Charging Cable Stolen While Charging

[toolman335]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. It's not what you want to think about. People suck. Teslas are basically marked vehicles.
That being said, there way no way that I was going to buy my Tesla without being able to charge in a garage. I would use a supercharger that's 5 min down the road if I didn't have a garage. I'd never charge outside(and I have good lighting and a security system).
Charging inside the garage is my favorite part about owning the car. There are many other reasons that I love it, but garage charging is the clear-cut #1.

 

[SoManyM3s]

Was the car actively charging at the time?

What was the outside temp?

Actively charging, I had just plugged in around an hour before. Outside temp was around 40F

 

[brkaus]

Actively charging, I had just plugged in around an hour before. Outside temp was around 40F

That sucks. I wonder if the "actively charging" part doesn't matter - because once the button is pushed the car is no longer actively charging and thus might unlock the charge port if under 41 degrees to avoid freezing in place.

 

[MP3Mike]

That sucks. I wonder if the "actively charging" part doesn't matter - because once the button is pushed the car is no longer actively charging and thus might unlock the charge port if under 41 degrees to avoid freezing in place.

If they unplug the UMC from the outlet you would no longer be actively charging...

 

[Ben W]

Mine just got stolen last night

got a notification for charging interrupted, immediately went to the deck to check on the car and Charger was gone. I called 911 and they had caught the guy because somebody had called the police as he was carrying a bunch of stuff. Got the charger back but I don’t know how he was able to remove it from the car and if there’s any damage to the port or charger, both work and look fine.

the car was 100% locked.

Sounds like an identical situation to mine (except that you luckily got your cable back). Definitely ask Tesla to pull the logs to find out why the charging port wasn't locked. Did you get any video?

 

[SoManyM3s]

Sounds like an identical situation to mine (except that you luckily got your cable back). Definitely ask Tesla to pull the logs to find out why the charging port wasn't locked. Did you get any video?

Nope, it's a locked garage with cars coming and going so sentry mode records all the time if I leave it on. So I leave it off. They caught the guy so thankfully didn't need the footage. But I have turned on sentry mode from now on. Not taking any risks.

 

[Ben W]

That sucks. I wonder if the "actively charging" part doesn't matter - because once the button is pushed the car is no longer actively charging and thus might unlock the charge port if under 41 degrees to avoid freezing in place.

I've had the same thought. I think they really should put in at least a 5-minute delay after a button press to prevent casual theft. (If the car is in the middle of charging, then after a button press pauses the charging, the charging will resume. The charge port should not unlock during this pause.)

 

[Ben W]

Nope, it's a locked garage with cars coming and going so sentry mode records all the time if I leave it on. So I leave it off. They caught the guy so thankfully didn't need the footage. But I have turned on sentry mode from now on. Not taking any risks.

Tesla recently added the "Save Clip on Honk" feature. Perhaps they should add "Save Clip on Charging Interruption", or any other occurrence that could potentially be theft. Even if the cameras start recording at that moment, rather than having been on continuously as in Sentry Mode, that's still better than nothing.

 

[Ben W]

MYSTERY SOLVED. The walk-away lock failed to engage because the car had lost the Bluetooth key connection to my phone during the drive. And the reason it lost the connection is that I have two Teslas on my account, we were driving the same route together, and I had switched inside the app to check where the other car was, and forgot to switch back. So when I got home, the car failed to walk-away lock and I didn't realize it.

I'm going to suggest to Tesla that if the car detects this condition (bluetooth connection used to start the car but lost during the drive), the screen should pop up a warning to the driver on exit (when the car is put into park) that the walk-away lock is disabled. Probably send a notification to the phone as well.

I'll also suggest that the phone app should simply maintain the Bluetooth connection to all of the cars on the account; not just the currently selected car in the app. (E.g. if I walk to my driveway, it should unlock both cars.) There's no technical reason why it shouldn't be able to do this. That also would have saved me here.

 

[drdumont]

Lots of good anti-theft ideas here.

I've dealt with a similar issue, when I was running TV trucks we had someone steal 3 pieces 150' of 2/0 power cable while it was live. Unplugged it, ignored the very large arc, and off they went.
Get a suitable chain from a hardware store, wrap it around the cable once and padlock it as tight as you can. Get enough chain to padlock it so something else handy. Even a concrete parking log (in Puerto Rico, we called them 'sleeping policemen') will do.
It will slow a thief down, at least.

 

[Cubsfan16]

Actively charging, I had just plugged in around an hour before. Outside temp was around 40F

I can remove my charge cable while charging by pushing the button on the cable even when the car is locked and phone not connected to Bluetooth. It is below 41 degrees but I haven’t been able to test this in warmer temps yet.

 

[BEPA400]

I can remove my charge cable while charging by pushing the button on the cable even when the car is locked and phone not connected to Bluetooth. It is below 41 degrees but I haven’t been able to test this in warmer temps yet.

just tested between 33-38 and same. Tried while charging and after charging complete. Bluetooth off and both ways let me unplug the cable. Wtf. Temperature dependent isn’t a reason to unlock my cable! So dumb.
At least all this time I have the bulky part of the cable on the other side of a metal door jamb so they can’t take my cable. But still.. should at least let me set to indefinite lock at home if wanted!

 

[brkaus]

@BEPA400 the temperature is the reason though. They were freezing in if a bit of moisture got in.

yes, should be redesigned to avoid the problem.

 

[srs5694]

just tested between 33-38 and same. Tried while charging and after charging complete. Bluetooth off and both ways let me unplug the cable. Wtf. Temperature dependent isn’t a reason to unlock my cable! So dumb.

Last winter, there were problems with the locking mechanism freezing, leaving drivers tethered to their charging equipment and unable to drive. Leaving the mechanism unlocked in freezing weather was implemented as a workaround to that problem. Personally, I prefer the way it is to the possibility that I'd be unable to use my car because it's locked to an EVSE or Supercharger. (Yes, there are workarounds, like using a hair dryer or chemical hand-warmers to thaw out the charge port; but if you don't happen to have those tools available when the charge port is frozen, you're screwed. Even if you have them, they take time to work.)

Obviously, redesigning the hardware so it can't freeze in this way is the best solution; but that's likely to be an expensive one that can't be implemented immediately. It also won't help people who already own affected cars, unless the new design can be swapped in for the old one in a cost-effective way.

 

[brkaus]

I do like the override idea. Good weather. In a parking garage. Etc.

plus, why 41 degrees?