Mystery: Was My Car On for Two Hours?

[tinm]

Here are the facts:

• Went to a movie
• Parked outside in the parking lot
• Tapped on keyfob once to lock car as I walked away
• Car flashed yellow lights once in acknowledgement like it has always done
• 29ºF outside, windy, clouds, snow flurries, no sun
• Movie was 2+ hours long
• I walk back to car
• As I approach drivers side door, the handle autopresents, like normal
• I reach for handle and notice it is WARM
• I open door, car is very warm and toasty
• I also notice the car is on, doesn't say "Car Off"
• Seats warm
• It's like the car has been on for two hours
• I glanced at the battery -- thought, well, am I gonna see a huge drop? Nope. It did drop a little, but was close enough to where I would expect it to be after a short drive (~9mi round trip) with the heat on.

Here is the question:
What's going on? This has never happened before in 3.5 years of ownership (55k mi). Anyone ever seen anything like this? Is there a bug such that the car stays on for hours?

 

[Johan]

Here are the facts:

• Went to a movie
• Parked outside in the parking lot
• Tapped on keyfob once to lock car as I walked away
• Car flashed yellow lights once in acknowledgement like it has always done
• 29ºF outside, windy, clouds, snow flurries, no sun
• Movie was 2+ hours long
• I walk back to car
• As I approach drivers side door, the handle autopresents, like normal
• I reach for handle and notice it is WARM
• I open door, car is very warm and toasty
• I also notice the car is on, doesn't say "Car Off"
• Seats warm
• It's like the car has been on for two hours
• I glanced at the battery -- thought, well, am I gonna see a huge drop? Nope. It did drop a little, but was close enough to where I would expect it to be after a short drive (~9mi round trip) with the heat on.

Here is the question:
What's going on? This has never happened before in 3.5 years of ownership (55k mi). Anyone ever seen anything like this? Is there a bug such that the car stays on for hours?

Are you sure it was on for two hours? It could be intelligent preconditioning kicking in. Maybe it's sensed you park, noticed it was cold, saw you were seeing a movie (maybe you had electronic tickets on your phone or it was in your calender?) so it decided to heat up the car for you at the end of the film?

 

[tinm]

Are you sure it was on for two hours? It could be intelligent preconditioning kicking in. Maybe it's sensed you park, noticed it was cold, saw you were seeing a movie (maybe you had electronic tickets on your phone or it was in your calender?) so it decided to heat up the car for you at the end of the film?

• No idea how long it was on for.
• I do know that there is no way in the world the car could so heat up as to be nice and toasty inside within 2 seconds of me getting in the car.
• I have never used nor will ever use the Tesla Calendar app, so Tesla knows nothing about my activities.
• I paid cash at the cinema, no pre-order.
• Intelligent preconditioning? Since when?
• Maybe your post was you kidding, unsure.
• Mystery remains unsolved.

Here is my Occam's Razor theory:
• Sun was out most of the time.
• Only got cloudy just before I got back to car.
• Car baked in sun most of time, including driver's side facing direct sunlight, so handle would be warm.

Only that doesn't explain why car was on. It is always Car Off when I get in....

 

[Johan]

• I have never used nor will ever use the Tesla Calendar app, so Tesla knows nothing about my activities.
• I paid cash at the cinema, no pre-order.
• Intelligent preconditioning? Since when?
• Maybe your post was you kidding, unsure.
• Mystery remains unsolved.

Not kidding. The correct name of the feature is Smart Preconditioning. I bet you have it set to on.

Smart Preconditioning

 

[PatrickCH4313]

Refer to the pages 99-101 of the manual (Smart Preconditioning).

 

[idoco]

Do you have more than one Tesla? Could significant other have turned on the climate control with the app? Both wife and I have accidentally warmed/cooled the wrong Tesla using the app.

 

[tinm]

• I have never ever had Smart Preconditioning on. Ever. Don't use it.

• I don't even have "Home" and "Work" predefined in the Nav app.

• And I only own one Tesla. (Though a Model 3 is reserved.)

 

[Johan]

Maybe Russian hackers hacked your car? Could have been Cozybear. Or Lazybear. One can never tell, Vlad is a sneaky bastard.

 

[Jason S]

Here are the facts:

• Went to a movie
• Parked outside in the parking lot
• Tapped on keyfob once to lock car as I walked away
• Car flashed yellow lights once in acknowledgement like it has always done
• 29ºF outside, windy, clouds, snow flurries, no sun
• Movie was 2+ hours long
• I walk back to car
• As I approach drivers side door, the handle autopresents, like normal
• I reach for handle and notice it is WARM
• I open door, car is very warm and toasty
• I also notice the car is on, doesn't say "Car Off"
• Seats warm
• It's like the car has been on for two hours
• I glanced at the battery -- thought, well, am I gonna see a huge drop? Nope. It did drop a little, but was close enough to where I would expect it to be after a short drive (~9mi round trip) with the heat on.

Here is the question:
What's going on? This has never happened before in 3.5 years of ownership (55k mi). Anyone ever seen anything like this? Is there a bug such that the car stays on for hours?

Without other info, I'd say the car really was on. Not a lot of energy is spent to keep the car warm, relative to locomotion.

 

[tinm]

One question remains: has this ever happened to another S owner?

 

[Johan]

One question remains: has this ever happened to another S owner?

Happened to me. It was smart preconditioning.

 

[Evbwcaer]

Were either of the front seatbelts buckled?

 

[Dborn]

Finally. The fusion of man and machine. Your car knows you better than you know yourself!