doors not unlock as I walking up to the car

[somename]

I got my brand new Model 3 yesterday, and I set up the phone key in the Tesla Delivery location, but I didn't check that it will unlock the door or not.

My phone is iPhone XR and when I am approaching the car it doesn't unlock the car, I had to go to the app and manually unlock the doors through the app. However, when I walk away it locks the car and anything else (the connection between the car and the phone) is working when I am in the car

I have tried many things, reset the touchscreen, reinstall Tesla app, restart the phone, nothings worked.

I am wondering there is a setting that I am not aware of?

I set Location Service in the phone AlWAYS for tesla app, Bluetooth is on always.

Anything else? any suggestions?

 

[jjrandorin]

Make sure you actually setup the phone key, and did not just pair the phone with bluetooth (those are two completely separate things that are not related to each other in the slightest as far as setup).

Then, try deleting the phone key (which again has nothing to do with bluetooth for music or phone calls), then re setting back up the phone key

 

[TunaBug]

Congrats on the new car! I too use an iPhone XR. It's common for the car to not notice the phone if I have it in my back pocket (i.e. my body is between the phone and the car). Try carrying the phone in front of you, or in your front pocket. If that makes no difference then my suggesting is a red herring. If that makes it work then you can play around with refining it. For me I normally carried the phone in my front pocket even before buying the Tesla, so it's not a big deal.

 

[losvedir]

Erm, just to make sure: what are you expecting to happen? My doors don't unlock when I approach, but when I press in the handle, the car unlocks right then, and I just pull the door open as part of the same motion. Are you actually trying to open the door, and it won't let you?

I also had "Driver Unlock" set accidentally, which caused problems for my passengers because while my door was unlocking the way I just described, the rest of the car was still locked and they couldn't get in.

 

[BYTizzle]

Keep the app open too and make sure background refresh is on. Every once in awhile I will have to actually open my phone to click unlock but I'd say its 10% of the time at worst.

 

[Yeahnah…….]

I got my brand new Model 3 yesterday, and I set up the phone key in the Tesla Delivery location, but I didn't check that it will unlock the door or not.

My phone is iPhone XR and when I am approaching the car it doesn't unlock the car, I had to go to the app and manually unlock the doors through the app. However, when I walk away it locks the car and anything else (the connection between the car and the phone) is working when I am in the car

I have tried many things, reset the touchscreen, reinstall Tesla app, restart the phone, nothings worked.

I am wondering there is a setting that I am not aware of?

I set Location Service in the phone AlWAYS for tesla app, Bluetooth is on always.

Anything else? any suggestions?

 

[PdxAmp]

Congrats on the new car! I too use an iPhone XR. It's common for the car to not notice the phone if I have it in my back pocket (i.e. my body is between the phone and the car). Try carrying the phone in front of you, or in your front pocket. If that makes no difference then my suggesting is a red herring. If that makes it work then you can play around with refining it. For me I normally carried the phone in my front pocket even before buying the Tesla, so it's not a big deal.

I've noticed a couple of things that prevent the doors from unlocking when i pull the door handle. (1) as you describe - phone is in back pocket (2) I sometimes have to just open my Tesla app. I don't need to push 'unlock' in the app i just need to open the app and then try the door again - works every time

 

[Yeahnah…….]

I got my brand new Model 3 yesterday, and I set up the phone key in the Tesla Delivery location, but I didn't check that it will unlock the door or not.

My phone is iPhone XR and when I am approaching the car it doesn't unlock the car, I had to go to the app and manually unlock the doors through the app. However, when I walk away it locks the car and anything else (the connection between the car and the phone) is working when I am in the car

I have tried many things, reset the touchscreen, reinstall Tesla app, restart the phone, nothings worked.

I am wondering there is a setting that I am not aware of?

I set Location Service in the phone AlWAYS for tesla app, Bluetooth is on always.

Anything else? any suggestions?

 

[Yeahnah…….]

1.Reboot the car by holding down both scroll buttons

2.Reboot the phone by pushing the slide to power off button….restart phone

3.Delete the tesla app on phone @reinstall it on your phone.. your email@password will be required

4.You will need to pair your phone up again with the car using your keycard

5.In your settings on your phone goto the tesla app check that the location is set to always,Bluetooth is on,backround app refresh is on,mobile data on, notifications on
6.Make sure u have the latest software installed on your phone
if it doesnt work after youve done this more than likely there is a software bug either in the car or phone

 

[Daniel LeCroy]

I just got my model 3 on Wednesday. What an awesome car!! I have the same problem. Car won’t unlock until I push on the door handle and the lights come on. When I walk away the car locks. Did all the deletes and reboots.. no luck. Any ideas?

 

[Colorado Y]

My phone (old Samsung S8) has to be within about 6" of my MYLR to open the car. I usually carry it in my back pocket. I'll walk up to the car and pull the handle -- nothing happens. Then, still holding the handle, I turn and aim my butt at the door -- poof, it pops open.

Auto-locking is a different issue. Pretty sure that's a timeout after you exit the car (no weight on the seats) and close the door. I usually play music through my phone and it's similar but no delay: Spotify pauses and the Bluetooth disconnects right after I shut the door.

