you can't say "it has worked flawlessly" and the in the next sentence say "sometimes i wonder if it even locks the car." that's part of this.
if the car is never locked to begin with, then sure it'll seem like the phone key is working spendidly...
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No offense, the current card/phone setup is utter *sugar*
- Thread starter TeeEmCee
- Start date
you can't say "it has worked flawlessly" and the in the next sentence say "sometimes i wonder if it even locks the car." that's part of this.
if the car is never locked to begin with, then sure it'll seem like the phone key is working spendidly...
scottysize
Member
Really? My car locks EVERY time. I've only had it not unlock a few times. I just tried it again and it opened. No FOB for me.
Or be smart and get battery enabled locks on front and back doors in case of power outage.
<— no more keys needed. If phone battery dies I can still walk up to door and use battery powered deadbolt touch pads
I had SEVERAL instances of finding that my car didn't lock on walk-away, actually. It was all during one OS version like 6-7 months ago but it was very disconcerting.
if you're willing to deal with your car not unlocking every so often, more power to you.
those of us who believe a car key should do what it's supposed to do actually unlock the car 100% of the time will take a fob and use that instead.
it's still happening. it has happened to me more than once in the past week or so.
Ugh, I am very sad to hear that. I'd rather have a hundred failed unlocks than one failure to lock.
This should be a relatively easy fix, too. The BLE ranging code should see the device drop off, and even if it doesn't, it should be conducting periodic verifications of lock state vs authorized key devices detected.
Sure. Can also do the low-tech solution of just hiding a spare key somewhere outside the house, too. Or even just keeping a spare house key in the car. It was just tongue-in-cheek.
it literally just happened to me just now when I went into the grocery store...so add another.
@crackers8199 now that I think about it, I just remembered that I did also take some other actions around the time the problem went away. I can't remember exact details but I had a suspicion that my iPad, which I set up as a key at once point to test, was POTENTIALLY causing some sort of issue even though it'd been removed. I think that I re-added it and then removed it as a key in some other way.
Might not apply, but if you have ever set up another device as a key even if it's not currently set up, I'm mentioning it just in case.
Might not apply, but if you have ever set up another device as a key even if it's not currently set up, I'm mentioning it just in case.
timk225
Active Member
I never meant anything about a mechanical key. But my 2011 Challenger R/T's key fob DID have a mechanical key integrated into it. If it was needed due to a low fob battery, just slide the spring loaded lock to the side and pull out a mechanical key and use it in the door lock. Tried it a couple times but never really needed to use it.
Another bad thing about the key card is when we hold the card up to the B pillar, people around us in the parking lot can see where we are holding it on the car, thereby taking away some of the mystique of having the Tesla.
the only thing i've noticed is that this seems to happen more often after a software update (which i did just get last night)...but it's not constant nor is it consistent. i keep saying i'm going to ditch the phone altogether and just go with the card, but having to get the card out and tap it every time is so annoying that i haven't done it yet. i'm also used to complete hands free because my chevy volt, which is 5 years older and cost $30k less than my model 3 somehow has a better entry/drive away system in place. that's really, really sad.
diamond.g
Active Member
You haven’t left the volt on and walked away yet? I have done that a couple times. Not a fan of push to start button anymore. Lol.
once, in five years. i came home one night sick and tired and just wanted to go to bed, and left it turned on in the garage. even plugged it in lol...either way though, the problem with that isn't the push button start - it's that the car is silent when running on battery. there's no way to know it's running unless you look at the interior staying on...
the triple beep if you get out and shut the door with the car still running has fixed that now.
diamond.g
Active Member
Yeah the beep helps. Then I have to sit back down because it didn’t detect the fob in my pocket when I reach across the dash to press the power button. Serious first world problems.
My wife just told me a story about how the Volt made her mad due to the doors randomly not unlocking. My talking about this post to her made her remember it. I am sure our children yelling didn’t help her any. Lol.
Yeah, the original hunch discussed here is correct. On iOS, it does indeed do background location tracking/validation. I did a bit more testing and it's bloody obvious from how it works or does not work when location access is set to "When Using". With this setting, it always works if you just open the app and otherwise it just happens to work at times, depending on how long ago and where the app was used (such that it would have had the chance to record the phone's location). The posts above explaining how/why it works like this under iOS are spot-on, i.m.o.
I also installed the app on another phone and noticed the message asking for location access. They say that setting the permission to "Always" is to optimize the key functionality, which is not accurate. It's not optimizing it, it's actually a requirement to make it work more than just sporadically.
So yes, it can work most of the time when the cellular network and GPS are accessible, that is if you're OK with Tesla tracking your every move and if you're OK with the car failing to lock or unlock when you have spotty coverage or you're in a parking structure that blocks either the GPS or the cellular signal.
I'm going with a fob, as soon as they become available. The phone will be a great back-up if I ever leave the fob behind, but it's indeed *sugar* on its own.
lairdb
Member
Couple of FWIW, per the earlier discussion:
- Yes, you're theoretically giving Tesla permission to track your every move. You can see, however, in Location Services setup (hollow chevron vs solid chevron) that the app is using geofencing, not continuous location inspection. Certainly geofencing can functionally be used to capture near-continuous, but it's at least superficially only activating when you move.
- Location Services isn't wholly GPS and cellular dependent; it clearly also uses wifi sniffing and fixed-location-Bluetooth (e.g. beacons) and it may also use inertial movement inference.
(Also I'd be surprised if the location services wakeup was necessary for walk-away lock. Unlock, sure.)
