Model 3 Key Fob is here: $150

[whitex]

I feel bad for you and everyone else who is having problem using the phone to access TM3. It's such a great feature. You don't even have to take your phone out of your pocket to open the car.

It's a great feature idea, not a great feature if it doesn't work reliably for most people.

 

[diamond.g]

I really think the fob don't do passive entry not because they can't but because Tesla doesn't want to figure out a way to prevent signal boosting theft. The part that doesn't make sense is if phone key has the same issue as the S/X fob with signal boosting thefts, why bother protecting the fob.

 

[chronopc]

It's a great feature idea, not a great feature if it doesn't work reliably for most people.

I'm curious to know how many people have an issue with their phones. I have only had 2 total failure which for me is totally acceptable. My girlfriend and my boss have never had any failures.

 

[crackers8199]

My comment was in response to someone who said he's upset when people say their phone works 100% of the time because he is saying there had to be a failure once. Which is a true point, 99.99% isn't the same as 100% but nothing works 100% of the time. My comment about the battery dying was a joke, but I find it hard to believe that a key fob, never ever fails, not even once. From what people are posting on youtube the fob for the Model 3 is already having issues.

that was me, and again, your argument that nothing is ever 100% is a fallacy. my volt fob hasn't failed a single time in 5+ years that i've owned the car. that is literally a 100% success rate. i've pointed this out about 5 times here but you keep ignoring it.

 

[crackers8199]

I got my Model 3 in July. I have had nothing but problems with the phone control, including problems getting the charging point to unlock. The final straw was standing in torrential rain and having both the phone and the card fail to open the car. I ordered the fob but I must admit that I find it annoying that Tesla charges me $150 to fix THEIR failure (and the phone is an LG V30 with T Mobile so not an unknown model)

this is a different thing entirely - i've never once had the card fail to unlock the car. are you sure you weren't just flustered and annoyed (understandably) from standing in the rain and tapping the card in the wrong spot? it will only work to unlock on the drivers side b pillar...

 

[tivoboy]

'twas only a matter of time...only $300 shipped. gotta love america

whoops, seems it's even MORE to ship. :-(

TESLA MODEL 3 KEY FOB, FAST SHIP | eBay

 

[chronopc]

that was me, and again, your argument that nothing is ever 100% is a fallacy. my volt fob hasn't failed a single time in 5+ years that i've owned the car. that is literally a 100% success rate. i've pointed this out about 5 times here but you keep ignoring it.

Are you also the person who said that no one has a phone that is working 100% of the time? Cause I'm sure at least 1 person has that experience. When I say no technology ever works 100% of the time, I mean in general. Of course for some people they will have a flawless experience but someone will always have an issue. While you may have never had a failure with your fob, other people have. Watch the youtube videos of people with the model 3 fobs that are already having issues. All the key fobs I've ever had in the past has had times where I had to push the button to unlock multiple times before it opens.

 

[GuyDude]

I love this fob! Super awesome. Works perfectly. My phone key works 99% of the time so not sure when i would use this but glad i have it.

 

[zosoisnotaword]

I'm curious to know how many people have an issue with their phones. I have only had 2 total failure which for me is totally acceptable. My girlfriend and my boss have never had any failures.

The way I use my phone, I've had a 100% success rate, but I always get out my phone and open the app beforehand. On occasion, if I've left the app open in the background, I'll try to get into the car without unlocking my phone. When doing that I've experienced several failures or delays in the door opening. It's not a huge deal for me to open the app beforehand, but it's not passive entry if I have to take action to make sure it works. I experienced true passive entry with a loaner S 100D, and I preferred its fob over my phone as a key. If the 3 fob ever supports passive entry, I'll pounce.

 

[chronopc]

The way I use my phone, I've had a 100% success rate, but I always get out my phone and open the app beforehand. On occasion, if I've left the app open in the background, I'll try to get into the car without unlocking my phone. When doing that I've experienced several failures or delays in the door opening. It's not a huge deal for me to open the app beforehand, but it's not passive entry if I have to take action to make sure it works. I experienced true passive entry with a loaner S 100D, and I preferred its fob over my phone as a key. If the 3 fob ever supports passive entry, I'll pounce.

You should haven't to open the app each time. For me all I have to do is have the phone in my pocket and passive entry works just like the fob for the Model S or X.

 

[zosoisnotaword]

You should haven't to open the app each time. For me all I have to do is have the phone in my pocket and passive entry works just like the fob for the Model S or X.

I agree. But like I said, I've had failures doing that, so I just got in the habit of opening the app first.

 

[chronopc]

I agree. But like I said, I've had failures doing that, so I just got in the habit of opening the app first.

That's unfortunate that you have to use that workaround. My girlfriend leaves the phone in her purse and it works fine for her too. The only failure she got was when Tesla switch the email on my account. So she had to log back in to the app with the new credentials.

 

[ceekz]

What the hell kind of pants are you buying that cost $150?

Ones with reinforced pockets!

 

[ceekz]

Can Canadian use the fob to get summon feature?

