Car broken into, no smashing, as if it had been unlocked. What happened? [from 2019]

[C141medic]

As other’s have mentioned, sometimes the car doesn’t auto lock after you walk away. I’ve had this happen in a few occasions. The tell tale sign is not hearing a horn honk as you’re walking away. I then open up the app and have to lock it manually.

 

[SMAlset]

You guys were all absolutely right. I ran a few re-creations of the traumatic event and I'm 100% certain that either:

1. I didn't TOTALLY get the door shut when I closed it, or
   
2. I used the keycard and the phone key wasn't properly connected (my phone bluetooth is finicky). This is something I would forget about and not register in my tiny brain.

Thank you all for chiming in about this, and I hope that my idiocy might serve as a reminder to everyone to be careful. It gives a lot of credence to the old quip, "it may be that the purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others."

Learning from each other is why we are all here.

 

[SMAlset]

Very sorry to hear that happened. I find that the driver's door on my Model 3 requires a decent amount of force to close. When I first got the car, I walked away from it several times and came back to find the door slightly ajar and the car had not locked. Now I'm very careful to double check it before I walk away and make sure I hear the horn beep.

The seals on the doors will break in over time and won't require such a hard close.

 

[Atari2600]

I have the horn chirp when locking. However I wasn't paying attention two days ago when we went somewhere to eat and one of my kids did not close the door all the way. The first tip off was when I tried to turn cooling on right before we left and it said one of the doors was open and refused to cool the car. Nothing bad happened but it would be nice if the app would send a door ajar alert to your phone when you walk out of range.

 

[Ferengii]

Doesn't sound like your situation but do remember if you use your card key to open your car (like maybe the phone doesn't connect so you use that instead to gain entry) the Walk-Away Lock will not work.

I’m also new to Tesla and was confused by a door locking situation I didn’t understand. Checking the Owner’s Manual, I found this section which explained what happened:

“If all doors are closed and Model 3 was automatically unlocked by your authenticated phone, walk-away locking is temporarily suspended for one minute. If you open a door within this minute, it will not re-lock until all the doors are closed and you have walked away with the authenticated phone.”

In any event, I now listen for the chirp to confirm locked doors. I think I’ll add the folding mirrors setting as additional confirmation.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

Perhaps the option of a push notification when your car locks/unlocks may be desirable.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

door was slightly ajar and my valuables (fortunately not much) stolen.

They weren't able to get into the glove box were they?

One nice feature on the stats app is it will lock the doors for you if it sees you're away from the car and it's not locked. The car is supposed to do this but I'd say about 3% of the time it doesn't and I get notified the app did it. It's kind of a backup.

Will the Stats app notify you if the door is left open after you walk away? If not, I wonder if that feature could be added.

 

[nvx1977]

it would be nice if the app would send a door ajar alert to your phone when you walk out of range.

That's a great feature request. I'm going to send it via the feedback form now.

 

[SJC3]

Another scenario that can slip one’s mind is when you turn off your phone BT while in the car, and then forget to turn it back on. Ive also left the door ajar and walked away, which is why I use the annoyingly cheap horn beep confirmation...a nice beep like Toyota or bmw would have been nice.

 

[jruben4]

Not sure about that - but I have gotten warnings that the door was open, I think those came from the stats app.

have you tested to see if the Stats app will auto lock if the doors aren't fully shut?

I have my auto lock horn turned off. I may need to turn it back on just to be safe.

 

[jgillette]

As someone else mentioned earlier, the Stats app on the iPhone will notify you if you leave something open. I get the "you left the trunk open" message occasionally when I don't close it hard enough.

 

[Matt L]

They weren't able to get into the glove box were they?


Will the Stats app notify you if the door is left open after you walk away? If not, I wonder if that feature could be added.

Yes and it will lock the car if for some reason it doesn’t lock.

 

[mickle]

As my phone key doesn't work much at all, I open the car with the key card. When leaving the car, I open the drivers door, then hit the lock icon on the screen, then get out and shut the door. Works every time.

 

[Candleflame]

someone probably just ran to the car when you left.

I once had a phone stolen that way. Went to LIDL to buy just 1 item and forgot to lock my car. Left my phone in my car. When I came back my phone was gone. I was only at LIDL for 3min tops.

My dad says there are scoundels who specialize in this sort of thing at car parks.

 

[Artofangie]

oh I am so glad I set the car to sound a horn when in walk a way mode. This is my biggest fear!

 

[roblab]

As I don't carry around a bunch of stuff, I have no need to worry about whether the car locked or not. There's nothing to steal. Anything valuable is in the trunk well under the floor, or more likely at home. I'm from the old school (like back when they had only one room) and we didn't haul our stuff around with us. Never had any of my Teslas broken into, never lost anything, never had anything stolen. Leaving things in plain sight is asking for trouble. They don't break in when there's nothing visible.

I've heard stories of a fellow who had a pet python which liked to lay on the rear package shelf in the warm sun. He never bothered to lock his car, and never had anything stolen.

 

[UncertainTimes]

As I don't carry around a bunch of stuff, I have no need to worry about whether the car locked or not. There's nothing to steal. Anything valuable is in the trunk well under the floor, or more likely at home. I'm from the old school (like back when they had only one room) and we didn't haul our stuff around with us. Never had any of my Teslas broken into, never lost anything, never had anything stolen. Leaving things in plain sight is asking for trouble. They don't break in when there's nothing visible.

I've heard stories of a fellow who had a pet python which liked to lay on the rear package shelf in the warm sun. He never bothered to lock his car, and never had anything stolen.

Imma come for yo floor mats

 

[sduck]

2 year old thread - necrobumped, just so y'all are aware

 

[Gasaraki]

2 year old thread - necrobumped, just so y'all are aware

This has been happening a lot. New people replying to old ass threads with stupid comments. Why people?

 

[MikeyMikeD]