Car "hijacks" phone audio while I'm at home.

[McQ14]

I searched for an answer to this but couldn't find anything more recent than 2017, so forgive me if it's been discussed more recently. And it may be a problem for all Teslas, not just the Model 3. But this never happened with any other of my Bluetooth enabled cars.

When I'm at home, using my iPhone, whether for a phone call or, most often, to listen to music, my Model 3, parked in the garage, will suddenly "steal" the audio. This will happen even if I'm nowhere near the car, like upstairs in my office, at the other end of the house. I'll go to play something on the phone, and there's no sound. Or my conversation will cut out because it's switched over to the car, charging in my garage.

I then have to go into my phone's settings, or pull down on the control panel and choose iPhone again in order to get my audio back. Not too difficult, but should be unnecessary.

So, a couple of questions:

1. is this happening to anyone else?
2. have you figured out how to make it stop happening?
3. would you please share that information here? Lol!

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

This will happen if you're in range, the car is on, and your device is paired. It shouldn't happen when the car is parked unless a door is open or something...

 

[Watts_Up]

This will happen if you're in range, the car is on, and your device is paired.
It shouldn't happen when the car is parked unless a door is open or something...

It's what I was wondering. When you walk away from your car, does your car locks itself (door locked and door mirrors folding)?
Also, did you selected to deactivate Sentry when at home? If so, after about 5 minutes the 12 V get deactivated unless you have AC Dog mode.

Note: To check if the 12 V get deactivated, I put a phone charger on top of the central console.
As long as the 12 V is on, the charger's little red light can be seen from outside of the car.

 

[McQ14]

This will happen if you're in range, the car is on, and your device is paired. It shouldn't happen when the car is parked unless a door is open or something...

Car is off. Definitely. Plugged in and charging but I hadn’t been in it for hours. No doors open. I checked for that too.

 

[McQ14]

It's what I was wondering. When you walk away from your car, does your car locks itself (door locked and door mirrors folding)?
Also, did you selected to deactivate Sentry when at home? If so, after about 5 minutes the 12 V get deactivated unless you have AC Dog mode.

Note: To check if the 12 V get deactivated, I put a phone charger on top of the central console.
As long as the 12 V is on, the charger's little red light can be seen from outside of the car.

I don’t lock the car at home in the garage. Sentry Mode is never on while in the garage.

I don’t use dog mode. I don’t understand what the 12V has to do with this issue. Can you clarify how it would be responsible?

 

[hugh_jassol]

I don’t lock the car at home in the garage.

How do you manage that? You have walk-away lock turned off? If you have the walk-up/walk-away unlock/lock it's no extra effort to just let it lock (unless you go into your car a lot without your phone with you)

So clearly your car is not "sleeping" - which it should do in about 15 min after you lock it. Maybe Teslas use that as a trigger to know when it's ok to sleep.

FWIW, if I'm not in my car, it's locked.

 

[Watts_Up]

I don’t understand what the 12V has to do with this issue.
Can you clarify how it would be responsible?

If your doesn't go to sleep mode, your battery will get drain rapidely.
I just wonder how you can take away your phone and keep your car unlocked.

 

[McQ14]

If your doesn't go to sleep mode, your battery will get drain rapidely.
I just wonder how you can take away your phone and keep your car unlocked.

My car goes into sleep mode fine when it is unlocked. As I already stated, my car is plugged in while it is in my garage. And since my garage is always locked, I leave the car unlocked at home. This is getting off the topic of the Bluetooth issue that I brought up.

 

[davewill]

It's certainly never happened to me. Something seems wrong. Unless the car is ON, not just awake, it shouldn't connect to your phone audio.

 

[McQ14]

How do you manage that? You have walk-away lock turned off? If you have the walk-up/walk-away unlock/lock it's no extra effort to just let it lock (unless you go into your car a lot without your phone with you)

So clearly your car is not "sleeping" - which it should do in about 15 min after you lock it. Maybe Teslas use that as a trigger to know when it's ok to sleep.

