Door handle behavior with key fob out of range

[davinci2017]

I noticed something a bit odd yesterday, not sure if this is "Expected" behavior but to me it felt odd.

Came back home parked in the garage, took something out of the back but appear to have closed the rear door "partially". In that you cannot pull the door open without pulling the handle, yet the door isn't registered as closed by the car

But I walked away without noticing this and after 10 min or so came back to the garage without the key with me for some other reason. Upon entering garage, noticed that the A/C was still running in the car and the screen was active. Worse yet, the handles were all open as well.
I went and opened the rear door with the handle and then closed the door shut, the car immediately locked itself as soon as I closed the door and retracted the handles, too little too late?

I'm not sure but I didn't feel as though this was ideal. One could do the same in a parking lot and the car remains completely unlocked and accessible without any alarms. I understand the car thinks the door is still open and does not know, but once the key fob is out of the cars range, the car should behave differently.

Why did the handles stay open even after the key left the range? I think the handles should retract/open only based on keyfob presence or via the phone, once neither is in play, the car should pull them in as a safety mechanism until the key fob comes back within range.

Also the car should ideally send a text or alert to the phone when the key has left the range and the car is not locked and remains running without instructions from the app. Something like, "Car door(s) open, key not in range" or something like that. Makes sense?

 

[azred]

After I wash my S and want to thoroughly dry the handles, I deliberately leave a door ajar and lay the fob inside the garage out of range -- and then the handles will remain extended as long as I like. What you propose may make sense but in the meantime make sure you shut everything tight before walking away. For the owner who worries that the car isn't lock, that person can check the mobile app.

If your proposal was implemented I would be frustrated when washing the car since the handles don't remain extended very long in the presence of the fob.

 

[ABVA]

After I wash my S and want to thoroughly dry the handles, I deliberately leave a door ajar and lay the fob inside the garage out of range -- and then the handles will remain extended as long as I like. What you propose may make sense but in the meantime make sure you shut everything tight before walking away. For the owner who worries that the car isn't lock, that person can check the mobile app.

If your proposal was implemented I would be frustrated when washing the car since the handles don't remain extended very long in the presence of the fob.

I agree with you azred. Sometimes, car does not detect the fob while driving (could be caused by weak fob battery, fob in contact with other magnetic elements in your pocket, etc.). In those scenarios the driver has the ability to continue and finish the drive. However, if what OP is suggesting ever gets implemented, you are looking at potentially life threatening situations. Imagine driving down a major highway at 75+ mph and car powers off (hope there is no big truck behind the driver).

 

[davinci2017]

I agree with you azred. Sometimes, car does not detect the fob while driving (could be caused by weak fob battery, fob in contact with other magnetic elements in your pocket, etc.). In those scenarios the driver has the ability to continue and finish the drive. However, if what OP is suggesting ever gets implemented, you are looking at potentially life threatening situations. Imagine driving down a major highway at 75+ mph and car powers off (hope there is no big truck behind the driver).

Not sure where you got the power off from, I just said the car can notify the user via the app that the key is out of range and the doors are ajar, Simple

I stated that I saw that the car was still on and running and thats how I even found out that the door was ajar, when did I say I wanted the car to turn itself off?

And then you extended it to freeway driving as well, How on earth did you get car powers off on a freeway from anything I said?

 

[davinci2017]

After I wash my S and want to thoroughly dry the handles, I deliberately leave a door ajar and lay the fob inside the garage out of range -- and then the handles will remain extended as long as I like. What you propose may make sense but in the meantime make sure you shut everything tight before walking away. For the owner who worries that the car isn't lock, that person can check the mobile app.

If your proposal was implemented I would be frustrated when washing the car since the handles don't remain extended very long in the presence of the fob.

I agree that maybe the door handles going back in might go against some use-cases, but sending a notification to the app taht the door is ajar seems like a useful feature dont you think?

 

[Bound466]

When you attempt to lock the car (pushing the top of the FOB once), and a door is ajar as in the OP's situation, the car will chime 3 times loudly. Of course, if you just use the walk-away lock feature, you may not hear the chimes. But that is one way the car tries to tell you that there is an issue with your attempt to lock the car.

 

[davinci2017]

When you attempt to lock the car (pushing the top of the FOB once), and a door is ajar as in the OP's situation, the car will chime 3 times loudly. Of course, if you just use the walk-away lock feature, you may not hear the chimes. But that is one way the car tries to tell you that there is an issue with your attempt to lock the car.

Does it chime on walk away as well?

 

[croman]

Does it chime on walk away as well?

If a tree falls in the woods...

 

[Akikiki]

I noticed something a bit odd yesterday, not sure if this is "Expected" behavior but to me it felt odd.

Why did the handles stay open even after the key left the range? I think the handles should retract/open only based on keyfob presence or via the phone, once neither is in play, the car should pull them in as a safety mechanism until the key fob comes back within range.

Also the car should ideally send a text or alert to the phone when the key has left the range and the car is not locked and remains running without instructions from the app. Something like, "Car door(s) open, key not in range" or something like that. Makes sense?

The handles stayed open because the car was left unlocked. You might not like it, but a Tesla is not the only one that would do this. Dozens of other cars would behave the same. Garage or parking lot, same thing. Do you know other cars that would send you a text if you left the door unlocked? I don't. I guess we need to still pay attention to things going on around us - the same way humans have been doing for hundreds of years.

 

[davinci2017]

The handles stayed open because the car was left unlocked. You might not like it, but a Tesla is not the only one that would do this. Dozens of other cars would behave the same. Garage or parking lot, same thing. Do you know other cars that would send you a text if you left the door unlocked? I don't. I guess we need to still pay attention to things going on around us - the same way humans have been doing for hundreds of years.

I dont know of other cars that do dozens of things the Tesla does, didnt stop them from implementing helpful features did it? Thats like arguing that the Tesla is only supposed to do what every other car does.

As I said, the door handles is one thing and maybe not universally acceptable, but the car notifying you can be a simple useful feature

I for one am surprised that folks are arguing with me about the car sending a simple text message to your phone if the door remains unclosed when you walked away from the car. Seriously folks, you can't imagine this being useful in say parking lots,malls,etc?