How do you switch off the Security Alarm?

[m-i-l]

I had the car alarm go off 4 times last night, waking up ourselves and quite probably several other people in the street too, with no indication as to why. I had problems with repeated false alarms when I first got the car, so switched the alarm off, and wasn't troubled by it again. However, it now looks like the alarm has been switched on, and the option to switch if off disabled. In the middle of the night I tried all sorts of things, e.g. using the key card and entering the PIN to drive, to see if I could enable the option to disable the alarm, but to no avail.

Is this something from a recent update? I updated to 2020.28.1 recently. I see from [UK] 2020.28.x that 2020.28.2 reintroduced the option to disable the Tilt/Intrusion (if Sentry Mode is disabled), but don't know if there's a later update, e.g. 2020.28.5, that I need to get to be able to disable the Security Alarm.

 

[Durzel]

Nope, it can't be disabled as of a recent update (I want to say 2020.24.6.1)

I don't think you can lock the doors and have the alarm not active, so that limits your options really to either leaving it unlocked (with a key card inside, presumably) or getting the alarm problem sorted.

 

[Avendit]

disable walk away lock, or unlock with the key card and your phone not with you. This will let you leave it unlocked without leaving the key actually in it. Leave nothing in and pin to drive enabled.

aaannnd raise a service request and pester them like hell. This isn't acceptable. Presumably a faulty sensor, but it will need to be Tesla to diagnose and fix I would think. Make it clear you hold them responsible if it gets nicked/damaged in the mean time.

 

[Fourier1]

I had a very similar problem - phoned Tesla and they asked me to check if there were any insects in the car. Nonsense, but I’ll humour them I thought- one fly released, no problem since...does seem rather sensitive though if that’s enough to set it off!

 

[PeteDub]

I had an issue like this before and it was to do with the charger (before I got the Tesla one installed). Car alarm kept going off and when I checked the charger it was very hot. Extension cable was too long so stuck a shorter one and never happened after that.

 

[Rooster6655]

I had the alarm going off when I left plastic bottles in the car and the water expanded on a hot day, I know this as I got Tesla to check which sensor set the alarm off and they had suggest the water bottle before I said anything. Not happened since but obviously unlikely to the cause in this case.

I would suggest asking them to run remote diagnostics as I literally had an answer within an hour when I text them.

 

[Sparkeur]

Mine has done it once after (worryingly) a no-brush hi-pressure car wash as recommended by Tesla. That was about two weeks ago - nothing since.
This is from P169 of Euro manual 2020.20 but whether it is still valid, I do not know.:
To manually enable or disable the alarm system, touch Controls > Safety & Security > Security Alarm. When enabled, Model 3 activates its alarm one minute after you exit, the doors lock, and a recognized key is no longer detected.

Sorry - just noted comment above to say (bizarrely) it's not an option anymore.

 

[m-i-l]

Thanks for the tips. Interesting about the fly and the water bottle theories. In my various internet searches about the problem, before I'd seen it here, I'd come across the fly theory. I didn't know if the person who reported it was being sarcastic or not, but I was starting to wonder if it might have been the problem in my case. Unfortunately my youngest gets car sick, and doesn't like the mix of new car smell and vomit smell that has permeated the inside of the car since their first trip in it, so likes to have the window all the way down, not only messing up the air conditioning but also potentially letting in flies. The day I had the problem last year was on a hot summer day with lots of flies around, and the other night was after the kids had been out on a day trip.

Not had a problem the past couple of nights.

Calling Tesla support is also a good idea if it happens again.

Still don't like technology that you can't switch off. Maybe it is just the Inner Party who get the off switch.

 

[BushtrimmmerJr]

Same problem here, I posted a thread about this the other day/week and mentioned that after I let a fly out it seemed to stop.

Well yesterday it went off again and I couldn’t see anything in the car so I did a reset (both buttons and brake) and it’s not gone off again (yet).

I also mentioned though that the car seemed to arrive with a huuuge spider living in one of the door seals (about 1.5inch long, dark brown with a huge abdomen/sack thing - I’m terrified of spiders) and since my wife evicted it we’ve found about 6 million of its kids.

I’m now thinking that these might be setting the alarm off if they’re walking in front of the sensors. So on a related note, does anyone know if the cars go through any decontamination before leaving America?

 

[Neilio]

Question : how do you take the car on a ferry if the alarm won't switch off?

 

[LongRanger]

Dog mode ?

 

[Neilio]

Dog mode ?

Would that not be bad for the battery ? Brittany ferries are going to add chargers to their ships but don't yet

 

[LongRanger]

No worse than the alarm going off constantly if you set the lowest possible consumption internally then lock the car ? I don’t see any other way round it if the slider for disabling intrusion/tilt is greyed out. It’s a bit daft really.

 

[Avendit]

Given the toggle is still there, I wonder if it will geographically enabled in ports or something? Other option is just to power off the car - that's how they get to us. Again, crummy solution if you have a car load of your holiday stuff on a ferry.

 

[qingshan]

I had a very similar problem - phoned Tesla and they asked me to check if there were any insects in the car. Nonsense, but I’ll humour them I thought- one fly released, no problem since...does seem rather sensitive though if that’s enough to set it off!

It's something men have to be continuely reminded of - "check your fly"

 

[darkNstormy]

Given the toggle is still there, I wonder if it will geographically enabled in ports or something? Other option is just to power off the car - that's how they get to us. Again, crummy solution if you have a car load of your holiday stuff on a ferry.

But doesn't it just power on again when you open the door? I was thinking of a ferry trip to Santander but definitely not going to spend all night in a ferry if it has to be on dog mode the whole time to switch the alarm off!

 

[Avendit]

But doesn't it just power on again when you open the door? I was thinking of a ferry trip to Santander but definitely not going to spend all night in a ferry if it has to be on dog mode the whole time to switch the alarm off!

Yea. Park, unload for the ferry trip, power off and head upstairs. On return to car at destination, open door and power up.

 

[darkNstormy]

Yea. Park, unload for the ferry trip, power off and head upstairs. On return to car at destination, open door and power up.

What I mean is, if you're sat in the car and power off, doesn't it just power back on when you open the door to get out? I'd heard of the power off as a way of trying to fix certain bugs if the two button reset doesn't work and it mentions about staying put for 2-3 minutes in the seat to avoid it powering back on in that time.

A/C Stopped Working. Anything I can do?
Edit: added above link to where I saw this mentioned.

2nd edit: just been out in the car and powered off. It powered straight back on when I pressed the door button to get out.

 

[Avendit]

2nd edit: just been out in the car and powered off. It powered straight back on when I pressed the door button to get out.

Power off with the door open? If testing, possibly with someone on the inside, just in case...

I thought you got a countdown before the power off too? It's been a long time since I did it tho.

 

[Rooster6655]

What I mean is, if you're sat in the car and power off, doesn't it just power back on when you open the door to get out? I'd heard of the power off as a way of trying to fix certain bugs if the two button reset doesn't work and it mentions about staying put for 2-3 minutes in the seat to avoid it powering back on in that time.

A/C Stopped Working. Anything I can do?
Edit: added above link to where I saw this mentioned.

2nd edit: just been out in the car and powered off. It powered straight back on when I pressed the door button to get out.

It powers back on if you get in and I think press the brake