Passengers in M3 alone!

[KeithT]

I have "Walk Away Locking" set on. I parked at a Supermarket and walked away!. Polly (my M3) locked up and turned off the screen. My passenger got nervous and opened the door and all hell broke loose. Polly threw a fit and started honking the horn. I'm on 2020.20.12. Is this a bug?

 

[P3dStealth]

Why is it a glitch? You walked away the car is supposed to lock. You have to leave the key in a car to keep it on.

 

[KeithT]

Why is it a glitch? You walked away the car is supposed to lock. You have to leave the key in a car to keep it on.

Well, it shouldn't have locked because someone was still in the car. If someone is there then it's not going to be pinched. If the passenger gets out then I agree, the car should lock. The car knows if someone is in the front passenger seat and if Tesla activates the in car camera then it will know if someone is in the back.

This problem is no reason why I should turn off the very useful "walk away" feature.Have you noted this problem? How do you get around it? Thanks.

 

[swaltner]

No real need to change the system, just need to do it the way that Tesla expected you to do this.

In that situation, the passenger simple touches the main screen after the door closes and the screen turns off. When they do that, the screen, the HVAC, and the "radio" all turn back on. There is some form of timeout on this wakeup, maybe 30 minutes. If you're away from the car longer than that, they'll need to touch the screen again to wake up the screen again. No biggie.

As for the alarm going off, I'm not quite certain about that. I myself haven't noticed that, but I generally don't leave passengers in the car alone. Did you passenger use the manual/emergency release (pull lever) instead of the regular push button release? I could see that as triggering the alarm. If they used the push button to open the door, you could have them try again, but press the unlock button (the padlock) on the screen first to unlock the door. This sounds like an interaction with the alarm that is part of Sentry Mode. You could also try turning off Sentry Mode after putting the car in park if you plan on leaving a passenger in the car.

Note that leaving your key card inside the car won't do anything. The range on the key card is rated in inches. Its general location in the car is not used as a determining factor to lock/unlock the doors. The only place the key card is read is when it is held to the driver's side B pillar or the center console near the drink holders. Leaving your cell phone programmed as a key in the car with your passenger would keep the doors from locking and possibly the alarm triggering.

Just a couple things to try.

 

[AdamMacDon]

I think this is a bug/lack of sensing ability in the seats. I've had my GF stay in the car many times for up to an hour and it stayed awake with the screen on. She is kind of small and one time she didn't trigger the weight sensor. Car locked and she opened the door at some point, big mistake. Alarm went off and classic music blared at an amazing volume. I've never seen it since though.

 

[jmaddr]

Yes, Tesla should smarten up its logic and take into consideration if someone is in the seat when deciding to lock (and arm) the car. Maybe something like a double beep to let the person walking away something is amiss (including leaving a door or trunk or frunk open).
But that’s not a bug, just an inconvenience...just like having the Bluetooth switch to the car the minute the door opened, but before the driver actually sits in the car. With a recent update, that was was rectified and this could be too.
in the meantime, whenever I just leave, I hit the HVAC settings and turn it to “on”.

 

[mongo]

Keep in mind, sonetimes you have something other than a passenger in the seat. You would not want your backpack stolen because your backpack kept the alarm from turning on.

Adding in logic based on door opening would help with these error cases, but not eliminate them. I.e. you opened passenger door to put backpack/ package on seat.

 

[sduck]

Just remember to tell your staying behind passenger to touch the screen after the driver gets out and closes the door.

 

[Twiglett]

It sounds so easy to say "why don't they just,..." - but those simple solutions are rarely that simple
Someone too light to trigger the seat sensor, or who moves around in the car, or a dog, or a backpack/luggage/shopping etc etc etc etc
So many cases where "simply" using a seat sensor doesn't work and only one or two circumstances when it does
The possible answer is to unlock the car remotely for the small percentage of times you leave someone in your car that you don't trust to have a phone key. You probably don't want sentry mode on either so turn that off as well.
The other reason for the passenger opening the door is they get overheated, so Dog or Camp mode really helps that.
The newer software also allows you to add other drivers without giving them your account details which lets others have a phone key without owning the car - and you control when to remove them.

 

[giantshark18]

In these situations, I just park, turn bluetooth off, then leave car. The car does not know I left and it's as fast as a swipe in the android drop down to turn back on when I return.

 

[P3dStealth]

In these situations, I just park, turn bluetooth off, then leave car. The car does not know I left and it's as fast as a swipe in the android drop down to turn back on when I return.

Huh? My car locks if I turn blue tooth off.

 

[giantshark18]

Huh? My car locks if I turn blue tooth off.

Weird, mine does not lock the car if I turn off bluetooth before opening a door.

 

[AdamMacDon]

That is weird, my car will lock almost instantly if I did this. Another annoying thing I noticed is during a call, Bluetooth is turned off and my car will instantly lock and refuse to unlock until I manually do it with the key card or app.

 

[KeithT]

Thanks everyone for the very useful comments and discussion. I have also been on the phone with my Service Rep and I think the foolproof way to avoid the "passenger alone" situation is to turn off Walk Away locking before leaving the car which mens that the alarm system will not be armed. I will also try these other suggestions like turning off my Bluetooth. Thanks

 

[RTPEV]

Whether it's more convenient or not, I can't say, but another option would be that if you know you ahead of time this situation will arise, you can turn off Bluetooth BEFORE entering your vehicle, and use your key card instead. When you use the key card to unlock the door, walk away lock is automatically disabled. That sounds like a hassle to me, but maybe it fits into your routine.

Another option would be to leave your phone in the car. Again, this usually doesn't work for me since I may need to call/message my passenger (or vice versa) or I may need an app on my phone. But again, maybe that's a reasonable alternative for you.

My passenger is usually my wife and she usually has her phone on her which is set up as a key, so I don't believe the door actually locks if I run into the store with her in the vehicle. On the rare occasions where I have a different passenger AND I need to exit the car without the passenger, I would probably just use the app to unlock the car after it had locked.

 

[f308gt4]

Isn’t camp mode supposed to leave climate on and doors unlocked? Seems like the easiest way to solve the problem, just put it into camp mode before exiting the car.

 

[sduck]

Or you could just tell your stay behind passenger to just touch the screen once you get out of the car.

 

[XLR82XS]

Easiest solution: leave the key card on the RFID reader.

 

[brkaus]

Isn’t camp mode supposed to leave climate on and doors unlocked? Seems like the easiest way to solve the problem, just put it into camp mode before exiting the car.

awesome idea!

Or you could just tell your stay behind passenger to just touch the screen once you get out of the car.

But also tell them that the alarm will arm. In most cases it won’t matter as the waiting party will just wait in the car.

I think clicking on unlock on the screen will disarm, but not sure.

 

[sduck]

But also tell them that the alarm will arm. In most cases it won’t matter as the waiting party will just wait in the car.

I think clicking on unlock on the screen will disarm, but not sure.

Does it? I've never had this problem, but also haven't left passengers in the car often. I've always just told my daughter and/or her friends to touch the screen once I'm out of the car, and there's never been a problem.