Car turns off every time I get in

[GregRF]

Wondering if anyone else is having this issue. I'm on 2018.16.1.

When I open a door the car will turn on, turn on the HVAC and generally start playing music from phone bluetooth, cool. But then I get in the car and shut the door and it turns it all off, sometimes for only a second, other times I have to tap the center screen to turn it back on. Then it will take awhile to reconnect the music. Not the end of the world, but annoying.

Many times I'm also dealing with kids in carseats, so I open a rear door, car turns on and get the kid buckled in, shut the door and the car turns off, open the front door, car turns on, get in and close the door and the car turns off, then as above it sometimes turns back on. Seems like this could be more of a timed feature then an automatic turn off when doors are closed.

 

[Scrutmonkey]

Do you push the brake first to get it "awake" so to speak?

 

[GregRF]

I doubt it. I generally get in, close the door, put on seat belt, then depress the brake, wait for change from easy entry profile and then put into gear.

I'll try the brake, but seems silly since the car should know I'm in the seat.

 

[TexasEV]

I doubt it. I generally get in, close the door, put on seat belt, then depress the brake, wait for change from easy entry profile and then put into gear.

I'll try the brake, but seems silly since the car should know I'm in the seat.

It’s not silly. There is no on/off switch as other cars have that don’t use ignition keys. “On” is a combination of weight in driver’s seat and foot on brake, same as in S and X. The car doesn’t know it’s you in the seat, it just senses weight. Hence the need to depress brake also.

 

[GregRF]

It’s not silly. There is no on/off switch as other cars have that don’t use ignition keys. “On” is a combination of weight in driver’s seat and foot on brake, same as in S and X. The car doesn’t know it’s you in the seat, it just senses weight. Hence the need to depress brake also.

I agree it would need this to be able to be put into driving gear. But to leave on the center screen, HVAC and stereo? If that can be on when any door is open, why does it not remain on when someone is in the drivers seat?

 

[MX1000]

I think once it senses weight, the seatbelt may have to be buckled before being able to shift and drive. So until then the car is “off”. I remember not being able to shift until I buckled in my seatbelt. You may want to try the sequence that GregRF noted as that’s what I do and don’t have a problem.

 

[GregRF]

I just got notified that my car has downloaded an update. So we'll see if this issue persists.

 

[Tdriver]

Possibly a faulty seat sensor.

 

[ooandyoo]

Mine started doing that last week but I just did a reset and everything returned back to normal.

 

[Krugerrand]

Wondering if anyone else is having this issue. I'm on 2018.16.1.

When I open a door the car will turn on, turn on the HVAC and generally start playing music from phone bluetooth, cool. But then I get in the car and shut the door and it turns it all off, sometimes for only a second, other times I have to tap the center screen to turn it back on. Then it will take awhile to reconnect the music. Not the end of the world, but annoying.

Many times I'm also dealing with kids in carseats, so I open a rear door, car turns on and get the kid buckled in, shut the door and the car turns off, open the front door, car turns on, get in and close the door and the car turns off, then as above it sometimes turns back on. Seems like this could be more of a timed feature then an automatic turn off when doors are closed.

It’s normal to have the car turn on when driver’s door is opened. It’s normal to have the car turn off if the driver’s door closes and NO one is in the driver’s seat. It’s NOT normal to have the car turn off if you sit in the driver’s seat and close the driver’s door - which seems to be the problem you are having.

1. Reboot the car
2. Reset Bluetooth on your phone
3. If neither of those fix the issue then you have some sort of other issue, like perhaps a flaky seat sensor

 

[SDKoala]

It's related to the seat weight sensor. The exact same thing happens to me. It was one of the things I had checked out when I took it in for service and the tech said it was firmware-related and could be fixed in a future update. (Though that could be the stock answer for anything not clearly mechanical.)

The way I get into a car is to simultaneously close the door and lift my butt off the seat slightly while pushing down on the floor with my feet to scoot back into the seat to settle in. It's hard to describe, but it's just the way I get in a car and I've done it the same way for decades. The exact timing of when I lift off the seat and close the door causes the car to think no one is in it and it turns everything off for a split second before it all turns on again. Nothing is actually broken because I know it only does this if my weight isn't fully in the seat.

The solution has been to wait until I'm more settled into the seat before closing the door. It feels strange because it's different from the tens of thousands of times I've gotten into a drivers seat. I suppose pushing the brake to "turn on" the car first should work too. Tesla could easily fix it by adding a delay that waits for a few seconds after the door is closed to power down the screen and HVAC.

And you definitely do not need to be buckled in to drive the car. I move my car in and out of my garage all the time without buckling the seat belt.

 

[GregRF]

After the update yesterday to 2018.18.3 it seemed better, but I think I may have just been taking things slower and more methodical.

I'm starting to think that like @SDKoala it is a symptom of how I get in the car and it seems that we have similar motions on how we slide into the car and close the door as we settle in. +1 for the slight delay feature into the door closure or more of a "debounce" filter to the seat sensor.

 

[supernoman]

Oh, maybe I have a problem then. I just got used to making sure I press the brake before I close the door. I didn't know it was supposed to sense me and it was ok to shut the door prior to pressing the brake. I'll have to check this again. I just upgraded to 2018.18.3 last night.

 

[supernoman]

Just tried in and car stays on when I close the door now! I get in the car like a normal person now.

 

[eli_]

I've been hitting this too intermittently, but don't think I'm bouncing on the seat or anything. I close the door and the A/C and screen shut off, and I need to hit the brake or tap the screen to wake it up again.

 

[GregRF]

Even after the update to 2018.18.3 this still seems to be happening. Over the weekend on one occasion I got in and the car stayed on, but then my wife got in the passenger seat and closed the door and it turned off again.

 

[WileyTheMan]

I agree that it sounds like a seat sensor thing. I don't see that at all. Take it in for service.

 

[Muhammad]

Happens to me as well. Just hold the brake down while closing the door and it won't turn off

 

[GregRF]

So I had Tesla mobile service come check this out yesterday. The guy checked the wiring to the seat and ran some diagnostics. He said something about the seat having strange readings or throwing errors so he went ahead and got a new seat ordered.

 

[SDKoala]

So I had Tesla mobile service come check this out yesterday. The guy checked the wiring to the seat and ran some diagnostics. He said something about the seat having strange readings or throwing errors so he went ahead and got a new seat ordered.

Was it more of an issue because of the car turns off when your wife gets in the passenger seat, or was the driver's seat problem enough to get them to change the seat?

Are they going to change just the driver's seat? I'd see if they can change out both because you could end up with mismatched seats.