Car access via phone without key card

[RubberToe]

I forgot my key card and am heading into red Rock canyon without cell service. Just want to confirm that "phone as key" via Bluetooth will lock/unlock without active cell phone coverage. Pretty sure it will, but sometimes I need to unlock via the phone app as walk up unlock doesn't always work.

Thanks in advance

RT

 

[jjrandorin]

Phone as key will work without cell service, it uses bluetooth LE. If you are someplace without cell service, unlocking via the app wont work, but phone as key will work unless there is something else going on.

So, it should work fine, however there have been situations where people have reported sporadic issues. I never go anywhere without my keycard but have actually never needed to use it to enter the car when I have my phone, since I picked up the car in 2018. Definitely read that others have sometimes had an issue though... but like I said, its designed to work without cell signal.

 

[RubberToe]

Yeah, I ended up staying in the car for the drive through Red Rock Canyon, just hopped out once and left the door open to take some pictures. My first words of advice for anyone who will be driving the car is you must have possession of the key card at all times! Mine is in my wallet, but I took it out before the trip to go clean the windows and forgot to put it back in.

 

[BitJam]

In that situation you may want to disable auto-lock so you don't need to leave the door open.

 

[iamnid]

I've found, in the rare occasions where phone as a key doesn't work (e.g. I restarted my phone and forgot to reopen the tesla app) I can hold my phone up to the B pillar and that unlocks the car - so that's worth a try as well. Sometimes that's faster than opening the app.