Please help! “Vehicle Connection Error”

[CBPfromTN]

I need some advice.
I just got my Model S less than a week ago.
I have been using the Tesla app on my iPhone with no problems since the day I took delivery of my car but this evening, my Tesla app won’t connect.
After a minute or two of it trying to connect, I finally get the “vehicle connection error.”
I have tried everything from rebooting my phone, to trying WiFi and/or LTE, deleting the app and reinstalling but nothing helps.
Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
I really like being able to remotely connect with my car!
Thanks!

 

[bmah]

I need some advice.
I just got my Model S less than a week ago.
I have been using the Tesla app on my iPhone with no problems since the day I took delivery of my car but this evening, my Tesla app won’t connect.
After a minute or two of it trying to connect, I finally get the “vehicle connection error.”
I have tried everything from rebooting my phone, to trying WiFi and/or LTE, deleting the app and reinstalling but nothing helps.
Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
I really like being able to remotely connect with my car!
Thanks!

If I remember right, this indicates a problem with Tesla's back-end servers not being able to reach your car. It might not have anything to do with your car's WiFi or LTE access...there's a lot of Internet between your car and Tesla's servers (and Tesla's servers and your phone). In my experience it happens at random times, but not frequently. Sometimes these outages are regional. (As I'm typing this in California, I'm able to query my car for battery state, etc.)

Is your car on-line? Like do maps update, streaming audio play, Web pages on the Web browser load?

You could try calling tech support and see what they say. (What they say might not be useful, but there's a chance you'd get something information from them.)

Good luck!

Bruce.

PS. Ideally you shouldn't have to do all this troubleshooting on your own, but that's unfortunately the nature of IoT (Internet of Things) devices today.

 

[CBPfromTN]

If I remember right, this indicates a problem with Tesla's back-end servers not being able to reach your car. It might not have anything to do with your car's WiFi or LTE access...there's a lot of Internet between your car and Tesla's servers (and Tesla's servers and your phone). In my experience it happens at random times, but not frequently. Sometimes these outages are regional. (As I'm typing this in California, I'm able to query my car for battery state, etc.)

Is your car on-line? Like do maps update, streaming audio play, Web pages on the Web browser load?

You could try calling tech support and see what they say. (What they say might not be useful, but there's a chance you'd get something information from them.)

Good luck!

Bruce.

PS. Ideally you shouldn't have to do all this troubleshooting on your own, but that's unfortunately the nature of IoT (Internet of Things) devices today.

Thanks, Bruce. I tried to send you a PM but it wouldn’t let me so I just posted on the page. I am glad you saw it, thank you.
Actually, I decided to get in the car in the garage a few minutes ago and started it charging and like magic, the app magically connected. Weird.
Anyway, speaking of my car connecting to my WiFi in my home, that’s been a bust. I haven’t been able to connect to my home’s WiFi because our (attached) garage is just too far from the router, I guess.
I tried to connect to it several times the night I got my car and it was able to pick up my network but even though I correctly input my network password, it couldn’t or wouldn’t connect. I finally used my iPhone as a hotspot just to see if it really would connect, and it did.
As for the app not connecting earlier, I still really don’t know why that happened but fortunately that is now working.
Thanks for your help!
In the meantime, I’ll try to connect to my home WiFi again and see what happens.
Thank you!

 

[bmah]

Thanks, Bruce. I tried to send you a PM but it wouldn’t let me so I just posted on the page. I am glad you saw it, thank you.
Actually, I decided to get in the car in the garage a few minutes ago and started it charging and like magic, the app magically connected. Weird.
Anyway, speaking of my car connecting to my WiFi in my home, that’s been a bust. I haven’t been able to connect to my home’s WiFi because our (attached) garage is just too far from the router, I guess.
I tried to connect to it several times the night I got my car and it was able to pick up my network but even though I correctly input my network password, it couldn’t or wouldn’t connect. I finally used my iPhone as a hotspot just to see if it really would connect, and it did.
As for the app not connecting earlier, I still really don’t know why that happened but fortunately that is now working.
Thanks for your help!
In the meantime, I’ll try to connect to my home WiFi again and see what happens.
Thank you!

You're welcome, I'm glad it's (sorta) working. People have reported various problems with the Tesla WiFi implementation, ranging from not being able to get a good signal to and from their wireless access point to incompatibility with other devices on some owners' home networks. There are several discussion threads on this topic here on TMC, but (unfortunately) there's no "here's the one thing you need to do fix your Tesla WiFi problems" solution.

Bruce.

PS. Weird that you couldn't send me a PM, but I swear I'm not blocking you, at least not on purpose.

