Auto Open Risk, Or is it just me?

[rmacey]

I like the homelink auto-close feature, but I have a problem with the auto-open feature. When I arrive home, the auto-open feature is not auto-open. It is auto-press-the-button. By that I mean if the garage door is open, it closes it. This is a problem because on those rare occasions when the door is open upon my arrival I run the risk of crashing into it. I almost ran into it yesterday. My first question is whether this only happens to me? Is it supposed to sense the door is open or closed and only open it if it is closed?

The second question relates the the user interface and which is why I am posting here. I like the auto close. Whenever I leave I want the door to close. But when I arrive I do not want auto-open for the reason I mention above. But the interface seems to let me have just auto-open or both auto-open and auto-close, but not just auto-close. Is this correct? Why not just auto-close?

Finally, could my problem with the auto-open have to do with the distance from the garage at which the car is supposed to open the door? Might I be too far away that it thinks the door is closed when it is not? If so, how can I change the distance? I didn't see it in the settings. Thanks.

 

[kort677]

AFAIK the auto function is not very sophisticated it just "hits" the on button on your opener, if the door is open it will close, if it is closed it will open it.

there are a few very easy solutions, observe the position of the door upon approach, if it was left open and the homelink is closing it upon arrival STOP, press button to reverse the door.
you could keep the door closed at all times it isn't being used or lastly do not use the auto feature.
I do believe that the range could be manually set, I'll let the more informed users address that.

 

[mrElbe]

Most garage door openers are a toggle switch. When closed it opens the door, when open it closes the door. There is no way the Tesla can sense the status of the garage door since no status signal is transmitted from the garage door opener.

 

[Todd Burch]

The Homelink auto feature shows a menu on the main screen before it "presses" the button for you. On this menu is a "Skip" button. You are supposed to press this button if the door is already open and you don't want the car to do it for you.

I agree it would be neat for the car to detect using its radar whether the door is open or not. But to do that, you'd have to get aligned in front of it and decently close--which means you then would have to wait for the door to open. That might not be an ideal approach. Perhaps the camera could be used for image recognition to determine if the door is open, but that becomes a much more advanced application.

I'd prefer them to clean up some more basic stuff first before tackling that kind of project, since a simple button press solves the problem for now.

 

[mgboyes]

Warning: sensitive viewers may find the following distressing:

Yes I think auto-open / auto-close have some serious usability issues.
I have a 2 channel door system (i.e. separate signals for open and close) so am immune to this sort of issue, but the way TM have implemented the feature I can't use auto-close since it can't be enabled on a channel without auto-open also being active.

 

[alwaysru]

Warning: sensitive viewers may find the following distressing:

That driver wasn't paying attention at all. If you enter your driveway at a safe speed and are paying attention, the auto-open becoming an auto-close should not be an issue.

 

[mgboyes]

That driver wasn't paying attention at all. If you enter your driveway at a safe speed and are paying attention, the auto-open becoming an auto-close should not be an issue.

Actually he insists that at no point during that process was the moving garage door visible in his rear view mirror, wing mirrors, or reversing camera, up until the very last second when it was too late to stop. At the point that auto-open triggered he was already near enough to the garage that the reversing camera could not see the door (because the camera is angled downwards for parking).

The footage is from a rear dash cam which has a completely different viewpoint than you'd be able to get from the driver's seat.

The driver owns a garage door automatiion business so is fully familiar with this tech. He simly did not see the door until it was too late.

He has now added LED lighting strips on either side of the door which light green when it is safe to drive, blue when opening and red when closing.

In any case who cares whether he was paying attention. The point is that this is a convenience feature which for lots of owners is actually not very convenient.

 

[Knobby]

Actually, I don't have this feature, although it is in the release notes. Does anyone know if it works with classic S? Or is it not available in Canada?