 

[Randy-12]

I just got my model 3 on Wednesday. What an awesome car!! I have the same problem. Car won’t unlock until I push on the door handle and the lights come on. When I walk away the car locks. Did all the deletes and reboots.. no luck. Any ideas?

You will not hear a manual unlocking sound or see anything different on the car or screen.
Nor will the door "spring" open.

If the car is locked, pushing on the door handle will do nothing.
If it is unlocked the door will open.

 

[KariK]

I have the same issue. I walk to the car with my iPhone in my shirt breast pocket. I try to open the door, no luck. I pull my iPhone out. The screen is all black. I push the Home button. The screen comes to life. I try to open the door, and now it works. I think the issue is that when the iPhone goes to sleep, the Tesla app stops responding. As soon as the iPhone wakes up, the Tesla app also wakes and allows the door to open (and the car to start).

 

[TunaBug]

I have the same issue. I walk to the car with my iPhone in my shirt breast pocket. I try to open the door, no luck. I pull my iPhone out. The screen is all black. I push the Home button. The screen comes to life. I try to open the door, and now it works. I think the issue is that when the iPhone goes to sleep, the Tesla app stops responding. As soon as the iPhone wakes up, the Tesla app also wakes and allows the door to open (and the car to start).

It might also be that the additional second or two to take out and wake your phone was what was needed. Next time if it doesn't open right away you could instead try just pulling and holding onto the handle, it might work just as well.

 

[Colorado Y]

I don't have an iPhone, but... my phone seems to have extremely limited range for unlocking the car. I normally keep it in my back pocket. When I walk up to the car, I pull the handle and nothing happens. I continue pulling the handle. As soon as I turn and get the phone within about 6" of the car, poof! The door opens.

That said, it seems like it's been working a lot better recently. I have many fewer times when I need to point my butt at the car to get it to unlock.

 

[KariK]

It might also be that the additional second or two to take out and wake your phone was what was needed. Next time if it doesn't open right away you could instead try just pulling and holding onto the handle, it might work just as well.

Since my last post I have had this issue twice. Both times I waited about five minutes while occasionally trying to open the door, unsuccesfully. Since the Sentry mode was on, the screen showed “Recording” in big letters.
After five minutes or so, I pulled my iPhone out of my breast pocket and saw that the phone’s screen was initially completely dark, but changed to the default home screen as I got it out of the pocket. So I tried to open the door before pressing the Home button. The door opened right away. So I still think it has something to do with the iPhone being in sleep mode.

 

[Roosta]

I just got my model 3 on Wednesday. What an awesome car!! I have the same problem. Car won’t unlock until I push on the door handle and the lights come on. When I walk away the car locks. Did all the deletes and reboots.. no luck. Any ideas?

Congrats! How do you know it's not unlocked until you try the door handle? When your phone is detected, all that occurs is quiet click of the unlock mechanism and your Tesla app will change the lock icon to unlocked. Aside from that, using the door handle will trigger the door to open (duh), the window to drop an inch and turn on the display and lights.

I'm guessing in the month since your question you've probably figured all this out. Our expectations can sometimes interfere with reality

 

[tdiggity]

Since my last post I have had this issue twice. Both times I waited about five minutes while occasionally trying to open the door, unsuccesfully. Since the Sentry mode was on, the screen showed “Recording” in big letters.
After five minutes or so, I pulled my iPhone out of my breast pocket and saw that the phone’s screen was initially completely dark, but changed to the default home screen as I got it out of the pocket. So I tried to open the door before pressing the Home button. The door opened right away. So I still think it has something to do with the iPhone being in sleep mode.

have you tried other doors? It's happened to me occasionally and I try to open another door and that will open which then wakes up and unlocks the rest of the doors.

 

[MastaKing]

Since my last post I have had this issue twice. Both times I waited about five minutes while occasionally trying to open the door, unsuccesfully. Since the Sentry mode was on, the screen showed “Recording” in big letters.
After five minutes or so, I pulled my iPhone out of my breast pocket and saw that the phone’s screen was initially completely dark, but changed to the default home screen as I got it out of the pocket. So I tried to open the door before pressing the Home button. The door opened right away. So I still think it has something to do with the iPhone being in sleep mode.

100% this.

When ever it happens for me I just pull my iphone out and everything works again. I think the phone is putting bluetooth to sleep in the background and I have not found a way to stop this.

 

[wmillerwjm]

Adding to this lengthy discussion. My 2022 MX passenger doors have never unlocked. I have to manually go to either the phone app or the touch screen on the main display to open a door for passengers. This has got to be one of the most annoying things for me. I can't even walk up to the passenger side door to open it unless I pull out my iPhone and do it manually. So many disappointments with this (what I thought was a premium car) sub standard vehicle. I regret buying the MX and wish I had stayed with the MY...the MY is a much better vehicle overall, the ride is better, the connectivity is better for some reason too...I've never had an lock/unlock issue with our MY...but the MX...that's a different story. I've read the proposed solutions, tried them all with no joy. This MX is cursed and I can't wait for the day when someone takes it off my hands...