I’ll get roasted but here goes anyway

[RayK]

How big are they relative to a normal cars key fob?

Here's a couple of photos showing my Model 3 fob (inside a neoprene case) and one for a Honda.

 

[WilliamG]

99% of “statistics” posted on the internet are made up on the spot.

I heard it was 87% of statistics.

 

[Fresnel]

Why would one need the fob? There’s the card option. I admit I’ve had to use it occasionally, annoyingly. I have a simple ID wallet with my Tesla card immediately behind my driver’s license. I can slam that against the side post and I’m in, without taking it out of my wallet!

A fob wouldn’t be so simple. I often wonder why when it doesn’t open for me does it have to be raining and my hands are full!

because with the fob it auto unlocks the car unlike the card.

 

[RayK]

99% of “statistics” posted on the internet are made up on the spot.

I heard it was 87% of statistics.

You're both wrong. It's 93.164%. It's true because it's to the third decimal place.

 

[BluestarE3]

The keyfob should be free. There I said it.

For me, that's one of those things where if they had provided it by default, I probably would use it. For an additional $150, I passed because there wasn't a compelling reason for me to get one. Same goes for Homelink. I use it because it came with my car. I would not have paid $300 to have it added post-sale.

 

[drtimhill]

I heard it was 87% of statistics.

102% of those are inaccurate.

 

[PianoAl]

>>The keyfob should be free.

Yes, and floor mats, frunk mats, usb phone charger cables, homelink...etc.

And a flashy blonde for the passenger seat. Please!

I had a friend who got a trophy wife. Unfortunately, the trophy was for second place! [rim shot]

 

[vogz]

You're both wrong. It's 93.164%. It's true because it's to the third decimal place.

lol

 

[Vapourick]

While I don't have the keyfob yet I do think it's very useful and I might get it in the future. Especially for unlocking the frunk it's great. This is just not possible with keycard and very annoying with the phone app. I've had no issues yet with my phone though so I really like that for just getting into the car. But opening the frunk is my only real annoyance with phone as key.

What kind of phone are you using? I'm using an iphone Xs and the only issue I've had is sometimes I can't open the car when my phone is in my back pocket. That's because my body is blocking the bluetooth signal so I just rotate my body slightly towards the car and then it can communicate with the car. Also, I haven't experienced any issues opening the frunk, you don't even have to open the app to do it. you can open the frunk from the widget or just press down on the app for a few seconds. see screen shot

 

[Firehuntah]

What kind of phone are you using? I'm using an iphone Xs and the only issue I've had is sometimes I can't open the car when my phone is in my back pocket. That's because my body is blocking the bluetooth signal so I just rotate my body slightly towards the car and then it can communicate with the car. Also, I haven't experienced any issues opening the frunk, you don't even have to open the app to do it. you can open the frunk from the widget or just press down on the app for a few seconds. see screen shot

Samsung Note 10+. It works perfectly but it just takes too long to open the frunk in my opinion, too many steps. I also have that dropdown from the widget, just not as nice looking. But I still have to get my phone out of my pocket first, then unlock, then swipe down from top of screen, then press the down arrow on that widget and then press on frunk. That's 5 steps for me to unlock the frunk. With the keyfob you can just press on it while it's in your pocket, one step to open it. That's the only reason I'd want a keyfob, I'd actually use the frunk more often. Now it hardly ever gets used. Other than that the phone works perfectly fine.

 

[drdumont]

You realilk

You do realize that you could put the keycard in your pocket like a fob right? And it's much less noticeable in your pocket than a thick fob (and never needs a battery replacement). I put the rfid chip from 1 of my key cards into my watch and and that's the most convenient backup ever.

Where is the chip located in the card? I was thinking of doing this, but didn't know if these cards had the inductive loop around the periphery of the card. My building ID card has a chip, and I found out about the inductive loop (antenna) when my dog decided to gnaw on my card. When I got it back, I noticed the loop was broken (lightboxed the card), and the card didn't work. Can't lightbox the Tesla cards.