 

[BertL]

Yes, I use auto-open and it has worked flawlessly for me since it first came out, but I DO NOT depend upon it opening my door while my MS is in the garage only a foot away from the garage door, nor do I disavow myself of the responsibility to look at the status of the door before my MS goes under or through it. That's just asking for trouble given the MS and garage have no reliable intelligence between them. My process works every time, is simple and repeatable:

Leaving while parked in my garage:

- I manually open my garage door via the hardwired opener or via manual touch on my MS 17", and visually check its fully open before starting my MS as I have every one of my vehicles for years
- As I back out, MS presents countdown and lowers my door as I'm exiting the end of my driveway onto the street. Perfect.
​

Arriving home to park in the garage:

- As I come down my street, MS presents countdown and raises my door just as I approach the end of my driveway. Perfect.
- I pull in, noting the garage door is fully up before I do so, and park
- I generally close the garage door by manual touch via MS 17", but sometimes do it later via hardwired opener if I need more room behind to remove stuff in the trunk​

My MS and Homelink handle half of the open/close process I have to go through, still making me feel like I'm in the Jetson's every time it does, but IMHO I'm taking no additional risks this way and it's become part of my unique-to-Tesla routine.

I absolutely will not use auto open or close with summon. I don't and won't trust it with existing technologies.

 

[strider]

I like the homelink auto-close feature, but I have a problem with the auto-open feature. When I arrive home, the auto-open feature is not auto-open. It is auto-press-the-button. By that I mean if the garage door is open, it closes it. This is a problem because on those rare occasions when the door is open upon my arrival I run the risk of crashing into it. I almost ran into it yesterday. My first question is whether this only happens to me? Is it supposed to sense the door is open or closed and only open it if it is closed?

As mrElbe stated, there's no way for the car to know if the door is open or closed. Garage door openers don't signal their state to the opener.

The second question relates the the user interface and which is why I am posting here. I like the auto close. Whenever I leave I want the door to close. But when I arrive I do not want auto-open for the reason I mention above. But the interface seems to let me have just auto-open or both auto-open and auto-close, but not just auto-close. Is this correct? Why not just auto-close?

I think the just auto-open is for people with electric gates. Those typically need to be opened via signal but close on their own using a sensor in the ground. If the car sent a "close" signal it would end up opening the gate again.

As someone else posted, this tech is still quite primitive. Maybe in the future with a better sensor suite the car will be able to "see" the garage door (or they'll make GDO's with 2-way communication) and do the right thing but we're not there yet. If you're at risk of hitting the door you should disable the feature. The couple of seconds to press the screen is much cheaper than a trip to the body shop.

Finally, could my problem with the auto-open have to do with the distance from the garage at which the car is supposed to open the door? Might I be too far away that it thinks the door is closed when it is not? If so, how can I change the distance? I didn't see it in the settings. Thanks.

It still won't know if the garage is up or down but you can change the distance by going into the Homelink page. There's a "reset location" button that will change the location at which it sends the signal to wherever the car is currently sitting.

 

[AWDtsla]

That driver wasn't paying attention at all. If you enter your driveway at a safe speed and are paying attention, the auto-open becoming an auto-close should not be an issue.

This is NOT true. I've hit my door before, because it was open half way when I was under it. It is NOT visible in any mirror or the rear camera. The door stopped basically right on the back edge of the roof glass.

 

[CHG-ON]

My auto open/close works flawlessly unless I have confused it by manually overriding the feature. I live alone, so my door is always open or closed based on my coming or going. If I am washing the car or doing other things where I pull the car out and don't want it to open/close, I have an issue for only one cycle. Then back to normal. Mine initiates open/close about 20 ft from my garage, which just so happens to be the end of my driveway. How perfectly convenient is that?! I can certainly see if you have multiple people in the house, where the door would not be where the car expects it to be when it pulls up and it would initiate the wrong command. I am not aware of a garage door opener that is sophisticated enough to tell a transmitter its status. The car, as of now, certainly can't deduce that. might not ever be able to without much better communication.

