HomeLink in Reverse

[vandacca]

Has anyone else noticed that for the past 2 months HomeLink won't trigger when driving in reverse?

I have a very odd arrangement with a garage added to the back of the house. So my typical parking exercise is to back up the drive, do a parallel park maneuver in front of the garage and then pull forward into the garage.

Up till a few months ago, the garage would open up as I was backing up the drive and would be fully open when I started to pull forward into the garage. However, now it waits until I put it into forward before sending the signal. Doesn't matter where I am when I reset the GPS position, it refuses to send the HomeLink signal while I'm in reverse.

Anyone else notice this? Has anyone else found a work-around for it?

Thanks.

 

[bint2k]

Yes this happens once and a while to me, more often recently I noticed.

 

[pilotSteve]

Has anyone else noticed that for the past 2 months HomeLink won't trigger when driving in reverse?

I have a very odd arrangement with a garage added to the back of the house. So my typical parking exercise is to back up the drive, do a parallel park maneuver in front of the garage and then pull forward into the garage.

Up till a few months ago, the garage would open up as I was backing up the drive and would be fully open when I started to pull forward into the garage. However, now it waits until I put it into forward before sending the signal. Doesn't matter where I am when I reset the GPS position, it refuses to send the HomeLink signal while I'm in reverse.

Anyone else notice this? Has anyone else found a work-around for it?

Thanks.

Maybe try resetting the stored garage GPS position?

 

[vandacca]

Maybe try resetting the stored garage GPS position?

I tried that already. I reset the GPS Signal while beside the garage and even at the beginning of my drive.

For some reason it seems like Tesla put out an update to avoid sending the HomeLink signal while in reverse.

 

[DonD]

Yes this happens once and a while to me, more often recently I noticed.

Same observation here. Used to be very reliable, but recent couple of months HomeLink activation has been erratic when I back into my driveway. Resetting the GPS location has had minimal effect.

 

[DiamondHands]

Same here... got very irritating about 3 weeks ago, but I didn't post on it figuring maybe a new Wi-Fi signal from the house or a neighbor's was interfering with the HomeLink. Curiously, HomeLink started working again on it's own, pretty consistently, about 2 weeks ago.

 

[nanimac]

Same here. Sometimes its works but I have to stop in my driveway. If I go too far back, it won't work. I have to drive forward to be close enough for it to activate. Assuming it's a bug from one of the FW releases. Hoping it gets fixed soon.

 

[vandacca]

Okay, today I decided to try things backwards (in a sense). I drove up the drive forwards and as I got close the X triggered the door, even before I was next (parallel) to the garage. So, it's clear that the Model-X will not send the signal when in reverse, you have to be in Drive.

This appears to have been introduced in 2.52.22. I'm going to be sending Tesla another Email...

 

[Paul in PalmCity]

As I back out of my garage I make a 90 degree turn to the left so that I can then shift to forward and then drive out our drive. While I'm backing I get the 20ft - 10ft messages and then the door closes reliably each and every time since I bought the car on 12/27/17. I have been through 6 firmware upgrades, now on 17.7.2 and no upgrade has ever changed how this happens (in reverse).

 

[vandacca]

As I back out of my garage I make a 90 degree turn to the left so that I can then shift to forward and then drive out our drive. While I'm backing I get the 20ft - 10ft messages and then the door closes reliably each and every time since I bought the car on 12/27/17. I have been through 6 firmware upgrades, now on 17.7.2 and no upgrade has ever changed how this happens (in reverse).

Sounds like it's only going into the garage that's the problem, which is the only time I have HomeLink set to send a trigger. I prefer to manually shut the garage when I back-out and leave.

I have sent an Email to Tesla and they've responded that they've forwarded it to the correct department. I hope someone gets back to me.

 

[Aljohn]

Early on with the Model X there was a potential issues with the Homelink sending a signal while in reverse. It would send the signal while backing into the Open garage and cause the door to begin to Close. Since obstruction sensors are in the lower bumper panel of the rear, there was the potential for the door to close while backing and hitting the top of the rear deck and the X not recognize the obstruction.