It might be faster to change the legal requirement in Canada to have not need a fob to use Summon rather than wait for a fob from Tesla to do it...

 

[RonJoven]

Interesting that it does not support passive entry. That is one of my favorite features about our S. I often walk away from our other vehicles forgetting to lock them now.

Even worse I walk away from my other cars leaving them with their motors running. (6 hours once with my 350Z)

 

[BioSehnsucht]

I feel bad for you and everyone else who is having problem using the phone to access TM3. It's such a great feature. You don't even have to take your phone out of your pocket to open the car.

Sometimes the car is unresponsive (if I approach with phone out of pocket and awake, I must still pull on the door handle and then wait for car to wake before it unlocks).

Sometimes the phone is the problem (* or the app, but there's no way to really tell which is at fault), and I walk up, pull on the door handle, car wakes immediately and prompts for key card. While I keep pulling on the door handle, I pull phone out of pocket, sometimes the door opens with the passage of time as I'm doing this, sometimes I have to wake my phone at which point usually the car opens immediately. Perhaps 5-10% of the time I have to actually open the Tesla app and/or toggle BT.

What really sucks when all of the above happens. Car didn't awake ahead of time, must wait on it. Except it still doesn't see the phone too, so now I've wasted ~10 seconds waiting on the car, I must get the phone out and mess with it. Might end up fiddling around with stuff for ~30 seconds. Would be faster to just pull my wallet out and use the key card...

If the weather is bad now I often use the app to wake the car even if I don't need heat (i.e. raining) before I go out, and unlock it, then get my phone out and deal with phone as key issues after I'm already inside. I shouldn't have to do all that ...

 

[chronopc]

Even worse I walk away from my other cars leaving them with their motors running. (6 hours once with my 350Z)

I've done this after getting used to my Model 3. When driving a zip car I would get out of the car, close the door and precede to walk away. Luckily someone was with me and they were like aren't you going to shut off the car?

 

[crackers8199]

Are you also the person who said that no one has a phone that is working 100% of the time? Cause I'm sure at least 1 person has that experience.

we don't know that for sure, because nobody ever answers when i ask the question "are you considering standing there for 2-3 or more seconds holding the door handle waiting for it to unlock to be a success or a failure?"

if you're counting that as a success, you're not understanding the way this is supposed to work (or you don't care, which is almost as bad).

if you're counting that type of thing as a failure, which you should be, i stand by my thought that there isn't a single person who has had a 100% success rate with this (i.e. NEVER, not once has the phone key failed to open the car immediately). i'm confident there is nobody out there who can say that.

When I say no technology ever works 100% of the time, I mean in general. Of course for some people they will have a flawless experience but someone will always have an issue. While you may have never had a failure with your fob, other people have. Watch the youtube videos of people with the model 3 fobs that are already having issues. All the key fobs I've ever had in the past has had times where I had to push the button to unlock multiple times before it opens.

that is irrelevant to the discussion - here's why. you're using the idea that no fob is ever 100% successful to excuse tesla releasing the car with this garbage entry system...and that's not the case, because mine has been. i walk up to the volt, press the button on the door handle, door unlocks, open door. get in, start car, drive away. every single time for 5+ years...not one failure. that's why this is so maddening.

saying "no fob is 100% successful" is not the same thing as saying "your fob might not have had issues, but other people have." if even one fob on one vehicle can achieve a 100% success rate (especially one that's over five years old), there is no reason tesla in a 2018 vehicle should not be able to do the same. period.

 

[whitex]

I really think the fob don't do passive entry not because they can't but because Tesla doesn't want to figure out a way to prevent signal boosting theft. The part that doesn't make sense is if phone key has the same issue as the S/X fob with signal boosting thefts, why bother protecting the fob.

Asked and answered. Since boosting works with the phone anyways, preventing boosting is not the reason why the M3 fob doesn't do passive entry.

 

[chronopc]

we don't know that for sure, because nobody ever answers when i ask the question "are you considering standing there for 2-3 or more seconds holding the door handle waiting for it to unlock to be a success or a failure?"

if you're counting that as a success, you're not understanding the way this is supposed to work (or you don't care, which is almost as bad).

if you're counting that type of thing as a failure, which you should be, i stand by my thought that there isn't a single person who has had a 100% success rate with this (i.e. NEVER, not once has the phone key failed to open the car immediately). i'm confident there is nobody out there who can say that.



that is irrelevant to the discussion - here's why. you're using the idea that no fob is ever 100% successful to excuse tesla releasing the car with this garbage entry system...and that's not the case, because mine has been. i walk up to the volt, press the button on the door handle, door unlocks, open door. get in, start car, drive away. every single time for 5+ years...not one failure. that's why this is so maddening.

saying "no fob is 100% successful" is not the same thing as saying "your fob might not have had issues, but other people have." if even one fob on one vehicle can achieve a 100% success rate (especially one that's over five years old), there is no reason tesla in a 2018 vehicle should not be able to do the same. period.

My phone works 99.9% of the time. So from my experience Tesla succeeded.