locked out briefly ..help

[Shareth23]

Hi, I had a lock-out incident today (late 2021 build Model Y) and need some help remote-diagnosing as I am not entirely sure it got resolved. We drove from our home (with about 170 miles of range remaining) to my 1.5 yr old's doctor office about 15 minutes away- no issues. I parked, got out/closed driver door, and went to rear passenger to take my kid and realized the door wouldn't open despite yanking the handle handle multiple times. I tried other door handles immediately - including the driver. Nothing worked. I immediately tried to lock/unlock with the app and while it indicated the car getting locked/unlocked (and mirrors moved out and in) I still couldn't open the handle. I switched on the a/c immediately so my kid doesn't get hot (it was 80 degrees) and the app indicated the A/C was on. I then used my key card to try and "unlock" but in the second try the driver's door unlocked. I immediately just reached in between the seats, grabbed my kid as we were already late for the appt, left the driver's door ajar a little and went to the appt. When I came back in 25 minutes, I first locked the driver door (which I had left open) then locked the car and then unlocked it to test if everything was OK. It seemed fine afterward.

What could have happened? Reading forums some indicate a 12V battery being dead. How can I check for it? Is this a Tesla service thing as I have two kids and really would prefer not to be locked out or have children inside a hot car (enough episodes have happened across the country). Finally, we also have a ATT outage (intermittent) but I believe this shouldn't be an issue as I have phone-as a key set up as well as the key card which should have theoretically worked. Thanks in advance!!!!

 

[Tam]

Hi, I had a lock-out incident today (late 2021 build Model Y) and need some help remote-diagnosing as I am not entirely sure it got resolved. We drove from our home (with about 170 miles of range remaining) to my 1.5 yr old's doctor office about 15 minutes away- no issues. I parked, got out/closed driver door, and went to rear passenger to take my kid and realized the door wouldn't open despite yanking the handle handle multiple times. I tried other door handles immediately - including the driver. Nothing worked. I immediately tried to lock/unlock with the app and while it indicated the car getting locked/unlocked (and mirrors moved out and in) I still couldn't open the handle. I switched on the a/c immediately so my kid doesn't get hot (it was 80 degrees) and the app indicated the A/C was on. I then used my key card to try and "unlock" but in the second try the driver's door unlocked. I immediately just reached in between the seats, grabbed my kid as we were already late for the appt, left the driver's door ajar a little and went to the appt. When I came back in 25 minutes, I first locked the driver door (which I had left open) then locked the car and then unlocked it to test if everything was OK. It seemed fine afterward.

What could have happened? Reading forums some indicate a 12V battery being dead. How can I check for it? Is this a Tesla service thing as I have two kids and really would prefer not to be locked out or have children inside a hot car (enough episodes have happened across the country). Finally, we also have a ATT outage (intermittent) but I believe this shouldn't be an issue as I have phone-as a key set up as well as the key card which should have theoretically worked. Thanks in advance!!!!

When in doubt, use your card.

You was in a hurry so you might have not recognized the locking status and got confused.

To reduce confusion, maybe you should keep the driver door open. Then open the rear doors next. Then close the driver door last.

 

[Shareth23]

Thanks. Is there a way to manually open the 1) driver door from outside if all doors are locked and if the car is in “unlocked” state, or 2) the rear doors from inside when locked in? I know there’s a lever for the front doors that we can use to manually open the doors from inside.

 

[Tam]

Thanks. Is there a way to manually open the 1) driver door from outside if all doors are locked and if the car is in “unlocked” state, or 2) the rear doors from inside when locked in? I know there’s a lever for the front doors that we can use to manually open the doors from inside.

1. When the car is in unlocked state, the mirrors are unfolded, the app shows unlocked, and the driver door is unlocked too. Please use your card to familiarize the locking status first.

2. There's a hidden manual lever for your rear doors as well:

 

[carlos31820]

There is also an option in the mobile app to unlatch the driver door. This is for something like the door handle being frozen but could come in handy if the door handle actually failed in some way.

 

[father_of_6]

I keep a pair of window breakers in the car (with built-in seatbelt cutters) for emergencies, but a thread like this makes me think it'd be a good idea to have one on the outside of the car... for the highly unlikely but still galactically possible scenario where the 12v battery dies the moment you close the driver door but before you open the rear door.

Amazon.com

This isn't a unique-to-Tesla situation, but cars with manual levers in the rear don't suffer from this. The specific issue is kids who are trapped in a car seat. Once out of a car seat, kids would be old enough to unbuckle, climb into the front seat, and pull the manual handle on the front door. The other solution is smashing the glass.