Couldn’t wake the car

[Darthbenji]

This morning the app would not wake the car. I wanted to set the climate. I walked up to it and it unlocked and then the app worked. Any ideas? Tried my phone on wifi and LTE.

 

[daniel]

I get lousy cell service from AT&T in my garage (strong signal from Verizon!) and as a result when the car is in my garage the app will almost never wake the car. I think maybe twice in the three months I've had the car the app was able to wake it up. It almost always works to unlock the car, but otherwise the app is useless for me. If your cell service at the car is marginal it could explain why sometimes the app can't connect to the car.

 

[chronopc]

I noticed that if the LTE signal in the car is weak, the app will not be able to connect to it. Happened to me this weekend when I was at the winery up in the hills.

 

[Darthbenji]

Ok. I’ll take a close look at the signal strength in my driveway. Thanks for the info.

 

[Napboy]

Will this get better when wifi is enabled?

 

[chronopc]

Will this get better when wifi is enabled?

I would imagine so. My co worker has the Model 3 and he lives up in the hills and he has a lot of trouble connecting to the car. His wife has the X and she doesn't have any problems since it has wifi functionality.

 

[daniel]

Will this get better when wifi is enabled?

My assumption is that enabling wi-fi will solve the problem, if you have wi-fi within reach of the car. (I do.) Of course, there could be other issues with the app or the server at Tesla's end, but my hope is that wi-fi will solve it.

 

[Napboy]

I would imagine so. My co worker has the Model 3 and he lives up in the hills and he has a lot of trouble connecting to the car. His wife has the X and she doesn't have any problems since it has wifi functionality.

Here's to hoping we get wifi enabled in 6-9 months

 

[_TLA_]

I find it can take a few minutes to wake the car up, I'll get a message at the bottom of the app that says 'Waking up' and I'll get a spinning icon on the bottom right. I just have to wait long enough, and it usually connects. Sometimes I get impatient and will kill the phone app (android) and restart it. Not sure if that helps get it connected but it helps pass the time while waiting

 

[daniel]

In my case I can go out to the car and see that there are no bars for the cell connection. Other times I'll watch the spinning icon until it times out and tells me it failed to connect. I've done that as many as three times in a row.

 

[slipnslider]

The problem is you were trying to use your phone as a car key. Phones weren't meant for that.

 

[chronopc]

The problem is you were trying to use your phone as a car key. Phones weren't meant for that.

If you're talking about a flip phone then yes. But come on, a smart phone is essentially a computer. It can handle opening a car door.

 

[Boourns]

Back before they redid the app last year it would hardly ever wake my S without having to kill the app and restart it. The new version is much better - even more so with my 3 - but still times out sometimes. I find if I kill the app and restart it always works the second time.

 

[Darthbenji]

Just now I went to get my ownership. Unlocked with the phone no problem and I popped the glove box on screen. As I’m going back to my house I figure I’ll plug it in. Grab the hpwc and hit the button on the end. Nuttin. Two or three times, nuttin. Pull my phone out to open the port and it’s spinning not connected. I have wifi on the phone and turn it off and see three bars of LTE. Port still won’t open via hpwc and the phone app says network error. I get in the car and see three bars of 3G on the screen and my phone is still on LTE. Won’t connect. Reboot the app and still nothing. I open the charge port on screen, plug it in and go inside wondering what the hell is going on. Phone back on wifi and it connects to the car via the app. Aaaaak!!!!

 

[TexasEV]

The problem is you were trying to use your phone as a car key. Phones weren't meant for that.

No, we’ve been connecting to the Model S with the phone app since 2012. This is different from using it as a key. Sometimes it takes longer to wake up. The Model S and X have an “always connected” option which can speed up the process, at the expense of slightly higher vampire drain. The Model 3 does not have this check box— I don’t know if that means always connected is on for everyone, or off for everyone.

 

[Canuck]

I spent the weekend with the 3 at my cabin which is outside of cell phone coverage. Even though the app can't connect to the car, and it won't update, etc., it still lets you do whatever an S fob can do, such as unlocking and popping the trunk or frunk. It's really too bad it can't do more unless the car is connected but once it can connect to wifi it will be much better.

 

[Carrera]

I've had this happen multiple times in at least two different locations. I do have terrible AT&T reception at my home so I'll check that.

 

[Darthbenji]

I don’t understand why my hpwc won’t open the charge port. It’s worked once!

 

[chronopc]

I don’t understand why my hpwc won’t open the charge port. It’s worked once!

I noticed my car has to be unlocked before I can unlock the charge port. I tried pushing the button when my car was locked and it didn't do anything.

 

[daniel]

As long as the car is unlocked, you can open the charge port by pressing lightly on its lower corner. I've never opened it any other way except once when I wanted to see what the little lightning bolt on the screen was for.