Has anyone else noticed that their charge port opens without a fob now? I used to have to walk past the rear door until the handles deployed before the charge port would open. Now if I'm standing in front of the p90d port and push the button on the charging cable the port on both cars opens. I only have the p90d fob with me at the time and the p85+ is locked. I still can't remove the cable without a fob.
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New Charge Port Behavior
- Thread starter TIppy
- Start date
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- Tags
- Driving Dynamics Model S
Just checked and mine does that too. It's not supposed to per the Owners Manual:
"Opening the Charge Port
The charge port is located on the driver’s side of Model S, behind a door that is part of the rear tail light assembly.
Park Model S so that the charge cable easily reaches the charge port.
With Model S unlocked, or a recognized key nearby, press and release the button on a Tesla charge cable to open the charge port door. If the cable you are using does not have this button, you can also open the charge port door using any of these methods:
- Touch Controls > Charge Port on the touchscreen.
- Hold down the rear trunk button on the key for 1-2 seconds."
I wonder if it matters which kind of port door you have on the car, the older pop-open only door, or the new motorized open and shut door?
I have always been able to pop the door on my vintage style charge port by pressing the button on the charge cable, with car locked and no key nearby it just pops open on command. I think it still works this way now, and I'm totally OK with this.
I'll try both ways now. And check my online manual... maybe Tesla senses the hardware version of the port on the car and puts up different instructions in the manual depending on what you've got. I dunno.
I think it would be a recent change that the car has to be in an unlocked state or key nearby in order for a cable button press to open the charge port door. I can see Tesla doing this for added security now with more cars around, it's not right to pop all doors in the vicinity just because one guy hits a button. I do recall that calamity at the Tesla service center... every car within a radius of about 2 cars around the wall charger had their ports consta-open.
I have always been able to pop the door on my vintage style charge port by pressing the button on the charge cable, with car locked and no key nearby it just pops open on command. I think it still works this way now, and I'm totally OK with this.
I'll try both ways now. And check my online manual... maybe Tesla senses the hardware version of the port on the car and puts up different instructions in the manual depending on what you've got. I dunno.
I think it would be a recent change that the car has to be in an unlocked state or key nearby in order for a cable button press to open the charge port door. I can see Tesla doing this for added security now with more cars around, it's not right to pop all doors in the vicinity just because one guy hits a button. I do recall that calamity at the Tesla service center... every car within a radius of about 2 cars around the wall charger had their ports consta-open.
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byan1232
Member
Actually, when I park near other teslas at destination chargers, pressing down on the charger opens up the ports of other teslas nearby as well. Don't know if that is a bug or it is supposed to do that...
Until very recently, I had to walk toward the front of the car about midway past the rear door to unlock the car before I could get the charge port door to open. This is on a 2013 P85+. The electronic manual in the car says the car has to be unlocked.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
It's been doing that since early 2013 (and maybe always), so presumably by now we can assume it's "supposed to do that". A user (lolachampcar) on here created a standalone fob to open the ports for J1772 users. It was much higher power than anticipated. You could open every Model S charge ports for hundreds of feet with it. We used to joke it'd be fun to take one to the factory's delivery area where there are dozens of vehicles sitting, press the button, and listen to the glorious sound of 100 charge ports opening at once.
I had to stop using mine because an owner on the other side of the garage kept having his port open when I charged.
The manual says the car has to be unlocked, or a recognized key must be nearby to open the port.
I bought my car in late 2013 and have always had to unlock the car first before I could get the charge port door to open. I think someone actually called it the charge port shuffle, because you had to walk sideways toward the rear door to get the car to unlock and then walk sideways back to the charge port before you could open it.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
It's always had to be unlocked to remove the charge cable from the port because the handle locks in. That's what the "shuffle" referred to.
roblab
Active Member
Nope. No key necessary to plug in. I plug in at 8 PM after my peak billing period ends. At least half the time I have dropped the fob on the dresser, and when I push the charge cable, the car first wakes up, then opens. If you think about it, there is no reason to lock someone out of charging your car, as perhaps one car finishes charging, and is able to plug your car in when they are done, without you. Of course, you can't UNplug anyone else.
Since the charge cable broadcasts a signal, any Tesla within range will respond. With the newer charge ports, they will close by themselves in a few minutes, but it's not dangerous to have the port open. There is no power available until the cable signals the car when it's connected. No one is able to put anything into your "tank" or take anything out. So even if the car is of the older type, it's not a big problem to have ports open.
I think the manual may have been upgraded.
Camera-Cruiser
Fully Charged
I always have to unlock my 2013 MS85 by walking by the door, unless the car is already unlocked.
So, are you sure that your car is locked? I realized the other day after having the car detailed, that I had turned off, lock on walk away so the car would be available for the detailers. It is easy to forget, as the door handles still retract. I know I was annoyed with myself when I found this out, since I obviously had left the car unlocked in a variety of places that it should not have been.
So, you might want to check that out.
So, are you sure that your car is locked? I realized the other day after having the car detailed, that I had turned off, lock on walk away so the car would be available for the detailers. It is easy to forget, as the door handles still retract. I know I was annoyed with myself when I found this out, since I obviously had left the car unlocked in a variety of places that it should not have been.
So, you might want to check that out.
If the online manual and the PDF on tesla.com say it has to be unlocked either the manuals need to be upgraded or this is a bug.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
It could, but doesn't.
A few points of clarification might be in order:
- Opening the port and unlocking the port are different things and handled differently. You should be able to open the port with the UMC/HPWC button with the car locked, but not remove the plug.
- UMC handle button vs touch-to-open are handled differently.
You can find a ton of discussions on this through the years. Here's the next most recent I could find in a hurry: Plugging in a car that doesn't belong to you?
It is interesting the manual says it has to be unlocked. I don't think it used to. But it also doesn't mention that you can push to open the port, either. In general Tesla is very poor about accuracy in the User Manual, especially for items that have gone through hardware revisions.
I think Tesla has the tricky job of having to generalize the manual to accommodate all variations of hardware, so that instructions apply to the least common denominator. Which means you might not learn of some enhanced features or capabilities except through tribal knowledge (TMC) for things a particular variety of car can do.
I could look up tire pressure monitor in my in-car manual and see if it describes the newer individual wheel reporting capability (which I don't have) or the original mystery pressure except when some exception happens you get a pop up. Or maybe it just generalizes things for all and says, "you will get a message on your display about tire pressures if one or more tires are out of acceptable pressure limits"
Incremental improvements are great in theory until you have a zillion permutations to deal with, for niggly things.. like accurate user documentation.
I guess they can always cover it with, "Your mileage may vary".
I guess I've just been doing what the manual said to do all this time unnecessarily. It wasn't until I had two cars parked close to each other that I noticed what I thought was new behavior.
