horn without looking at the car

except you can hear the 'click' of the lights cycling, if you don't catch the flash out of the corner of your eye or by reflections anyway.
horn alerts are annoying

 

[Jhom]

After using my Tasker task for reminding me to take the phone, I no longer need it to remind me to take the phone. Like Pavlov's dog, I've been conditioned to reach for the phone from the charging pad whenever I'm exiting the Tesla. I guess its true that you can train old dogs new tricks.

 

[DanDi58]

My reasoning on this topic is you will need to think that the Tesla phone key is another key just like a physical key for other cars. Once the key (including Tesla phone key) is detected in the car, the car will stay unlocked since the car doesn't know/keeping track of you. If you have the phone with you, the Tesla will know you're walking away from the car and lock the car since it keeping track of the phone (happened to be with you) and not you. This is same premise as other car manufactures with physical car keys. My Toyota wouldn't let me lock the car at all using the sensor on the car handle if it detects the physical key inside the car. Even when I leave the car key inside the Toyota and force the lock by using the unlock/lock button inside, the car would beep at me and unlock that car after I close the door. I'm new with Tesla and haven't tried out the scenario where I have both the key card and phone key then leave the phone key behind. My thinking is depending which that I key I used to unlock the car, therefore active profile for that key, before I leave the phone key behind. The active key/profile is the one Tesla would track for locking the car is my presumption.

The key card has to be used in a specific place to lock/unlock the car and 'start' it. In my experience, the phone app overrides the use of the key card. For example, Thursday I parked my car in a NYC garage and gave the attendant the key card. When I went to pick it up yesterday, he used the key card to unlock the car and drive it to the exit ramp. At that point, I took the key card and put it in my wallet and drove off using the phone app. Today, I went out and put my phone in the car and locked it with the key card, but just pushed the handle and the car unlocked - phone overrides key card.

 

[Feathermerchan]

So with the phone inside and the car locked, you can still open the door because the presence of the phone will let the car unlock?

 

[tangible1]

So with the phone inside and the car locked, you can still open the door because the presence of the phone will let the car unlock?

car won't lock with the phone inside, unless the phone is dead / sleep mode (assuming you have linked the phone bluetooth to the car at some point)

if somehow the car is locked, and the phone is inside, the card key WILL unlock the car (assuming you've linked the card key to your car and Tesla account).

 

[Feathermerchan]

So went and tested this. It did not lock with phone inside.
Locked it with the key card.
It opened right up when I pulled on the handle. I did not use the key card to unlock it.

 

[drtimhill]

When you leave your key and try to lock ur car in ICE cars you get an audible beep or you cannot close car by touching handle etc.

But if you use ur phone as key for Y, and leave the phone in the charger and walk out, there is no alert.

Because Y is set to auto lock on walking away you don’t realize until you walk away that you left the key-phone behind.

Is there a work around or setup that will help, so I don’t leave the phone in car and walk away?

Thanks.

I dont think there is an equivalent, is there? I mean, yes, if you try to lock the car by other means (e.g. card key) then yes, it would be nice if the car warned you (but it would have to honk, I guess, since there is no other way .. it cant alert you on your phone, can it!).

With an ICE car, the car can tell (a) you have left key in car and (b) you tried to lock the car. But since with a Tesla you just walk away, the car has no idea you have left the car, though I suppose one day it could use the cameras to watch you walk away (but by then you might be out of earshot).

 

[Feathermerchan]

It knows you left the car when you open the door and lift your but off the seat.

 

[E90alex]

So with the phone inside and the car locked, you can still open the door because the presence of the phone will let the car unlock?

This is correct

 

[E90alex]

car won't lock with the phone inside, unless the phone is dead / sleep mode (assuming you have linked the phone bluetooth to the car at some point)

if somehow the car is locked, and the phone is inside, the card key WILL unlock the car (assuming you've linked the card key to your car and Tesla account).

You can absolutely lock the car using the key card while the phone key is inside.

You will then be able to unlock it by simply pressing the handle because it senses the phone key is nearby to authorize unlock.