 

[drdumont]

Whatever you want to think. 100% of the time if my app isn't running in the background the car will not open.

Are you using an IOS or an Android phone? I'm thinking there might be a difference.

 

[Dan203]

I've had a few times where my phone didn't connect, usually at home when I'm trying to unplug the car. Most of the time it's after an update that closed the app. On the iPhone at least the app seems to need to be open in the background somewhere to work. If you're the type to go through that screen and close all the "running" apps you'll have an issue.

I have considered getting a FOB though just because it would make using the frunk more convenient. But I don't really use the frunk much anyway, so it's not really worth the money.

I did melt a keycard once and took the RFID chip and installed it in my watch band. But that's turned out to be less reliable than I initially thought. Sometimes it works perfect on the first try. Others it takes 3-4 tries. Have no idea why.

 

[ddm3]

I used my phone as a key for a while, but it failed often enough that every time I approached or left the car, I wondered if it would work.

I got the fob and I prefer it for these reasons:

- I don't use BT for anything else, so I can turn it off. I can also kill the app since I don't use it that often. Saves power.
- The car doesn't lock itself in the garage. It was annoying to walk out to the car to grab something and realize I need my phone because it's locked.
- Unlocking the frunk only takes 2 taps and I can do it by feel from outside the pocket. No need to reach into my pocket to grab the fob.
- The fob makes summon easy (forward and reverse). Just hold the top button for a couple of seconds and tap front or back. I can also do this by feel.
- I don't have to start the app which requires unlocking the phone, opening the tesla app, waiting for it to connect to the car, then hitting the button. These steps are ok for things I don't do that often like changing the charge level, but not for opening the frunk (though I guess the frunk unlock doesn't require OTA connection to the car so is a bit faster).

They key card is an ok backup but isn't practical enough especially considering there is no card reader on the passenger side.

 

[Sans-gas]

I heard it was 87% of statistics.

I like NOT having keys/fob etc in my pocket. I’ll put up with minor issues with my phone app.

 

[WilliamG]

I like NOT having keys/fob etc in my pocket. I’ll put up with minor issues with my phone app.

Agreed! I can say when I have an issue with my car not recognizing that I'm there with my phone, it's usually a signal attenuation issue due to my phone in my pants, so when I remove the phone from my pocket it usually solves that issue. It's not consistent when it happens, but I'm not too bothered since I know how to solve it.

 

[SigNC]

Are you using an IOS or an Android phone? I'm thinking there might be a difference.

ios. as noted it might be different in android but i'm very confident for IOS.

 

[RubinRA]

Has anyone tried the RFID ring that Amazon sells?
https://www.amazon.com/COLMO-Access...81&hvtargid=aud-801381245258:pla-870061965334

 

[camalaio]

Sometimes I swear I have a different car than the folks on this forum

I absolutely want a fob, but having a hard time dedicating $200 to the desire.
Here's my frequent "workflow" for getting in this car:

1. Approach car and try door.
2. Door unlocks, I get in, I drive away.

The above happens most of the time, so I don't need a fob right? What about getting out of the car?:

1. Open door, climb out, close door.
2. Retrieve phone from pocket, unlock phone.
3. Swipe down notification tray. Furiously swipe non-Tesla noitifcations away.
4. See persistent Tesla notification. Swipe down on it so I can lock the car.
5. Scrolled down more notifications instead of expanding the Tesla one because I have more notifications
6. Repeat step 4
7. Finally lock car and confirm it is locked.

I don't trust the walk-away lock because we don't always slam the doors hard enough. We've accidentally left the car unlocked this way, and it was my ultimate fear of this walk away lock thing (I'm one of those people that will lock the car 5 times until I'm certain I heard it lock - sorry). At least with an explicit lock action, I can get the lock success feedback like in any other car. However, it's just too much faffing about to do so with the phone!

Repeat the above pain for accessing the frunk, except I need the notification button in that case. There ain't no door latch. I typically access the frunk for groceries, so I'm fumbling about with a heavy bag or two and my phone and it's just all so awkward.

