Locking with the app - check for phone in car or window open

[RayF]

My wife and I went to the gym. I left my phone in the trunk. We walked away and she remotely locked the car with her phone. The app showed it locked. Later it timed out and unlocked. There's wasn't any notification this happened. (We have a Camry and can use one fob to lock the car with the other fob in the car or trunk.)

You can also lock the car with a window down.

The app should check for both situations when you attempt to lock it. If you just walk away expecting it to lock, it should alert you that it won't lock. It could also offer a solutions such as ignore the phone in the car or close the windows.

I did find that if you aren't sure the windows are closed that you can use Controls, Vent to open them and then close them. All windows will close regardless of how far any were open.

 

[640k]

how do you know the car unlocked with the phone in the trunk? i'm betting the car was locked but because the phone was within vicinity, it allowed you to open the car (unlocks when you try to open a door, etc). unfortunately this is a side effect of the BT capabilities for locking/unlocking the car. i think the car had the expected behavior here.

other vehicles with FOBs and push button starts likely have a similar issue.

 

[RayF]

I ran an experiment. I put my phone in the truck. I walked away with my wife's phone and used its app to lock it. It beeped as normal and the app changed to locked. I left the phone away, walked back to the car and the mirrors were folded. It appeared locked but I was able to open the doors and truck. Walking back to my wife's phone it showed it unlocked. A few seconds later the horn beeped and her phone changed to locked. I went back to the car, the mirrors were folded and I opened the trunk and took my phone out. My phone had a message asking if I had trouble and suggesting turning off Bluetooth then turning it back on.

In other words, you can't trust the app nor the mirrors if you leave a phone in the car. The car is not locked. If you leave your phone in the car, make sure to turn it off. Probably turning off Bluetooth is sufficient. If I leave my fob inside my 2016 Camry or in the trunk, I can't lock the car unless I use the buttons on another fob. So you can't accidentally lock yourself out. When I return, the fob's proximity is disabled and I again have to use the buttons. The Tesla app needs more work.