The car cannot tell if the phone key is inside or outside of the vehicle. Only that it is “nearby”.

 

[tangible1]

You can absolutely lock the car using the key card while the phone key is inside.

You will then be able to unlock it by simply pressing the handle because it senses the phone key is nearby to authorize unlock.

The car cannot tell if the phone key is inside or outside of the vehicle. Only that it is “nearby”.

as tested by Feathermerchan above, the car may appear to lock but merely hitting the door handle opens the car.
Because the (paired) phone is inside.....(yes nearby).
So it's not locked in any practical sense.

 

[tangible1]

I dont think there is an equivalent, is there? I mean, yes, if you try to lock the car by other means (e.g. card key) then yes, it would be nice if the car warned you (but it would have to honk, I guess, since there is no other way .. it cant alert you on your phone, can it!).

With an ICE car, the car can tell (a) you have left key in car and (b) you tried to lock the car. But since with a Tesla you just walk away, the car has no idea you have left the car, though I suppose one day it could use the cameras to watch you walk away (but by then you might be out of earshot).

it doesn't auto-lock if the (paired) phone is inside.
just hitting the door handle unlocks/opens the car. as tested by Feathermerchan above.
not locked in any practical sense.

 

[E90alex]

as tested by Feathermerchan above, the car may appear to lock but merely hitting the door handle opens the car.
Because the (paired) phone is inside.....(yes nearby).
So it's not locked in any practical sense.

It’s locked as far as the car is concerned (lights flash and mirrors will fold). If you have another phone with the Tesla app logged into the same account it will show the car is in a locked state.

It just can be easily unlocked by anyone because the phone key is nearby.

 

[drtimhill]

it doesn't auto-lock if the (paired) phone is inside.
just hitting the door handle unlocks/opens the car. as tested by Feathermerchan above.
not locked in any practical sense.

That was my point .. the OP was asking if there was a way for the car to alert when the phone was left in the car, using ICE cars as an example. But, of course, there isnt a practical way the car can determine that, since it cant distinguish between you leaving the phone behind or staying with the car (though the car seat sensors could give it a clue).

 

[Feathermerchan]

Yeah they already use the seat sensor(s). If you are in 'gear' and you lift yourself off the seat it will go into park. A great safety feature that all cars should have.

And yes I verified that the car was locked using my wife's phone in the house. Also when you open the door it gives the unlock lights and horn.
Really the horn when locking is not irritable to me at all. It is a really short blast. That's what I listen for when walking away.
I forget to lock my F150 all the time because it requires pushing a button.

 

[jleeman]

You're not.
I thought I was the only one. Glad I;m not

Same !

 

[McRican]

I meet a friend for lunch every week. When we get out of our cars and start walking towards the restaurant, he hears the horn go off on my Tesla and then he remember he forgot to lock his Ford. It happens nearly every week.

 

[drtimhill]

I meet a friend for lunch every week. When we get out of our cars and start walking towards the restaurant, he hears the horn go off on my Tesla and then he remember he forgot to lock his Ford. It happens nearly every week.

Personally I'd like to get haptic feedback on my phone when the doors lock .. less invasive for other people (especially at night) and more convenient for me. I just listen for the whir of the mirrors folding when it's quiet on the street, or look over my shoulder and check as I walk away.

 

[SidetrackedSue]

TIL, if I lock my phone in the car on purpose (using the keycard), so, for example, my phone can keep charging, my car is still not really locked. If I wish to do that, turning off Bluetooth solves the 'problem' of the doors opening if anyone tries them.

I leave my phone in the car all the time by accident (black phone on black charging pad is not a visible reminder.) I solve that issue two ways:

1. Pin to drive so anyone getting in the car can't take it unless they know they can start the car via the app on my phone. If I leave my phone in the car by accident, in theory all that gets stolen in the phone.

2. Honk on walkaway lock. And while I apparently have been unable to train myself to take the phone when I leave, I have trained myself to listen and if I don't hear the honk, I check to make sure my phone is with me and lock the car with the app.