Of course, my phone doesn't work all the time either. My wife's phone almost never works, despite all attempts to keep it running in the background (she has to actually open it in the foreground, wait for it to connect if it even has cellular signal, then finally do whatever she was attempting).

So a fob is for us (even though we haven't got it yet) because:

• One of our phones is not dependable for Bluetooth, and we park in places without great cellular coverage so the app doesn't work. Note that this could be any parkade/parking garage.
• Locking the car is way simpler and more communicative with the fob.
• Accessing the frunk, which we do often, is significantly easier with the fob.
• Bring a phone out to fumble with in the rain isn't great.
• Bringing a phone out when below freezing isn't great if you were wearing gloves.

With my last car, I didn't even take the fob out of my pocket. I just hit the buttons through the material. Super easy.

I initially had lots of issues with my phone unlocking our Model 3, until I came across a post a week or so ago that made me realize the "it doesn't work through your butt" issue. Since then I haven't had any problems with my phone key, it was all due to my years long habit of just leaving my phone in my back pocket until I opened the door to the car.


However - I do still have an issue, just want to make sure I am not missing anything:

We keep all of our cars in the garage. At home, in the garage, there is no need for them to be locked. Prior to the Model 3, any car we had used a fob, and simply touching the handle locked / unlocked. If we were not at home, we just touch the handle when leaving the car and it locks. At home we do nothing, and that makes going into the garage and getting into any car at any time easy, because the car is not locked.

With teh 3 it seems the two options are: use auto lock or don't use auto lock. If we don't use auto lock and have no fob, then it becomes a chore to have to manually lock the car with the phone when anywhere but the house. If we do use auto lock, then the car locks itself which is convenient. But - it also does that when in the garage, making it to where if I decide to get into the car for any reason at home, I need to go grab my phone before I do so. I still forget to to do this and go all the way out to the garage and then can't get into the car.

Unless I am missing another option (doesn't seem like the 3 will lock / unlock by touching the door handle), I do prefer the "keyfob / touch the door handle" setup because then I choose when I want to lock or unlock the car (and its easy), and I can leave the cars unlocked in the garage.

It'd be nice if you could make an exception to auto lock when at home, like you do with Sentry mode. Any other ideas?

I don't think you're missing anything. Tesla (esp. Model 3) is lacking a lot of traditional features found in other cars. Examples: Selecting which mirror dips on reverse (not only both or none), being able to unlock just the driver's door for security, having AM radio.

I used my phone as a key for a while, but it failed often enough that every time I approached or left the car, I wondered if it would work.

I got the fob and I prefer it for these reasons:

- I don't use BT for anything else, so I can turn it off. I can also kill the app since I don't use it that often. Saves power.
- The car doesn't lock itself in the garage. It was annoying to walk out to the car to grab something and realize I need my phone because it's locked.
- Unlocking the frunk only takes 2 taps and I can do it by feel from outside the pocket. No need to reach into my pocket to grab the fob.
- The fob makes summon easy (forward and reverse). Just hold the top button for a couple of seconds and tap front or back. I can also do this by feel.
- I don't have to start the app which requires unlocking the phone, opening the tesla app, waiting for it to connect to the car, then hitting the button. These steps are ok for things I don't do that often like changing the charge level, but not for opening the frunk (though I guess the frunk unlock doesn't require OTA connection to the car so is a bit faster).

They key card is an ok backup but isn't practical enough especially considering there is no card reader on the passenger side.

Are... are we the same person? I also used to not use BT (didn't need it for anything, plus avoiding BT tracking beacons). And I've never seen anyone else do the fob-through-pocket thing. Nice.

 

[SigNC]

kind of off topic but one thing you have to be careful with on walk away unlock is if you for some reason turn off Bluetooth on your phone while in it walk away lock won't work. For instance if you for some reason wanted to hear your phone audio from the phone so you turn off BT, just remember your car won't lock on walk away with BT off.