Going into drive with keyfob outside the car

[Francis Lau]

Doug and I were at the Model S Raffle event in Seattle today and something dawned on me. I am not sure how real a danger it is so I thought I share it and if nothing else, it will raise awareness.

We had the Model S on display and since it was a nice day, we had lots of adults and kids sit in the driver seat to see the car. We had the car fobs in our pockets about 3-5 feet away from the car and I wondered what would happen if a kid or adult sets the car to "D" and if creep is on or they press the accelerator, the car will move into a crowd of people.

We decided to do an experiment. Doug's car was on the QFC sidewalk. He stood 4 feet away and I hopped in and tried to put the car in D. The MS did go into drive! I did not do it but if I then press the accelerator, it will move. That would be quite dangerous.

Other than making sure the key fob is far away, is there any way to prevent the car from going into drive mode?

 

[efusco]

Doug and I were at the Model S Raffle event in Seattle today and something dawned on me. I am not sure how real a danger it is so I thought I share it and if nothing else, it will raise awareness.

We had the Model S on display and since it was a nice day, we had lots of adults and kids sit in the driver seat to see the car. We had the car fobs in our pockets about 3-5 feet away from the car and I wondered what would happen if a kid or adult sets the car to "D" and if creep is on or they press the accelerator, the car will move into a crowd of people.

We decided to do an experiment. Doug's car was on the QFC sidewalk. He stood 4 feet away and I hopped in and tried to put the car in D. The MS did go into drive! I did not do it but if I then press the accelerator, it will move. That would be quite dangerous.

Other than making sure the key fob is far away, is there any way to prevent the car from going into drive mode?

I have thought about that. At the stores they keep the car plugged in so it both stays charged AND it won't go into drive. That would be the ideal situation so everyone could see and try the functions. Without a mechanical parking brake as a backup option there is certainly some risk there.

 

[cdabel]

Would the car stop driving once it got far enough away from the fob, or would it continue to operate until the driver got out of the seat? I could image a situation where I help carry stuff to the car, wish my wife farewell and she drives away without realizing she didn´t have the fob. (actually you can switch the main characters since I´m the forgetfull one).

 

[efusco]

Would the car stop driving once it got far enough away from the fob, or would it continue to operate until the driver got out of the seat? I could image a situation where I help carry stuff to the car, wish my wife farewell and she drives away without realizing she didn´t have the fob. (actually you can switch the main characters since I´m the forgetfull one).

It'll keep going.

 

[rolosrevenge]

Wait, there was a Model S raffle today? How did I miss that?

 

[widodh]

I changed the topic title to make it clear from the subject what this is about.

 

[kinddog]

Life's a big crapshoot no matter how you slice it...

 

[Doug_G]

It'll keep going.

My car shuts down when I get out...?

 

[Liz G]

My car shuts down when I get out...?

The screens go black, yes. But if there is a passenger in the car, they can just touch the touch screen and the displays will come back on. No fob need be in the car.

 

[Doug_G]

The screens go black, yes. But if there is a passenger in the car, they can just touch the touch screen and the displays will come back on. No fob need be in the car.

Yes of course, but my point was, wouldn't that engage the parking brake?

 

[efusco]

My car shuts down when I get out...?

But if you stay in, without the key, it'll keep driving...I think that was the question.

 

[NigelM]

But if you stay in, without the key, it'll keep driving...I think that was the question.

Just curious, did you test this?

 

[mknox]

Question: Is the fob interaction based on how far it is from the car's receiver or simply whether it's inside or outside the car? My current ICE is the latter. If I get out and stand right next to the car (even leaning on it), after the 15 second or so countdown it will auto lock. Somehow, it can determine if the key is either inside or outside. The downside is that I can sometimes get out, walk around to the passenger side and the car will lock by the time I get there. Not a huge deal because since I have the fob in my pocket, I just pull the handle and the door unlocks/opens. I get the sense that Model S is proximity based, which might be leading to some of these issues.

 

[RLA12194]

I recall reading about a similar situation on this forum. I can't find the actual post but essentially someone was able to drive away without the fob. Once they got to their destination and got out of the car, the car locked and the driver was thus stranded. He had to have someone bring him the fob in order to retrieve/access the car. So, as I understand it, if the car is in proximity to the vehicle (even if outside on the curb) the car can by driven outside of the fob's proximity bubble but once it stops (or is put in park) it is immobilized until it once again recognizes a fob.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

How about putting the j1772 adapter in the port?

 

[Tempus]

you can definitely drive without the fob. I tested this by accident recently. I had the fob in my pocket, sitting in the passenger seat. Wife was going to be driving, so i was showing her the controls, letting her get a feel for the regen braking, etc... (was her first time driving the car).

Then i got out (fob still in my pocket - oops! had forgotten about it), and drove our other car following her to where we were going. I realized about 10 minutes into the drive that i still had the fob. She never noticed, and there wasn't anything unusual about her ability to drive, even without the fob.

It does seem somewhat odd to me that you can do that.

Tempus

 

[ElSupreme]

you can definitely drive without the fob. I tested this by accident recently. I had the fob in my pocket, sitting in the passenger seat. Wife was going to be driving, so i was showing her the controls, letting her get a feel for the regen braking, etc... (was her first time driving the car).

Then i got out (fob still in my pocket - oops! had forgotten about it), and drove our other car following her to where we were going. I realized about 10 minutes into the drive that i still had the fob. She never noticed, and there wasn't anything unusual about her ability to drive, even without the fob.

It does seem somewhat odd to me that you can do that.

Tempus

I think all the fob does is allow you to start the car. So if it was 'on' when you left I would fully expect the car to keep moving. That would prevent some weird stuff from happening if for some reason the fob was thrown out of a moving car.

Similarly I could pull my key out of my Neon (after it was stolen and I had a replacement key barrel ignition thing put in) while the car was running. Car would do anything I wanted until It was turned off. The barrels had 'wings' on it so you could turn the ignition without the key being present. I think this is probably the safest method of action.

 

[PRJIM]

How about putting the j1772 adapter in the port?

You can drive with the J1772 adapter in the chargeport. A few weeks ago my adapter got stuck and I was still able to use the car.

 

[Francis Lau]

Our Audi works the same way too. You need the key fob in close proximity to start the car and you can continue driving without the fob close by. It does beep and show a warning on the dash though. However, once you turn off the car, you cannot start it. This happen to me several times , once when I left the car with a valet but did not give them the fob. I left too quickly so they simply parked the car and asked me for the fob when I returned.

Now I am wondering if the Model S will warn us when it is running but lost contact with the fob.

 

[cdabel]

Yes, a warning would make sense.