As far as the poor soul who plowed into the door...: Did ya look first??? I ALWAYS DO. Sorry for being insensitive. I back in too and always confirm that the door is open. I also always confirm that it closes before I drive off. Seems pretty common sense to me. I will never trust computers to the extent where I will simply give all control over. No matter what the programmers say, they make mistakes too. And I come from the industry.

 

[ohmman]

It's funny how I was reading this thinking, "boy, people don't pay much attention." Then I read the comments about people backing in. Ah.. paradigm shift. The best way to work around this is just disable auto-open. The second best way is to pull into your garage instead of backing in - but I realize that's not always possible or desired.

 

[Rockster]

I'm paranoid about the garage door hitting my car. For that reason, I manually open the door with the wall button when I walk into the garage. By the time I'm in the car and ready to back out, I can verify that the door has fully opened and is no longer moving. After backing out, I wait until I'm in the driveway and then close the door via manual touch on the main display.

Returning home, however, I have the car set to automatically open the garage door. Because I must slow considerably to make a 90-degree turn into my driveway, by the time I'm ready to enter the garage I can verify that the door has opened fully and is no longer moving. Then, I pull in and later close the door using the wall switch.

For me, this best balances risk and convenience.

 

[brkaus]

Given the operation of garage doors, I think the engineers should have not proceeded with this approach once they evaluated it. Most doors do not have an open/close sensor. Most doors only have a single function push button. Many don't even have the safety beam sensor configured correctly.

There are some on the market that do know up/down and can be internet controlled. I don't know if the RF interface knows about the current door status.

Liftmaster has an 829LM open/close sensor that interfaces w/ existing door and the internet.

To me, the risk/reward isn't high enough for this functionality. Summon in/out of a spot yes. Also controlling a door, not really.

 

[calisnow]

...This is a problem because on those rare occasions when the door is open upon my arrival I run the risk of crashing into it. I almost ran into it yesterday. My first question is whether this only happens to me?

I'm trying to imagine how one could crash into one's own garage door unless one is completely not looking in the direction one is driving. Do you mean to say that if the door is open the auto feature will shut it on you and the door risks closing on your roof as you drive in the garage? And if that is the case don't your garage door's motion sensors stop that from happening?

 

[calisnow]

Warning: sensitive viewers may find the following distressing:

Yes I think auto-open / auto-close have some serious usability issues.
I have a 2 channel door system (i.e. separate signals for open and close) so am immune to this sort of issue, but the way TM have implemented the feature I can't use auto-close since it can't be enabled on a channel without auto-open also being active.

I'm just going to say it - the driver of that Tesla is a complete moron. If they don't see that door coming down they have no business driving on public roads.

 

[ohmman]

I'm just going to say it - the driver of that Tesla is a complete moron. If they don't see that door coming down they have no business driving on public roads.

It was mentioned upthread that they were backing in. And the camera/roof obscured this from happening, plus they were likely looking backwards so they missed the "Cancel" dialog on the 17". Once you realize it's a rear facing camera, it makes a lot more sense.

 

[calisnow]

This issue is one of those automation "problems" on which a person uses up way more time trying to solve than they would ever save even over a lifetime of just reaching their arm out and hitting the garage door opener button.

My best friend spent hours and hours and hundreds of dollars purchasing and programming a setup which allowed him to do things like close his drapes from his couch. He got pissed off when I pointed out that there was no way he would ever get his time investment back.

 

[calisnow]

It was mentioned upthread that they were backing in. And the camera/roof obscured this from happening, plus they were likely looking backwards so they missed the "Cancel" dialog on the 17". Once you realize it's a rear facing camera, it makes a lot more sense.

I still say he's a moron. I shattered the rear glass on my Infiniti QX56 years ago by backing into a sprinkler pipe in a parking lot - instead of slowly paying attention and craning my neck around I relied on the backup monitor and tried to reverse into a parking spot way too fast. I was a moron for that.