FWIW, if I'm not in my car, it's locked.

I don't lock it while it is in my locked garage, charging at night. I never have walk up/walk away locking on. I simply use my phone or my key fob to lock the car every time I get out of it. I do have to frequently go into my car while it's in my garage without my phone with me in order to put things in it, take things out of it, etc. for my job. But none of that has anything to do with the Bluetooth issue I brought up and is simply a personal choice. EDIT TO ADD: I mean that my car being unlocked shouldn't have anything to do with the Bluetooth connection. And my choosing to leave it unlocked in my garage is a personal choice.

FWIW, anytime I'm not in my car (other than when it's locked in my garage) it's locked and Sentry Mode is on.

And my car is sleeping while it's in the garage charging. It always has done so. Goes to sleep shortly after I leave it.

But back to the Bluetooth issue. Somehow when my phone plays music, or when I make calls (sometimes) in my house, it triggers something that causes the car to possibly "wake up" and take over the audio. That's what I'm trying to figure out.

 

[McQ14]

It's certainly never happened to me. Something seems wrong. Unless the car is ON, not just awake, it shouldn't connect to your phone audio.

Thanks, Dave. Yeah, that's what's confusing me about this. My car is not "on" after a short period of time once it's in the garage (maybe 15 minutes or so). So you're right - something seems wrong and that's what I'm hoping to figure out here before going to Tesla for the issue. I was hoping to find someone who has figured it out. This came up on other Tesla forums back in 2017 with some Model X and S owners, but the information I found on those seems to have fizzled out without being definitively solved. I hoped by resurrecting it that more people might be aware of it or have shared the problem.

Somehow the car is waking up when I use my phone in the house for music and sometimes for calls, and the audio is being switched over to the car.

 

[EVDRVN]

My car goes into sleep mode fine when it is unlocked. As I already stated, my car is plugged in while it is in my garage. This is getting off the topic of the Bluetooth issue that I brought up.

It's not off topic at all, there is a reason people are asking you these questions as it can relate to your issue.

 

[McQ14]

It's not off topic at all, there is a reason people are asking you these questions as it can relate to your issue.

It is absolutely off topic when people are asking me how I can take my phone away and leave my car unlocked in my garage. He literally wrote:

"If your doesn't go to sleep mode, your battery will get drain rapidely.
I just wonder how you can take away your phone and keep your car unlocked."

And the first sentence has nothing to do with this either, as he's making a statement about my battery draining if my car doesn't go to sleep. And I already had said that my car is plugged into the charger, and I already had said my car is off (aka asleep).

So I'd definitely say it's off topic.

 

[EVDRVN]

It is absolutely off topic when people are asking me how I can take my phone away and leave my car unlocked in my garage. He literally wrote:

"If your doesn't go to sleep mode, your battery will get drain rapidely.
I just wonder how you can take away your phone and keep your car unlocked."

And the first sentence has nothing to do with this either, as he's making a statement about my battery draining if my car doesn't go to sleep. And I already had said that my car is plugged into the charger, and I already had said my car is off (aka asleep).

So I'd definitely say it's off topic.

I'm sure you will get many people to help you with your attitude and inability to see what some people are getting at. Good luck. /S

 

[mswlogo]

The car can be “on” ( not sleeping ) for many reasons. But the Bluetooth Audio should not remain connected or reconnect once you leave the car.

Since OP has the walk away auto lock disabled it never triggers this step of shutting down.

I have walk away auto lock and I well within range of the car while in the house and never have it steal the audio away.

 

[McQ14]

The car can be “on” ( not sleeping ) for many reasons. But the Bluetooth Audio should not remain connected or reconnect once you leave the car.

Since OP has the walk away auto lock disabled it never triggers this step of shutting down.

I have walk away auto lock and I well within range of the car while in the house and never have it steal the audio away.

