Keyfob in locked trunk - setting to avoid?

[mferris]

Is there a setting I can change to keep me from locking the keyfob in the rear trunk?

Twice now I've walked up to my locked S, opened the rear hatch by lifting it, placed my key (typically in a bag or by accident) into the rear of the car and then closed the hatch. At this point the car is locked (and I believe the hatch as well), and despite the key being inside the car, I cannot open the doors or hatch. Thank to Elon for the Tesla app - as I have had my phone with me in both cases and unlocked it via the app. But I'm loathing the dark night I place the phone in there as well.

Thanks in advance for any advice which is different from the obvious, and obnoxious, which my wife and kids have repeated ad naseum.

 

[Andyw2100]

Is there a setting I can change to keep me from locking the keyfob in the rear trunk?

Twice now I've walked up to my locked S, opened the rear hatch by lifting it, placed my key (typically in a bag or by accident) into the rear of the car and then closed the hatch. At this point the car is locked (and I believe the hatch as well), and despite the key being inside the car, I cannot open the doors or hatch. Thank to Elon for the Tesla app - as I have had my phone with me in both cases and unlocked it via the app. But I'm loathing the dark night I place the phone in there as well.

Thanks in advance for any advice which is different from the obvious, and obnoxious, which my wife and kids have repeated ad naseum.

There really isn't any setting I can think of that you could change that would prevent your doing that.

I do have some advice, which may not be all that obvious: make sure the app is installed and running on your wife's phone, so that when that dark night comes and you do lock your phone in the hatch along with your fob, you can somehow (payphone, friend's phone) contact your wife if she is not at your side, and have her unlock the Model S for you.

A secondary piece of advice that also may not be all that obvious that may help: you could try to get in the habit of only closing the hatch by using the fob. Never close the hatch by either just physically closing it, or using the button inside of it. If you get into the habit of only using the fob to close the hatch, it will be impossible for you to close the hatch with the fob inside the hatch.

Good luck!

 

[CHG-ON]

I'm surprised that the the car does not recognize the fob when in the trunk to at least let you open the trunk. It's only a foot or two from where it recognizes it when you are opening it. I'll have to try it. Thanks for the head's up.

Of course, I lost one of my keys somewhere in my house, so I'll need to use my phone to test it!

 

[dandelot]

Uh... putting your key down in the trunk is pretty much a no-no in any vehicle, right?
Is 'Do not do that' too ... severe?

 

[Andyw2100]

Uh... putting your key down in the trunk is pretty much a no-no in any vehicle, right?
Is 'Do not do that' too ... severe?

It's not too severe, but it's also not particularly helpful. The OP obviously knows that he shouldn't do that, and he even mentioned the grief he had been taking from his wife and kids. He didn't come here for more of it.

Habits are hard to break. That's why I tried to suggest something that could help, rather than just piling on.

 

[mferris]

I do like the recommendation of having another phone/person with the app registered to my car. At a minimum finding a way to place a call to have the other phone unlock the car remotely would help. I presume I could call Tesla in a pinch as well but would guess proof of ownership would be (hopefully) challenged.

 

[mshuang]

Once at a Supercharger, I had to move some items into the trunk, and I left my keyfob in my trunk. When I returned to the front seat, the dash said that the car was no longer in the vehicle. While I looked for the keyfob I kept the door of the vehicle and the trunk open so if I had to I could crawl back to the front seat. The range of the keyfob within the vehicle is very short, and if you put it in the undertrunk compartment (which is where it fell down into), that area probably functions as a faraday cage.

 

[flyinghawaiian]

My wife got locked out with the key fob was in her purse on the yacht floor. She ran into the house to get something and the handles had retracted. Had to use my app to unlock it.

That's never happened on our BMW or Audi. Although those didn't have the walk away locking like the Tesla. Still, the car knew the FOB was inside because she was able to start the car.

 

[bagleyc]

Strange, I have the opposite issue. I consistently leave the key in the car either in the cup holder or under the display. My car doesn't lock! Someday someone is going to take it for a joy ride, lol. I was hoping the app would notify me the key is still inside after the auto-lock should take place. I never forget my phone so I should just maybe use the app from now on.

 

[int32_t]

I know a few people with Teslas and I've never seen the key fob once. It must just permanently live in their pockets. If you walk up to the car and it unlocks, can't you open the trunk without removing the fob from your pocket?