This happened to me.. I was backing in, pulled forward to align and placed in reverse again. Of course I was looking in the side mirrors (89 inches mirror to mirror vs a 96 inch door opening) and didn't see the Garage door beginning to close. There were warnings in the forums NOT to use the auto Homelink feature if you back into the garage since the Tesla's GPS locators are near the front of the car. Thus pulling forward to straighten may pass the GPS point and reactivate the doors. The damage was minimal to the X -- ordered 3rd party touch up paint and buffed out a few scratches. The aluminum door required some straightening.

Many reported the issue to Tesla, and possibly they have now implemented a fix -- where by the X will not signal the garage when in reverse. I have not seen this in the release notes, but just surmising here. At the time of my incident, an initial recommendation was to change the GPS position further away from my doors. However my home is on a curve and I can't confirm the doors closed when departing once I leave the drive way. I have elected to turn off the automatic feature and just handle manually. With automatic off, the Homelink icon still pops up when nearing, but doesn't activate the door(s). Manually for me was worth the peace of mind.

 

[ahtlys]

I back into my garage and after the X tried to close the garage door while pulling out one time I turned off the auto open/close feature. I was saved by the garage sensors and don't wish to chance it again.

 

[vandacca]

Thanks @Aljohn & @ahtlys. That makes sense. I guess I wish it was something configurable in the HomeLink's settings so that we had the option. Kind of like the fob single-click.

 

[MXwing0]

Is there any risk of auto-open Homelink causing any problems? I suppose if I don't back out from the garage far enough and shift to drive it could unexpectedly auto-open.

I'm scared of auto-close hitting the car unexpectedly, but auto-open should be safe, correct? As in, there should be explicit open/close signals being transmitted so auto-open can't inadvertently close on the car (e.g. signal sent is just a toggle open/close command)?

 

[HankLloydRight]

Auto-close doesn't trigger until you're about 10 to 20 feet away from the garage.

 

[vandacca]

The problem is that Tesla can only send a signal to trigger the door to change state, and it doesn't know what the current state is. So, when it sends the "Auto-Open" command, if the garage is already open, it'll actually close.

It would be nice if Tesla used its ultrasonic sensors to determine the garage door state. For example:
<if rear sensor detects a wall> AND <Vehicle put in Reverse>, send Auto-Open
<if front sensor detects a wall> AND <Vehicle put in Drive>, send Auto-Open
<if rear sensor doesn't detect a wall> AND <Vehicle put in Reverse> do nothing
<if front sensor doesn't detect a wall> AND <Vehicle put in Drive> do nothing

 

[Aljohn]

Correct, the signal only changes the state of the door -- if open, it closes and visa versa. Not just a Tesla issue but fundamentally how "basic" garage door openers function -- that is reverse the current state. BTW, when I had my incident the X was less that 10 feet from the door. The rear of the X was only 2 feet from the door -- however the front (where the signal device is located) is 16 feet forward of the rear of the car--so 2 feet from the door at the rear translates to nearly 20 feet to the sensor. Thus the issue with pulling forward (to align) and reversing may easily exceed the 10 to 20 foot trigger. Again, this was reported to Tesla and posted back in 2016 by myself and others. I have not tried since the incident, but applaud Tesla for limiting the function to only pulling forward. I still have the dent in my garage door as a reminder never to activate the auto function again.

 

[MXwing0]

Excellent information regarding just sending a toggle (reverse current state of door), I will avoid setting auto mode since that is exactly what I was wondering. Thanks.

 

[RDoc]

Ours has gotten somewhat flakey the last couple of months. Deleting and reprogramming a couple of times helped, but it's still not right. While it very occasionally fails when pulling out of the garage going forward, almost all the failures are when backing into the garage. I have the chime on, and it sounds, but the door doesn't open. We never have a problem with our other cars or the wireless openers.

6 months ago and previously, it was perfect, now it works about 90% of the time which is annoying.

 

[vandacca]

I had disabled HomeLink on leaving a couple of months ago and just today I've also disabled it for arriving. Today, after I unloaded a bunch of items out of the trunk, I decided to park the vehicle in the already opened garage. Of course, HomeLink sent the signal and the garage door began to close. By the time I noticed that the garage was closing and registered hearing the HomeLink chime, the garage door was re-opening. Luckily, I was close enough to the garage to cross the safety beam before it hit my hood.

I fault HomeLink's lack of usefulness to the Garage industry's laziness in incorporating only 1 signal versus 2 different signals (one for open and one for close). This would be a difficult one for Tesla to fix.