Yeah, this is what's confusing. The car does sleep. I know this because my charger handle becomes locked into the charge port after a period of time (aka when the car goes to sleep). This is what Tesla has told me directly. The car is definitely asleep, in my garage.

But something is waking it up sometimes when I use my phone, and I'm just unable to figure out what. I'll try to make sure that my Tesla app and my Stats app are not open on my phone as well, because I know using them wakes the car up too. I'm sure that in some cases they were on but in other cases they weren't even open. But I'll double check that.

 

[mswlogo]

Yeah, this is what's confusing. The car does sleep. I know this because my charger handle becomes locked into the charge port after a period of time (aka when the car goes to sleep). This is what Tesla has told me directly. The car is definitely asleep, in my garage.

But something is waking it up sometimes when I use my phone, and I'm just unable to figure out what. I'll try to make sure that Tesla app and my Stats app are not open on my phone as well, because I know using them wakes the car up too. I'm sure that in some cases they were on but in other cases they weren't even open. But I'll double check that.

The car will wake to certain levels on its own normally. It might be then that it reconnects because you never “left” the car as far as it’s concerned.

My phone disconnects when it locks and stays disconnected even if the car is woken. Only if I unlock the door will the phone connect.

What’s funny is I know the audio amp in the rear is powered any time the car is not fully asleep (because I tapped it for power). But seems smart enough to not connect to the phone.

The auto locking in the garage is a PITA. But it works flawless everywhere else and well worth having it on. I’m in and out of my car all the time too when the garage. I was thinking of leaving a key card in the garage for when I forget my phone.

 

[McQ14]

The car will wake to certain levels on its own normally. It might be then that it reconnects because you never “left” the car as far as it’s concerned.

My phone disconnects when it locks and stays disconnected even if the car is woken. Only if I unlock the door will the phone connect.

What’s funny is I know the audio amp in the rear is powered any time the car is not fully asleep (because I tapped it for power). But seems smart enough to not connect to the phone.

The auto locking in the garage is a PITA. But it works flawless everywhere else and well worth having it on. I’m in and out of my car all the time too when the garage. I was thinking of leaving a key card in the garage for when I forget my phone.

This seems logical (although why the car thinks I've never if my butt is not in the seat is beyond me, lol!). Interesting about the audio amp in the rear still having power when the car is not fully asleep (possible cause?).

I'm amazed mine is connecting considering the distance I'm at from the car. No closer than 20 feet, and usually around 40 to 50 feet. And up on the second floor.

Yeah, I'd rather not lock the car in the garage but if it will stop the audio from switching it might be worth it. Stinks when I'm on a phone call and suddenly neither of us can hear one another. I will give it a try for a few days and if it stops the problem I may just suck it up and try really hard to remember to take myphone with me as I'm packing and unpacking the car every day. If I forget it then I get extra steps in for that day. Can't hurt!

Thanks for the responses and the information!

 

[mswlogo]

This seems logical (although why the car thinks I've never if my butt is not in the seat is beyond me, lol!). Interesting about the audio amp in the rear still having power when the car is not fully asleep (possible cause?).

I'm amazed mine is connecting considering the distance I'm at from the car. No closer than 20 feet, and usually around 40 to 50 feet. And up on the second floor.

Yeah, I'd rather not lock the car in the garage but if it will stop the audio from switching it might be worth it. Stinks when I'm on a phone call and suddenly neither of us can hear one another. I will give it a try for a few days and if it stops the problem I may just suck it up and try really hard to remember to take myphone with me as I'm packing and unpacking the car every day. If I forget it then I get extra steps in for that day. Can't hurt!

Thanks for the responses and the information!

It’s very frustrating why all the “stuff” has to be “on” any time the car is awake. It’s why things like Sentry Mode are so expensive. It’s very odd that there isn’t better granular control over what needs to be on when. But it is what it is right now.

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

I don’t think your car should be doing that. I’d guess try the normal reboot by holding in both the buttons on the wheel. If it’s still doing it, probably call Tesla.