 

[Andyw2100]

My wife got locked out with the key fob was in her purse on the yacht floor. She ran into the house to get something and the handles had retracted. Had to use my app to unlock it.

I have read that when the fob is close to a cell phone that can interfere with the car's ability to interact with the fob. Assuming your wife's phone was also in her purse, that might explain what happened that time.

Strange, I have the opposite issue. I consistently leave the key in the car either in the cup holder or under the display. My car doesn't lock! .

I have also read (I've done a lot of reading) that it is a bad idea to leave the fob in the car, or in close proximity to the car all the time because when you do that, the electronics communicating between the fob and the car are active all the time, and the gob battery will run down very, very quickly. I think there may have been other reasons why it was a bad idea as well, other than the security concerns that you pointed out yourself.

 

[Petra]

I know a few people with Teslas and I've never seen the key fob once. It must just permanently live in their pockets. If you walk up to the car and it unlocks, can't you open the trunk without removing the fob from your pocket?

Yup, you can operate the hatch without ever removing the key from your pocket. Just like the people you know, my key never leaves my pocket... Unless I take it out to complain about it being a stupid little car thing.

 

[Tanquen]

My Lexus beeps at me when I try leave the key the trunk or lock the keys in. The Tesla don't do this?

 

[satoshi]

My Lexus beeps at me when I try leave the key the trunk or lock the keys in. The Tesla don't do this?

Hell my 9 year old prius won't let me lock my keys in the car if I tried... How does the Tesla not have the feature!?!?

 

[Andyw2100]

Hell my 9 year old prius won't let me lock my keys in the car if I tried... How does the Tesla not have the feature!?!?

Tesla does have this feature. It just doesn't work perfectly if the Tesla can't always "see" that the fob is actually in the car. The car's systems can become confused when the fob is in very close proximity to a cellphone.

I imagine that the Tesla still has an advantage over your nine-year old Prius, in that the Tesla has an app that allows for remote unlocking of the car if you have inadvertently locked your fob in the Tesla.

 

[dgpcolorado]

I know a few people with Teslas and I've never seen the key fob once. It must just permanently live in their pockets. If you walk up to the car and it unlocks, can't you open the trunk without removing the fob from your pocket?

That's the case for me. Even on the rare occasions when I want to use the fob (to open the frunk, for example) I just do it in my pocket by touch. The fob never leaves my pocket except when it gets transferred to a different pair of pants.

I would think that there might be some issues with women leaving purse + fob in the car.

 

[Caligula]

My 2008 Infiniti G37 beeps and pops the truck back open if you close the trunk with a fob in it... just saying.

 

[Az_Rael]

I imagine that the Tesla still has an advantage over your nine-year old Prius, in that the Tesla has an app that allows for remote unlocking of the car if you have inadvertently locked your fob in the Tesla.

My GM car has this feature as well (remote app unlock). It's nice.

But, can you not disable the auto lock feature? I can chose what I want to happen when I leave my vehicle, and I always set it to not auto lock. That way if I leave my purse with the key in the car and run back into the house to grab something it won't lock me out.

 

[FranKim]

My GM car has this feature as well (remote app unlock). It's nice.

But, can you not disable the auto lock feature? I can chose what I want to happen when I leave my vehicle, and I always set it to not auto lock. That way if I leave my purse with the key in the car and run back into the house to grab something it won't lock me out.

Yes, you can disable the auto lock feature. Then you will just use the fob to lock the car since it doesnt have the touch the door handle to lock function.

 

[Fanatic1]

I sometimes forget I put my keys in my bag I bring in to the office so I don't have to carry the fob in my pocket all day. Then I forget it's in the bag and put the bag in the trunk. The car starts fine. If I have an errand to run or go somewhere to eat after work I accidentally then leave the key in the trunk up to a couple hours sometimes. It's only happened 3 times in 4 months of ownership. Lucky someone just doesn't get in and take off since the doors and the trunk open. Glad for me at least the trunk still opens by using the outside button since if didn't and I was in an underground parking garage where there is no reception, the app wouldn't work and then I'd be stuck. Guess I should just keep the keys in my pocket.. My Infiniti M35 trunk door doesn't close if the key is in the trunk. It bounces back open.