 

[GatorGuy]

Thanks, Bruce. I tried to send you a PM but it wouldn’t let me so I just posted on the page. I am glad you saw it, thank you.
Actually, I decided to get in the car in the garage a few minutes ago and started it charging and like magic, the app magically connected. Weird.
Anyway, speaking of my car connecting to my WiFi in my home, that’s been a bust. I haven’t been able to connect to my home’s WiFi because our (attached) garage is just too far from the router, I guess.
I tried to connect to it several times the night I got my car and it was able to pick up my network but even though I correctly input my network password, it couldn’t or wouldn’t connect. I finally used my iPhone as a hotspot just to see if it really would connect, and it did.
As for the app not connecting earlier, I still really don’t know why that happened but fortunately that is now working.
Thanks for your help!
In the meantime, I’ll try to connect to my home WiFi again and see what happens.
Thank you!

What about a wifi range extender?

 

[wayner]

The wifi issue is a problem with your home networking, not with the Tesla. The best solution to replace a combined router/WAP with dedicated WAPs around your house, including one close to your garage. Look into something like Unifi Access Points and wire them back to your main network switch.

 

[CBPfromTN]

What about a wifi range extender?

I have thought about that and I do have one I purchased several years ago and I may get it out and try it again. I may need to purchase another one at this point because the one I DO have already is probably 8 years old. Great idea. I will try the one I have and then go from there. thank you

 

[CBPfromTN]

The wifi issue is a problem with your home networking, not with the Tesla. The best solution to replace a combined router/WAP with dedicated WAPs around your house, including one close to your garage. Look into something like Unifi Access Points and wire them back to your main network switch.

Oh, I know it's not my car....I know it's the range that is the problem, but as much as I know about all this kinda thing (apparently not much,) I have no clue what you mean about the Unifi Access Points. ugh. I am going to try to do this with a range extender and if all else fails, I'll call my audio/video guy who takes care of all the security cams etc. He's good at networking. I just thought I could do it myself but it's looking like I'm too dumb to do much about this issue. Thanks for the advice!!

 

[CBPfromTN]

You're welcome, I'm glad it's (sorta) working. People have reported various problems with the Tesla WiFi implementation, ranging from not being able to get a good signal to and from their wireless access point to incompatibility with other devices on some owners' home networks. There are several discussion threads on this topic here on TMC, but (unfortunately) there's no "here's the one thing you need to do fix your Tesla WiFi problems" solution.

Bruce.

PS. Weird that you couldn't send me a PM, but I swear I'm not blocking you, at least not on purpose.

Thanks, Bruce! I did send you a PM yesterday and the reason I couldn't send you the original PM was there was a limit of 450 characters and I had exceeded that and I just didn't feel like paring my message down, so I was able to make my 2nd PM to you more concise and of course it went thru. Thanks for your help. Everyone on this forum ROCKS!

 

[GaryREM]

Unless something has changed, Tesla will not connect to a network that is only 'n' or 'ac'. You need to make sure sure you support 'b/g'.

 

[CBPfromTN]

Unless something has changed, Tesla will not connect to a network that is only 'n' or 'ac'. You need to make sure sure you support 'b/g'.

Gary, I really appreciate the info but I have NO IDEA what you mean by "n" and "ac"......OR "b/g"

 

[apacheguy]

Gary, I really appreciate the info but I have NO IDEA what you mean by "n" and "ac"......OR "b/g"

On your router page there should be a setting called “Wireless Mode” or similar...

 

[GaryREM]

Gary, I really appreciate the info but I have NO IDEA what you mean by "n" and "ac"......OR "b/g"

As @apacheguy noted, this setting determines the radio mode used by the wireless device. "Choosing a subset of the available modes prevents some devices from connecting. For example, 802.11b/g devices can't connect to a Wi-Fi router in 802.11n-only mode." These options (if available) vary from router to router. Also, I believe the Tesla only uses 2.4 GHz so if you have only 5 GHz enabled you will not connect.

 

[CBPfromTN]

On your router page there should be a setting called “Wireless Mode” or similar...

Thanks. Everything else in our home connects wirelessly no problem but the distance to the garage I believe, is the issue here. The car does "see" and recognize our network, it just will not connect.

As @apacheguy noted, this setting determines the radio mode used by the wireless device. "Choosing a subset of the available modes prevents some devices from connecting. For example, 802.11b/g devices can't connect to a Wi-Fi router in 802.11n-only mode." These options (if available) vary from router to router. Also, I believe the Tesla only uses 2.4 GHz so if you have only 5 GHz enabled you will not connect.

OH! Well, I do have both enabled but maybe I should disable the 5 GHz until I get this figured out. Thank you for the explanation! I appreciate the help!

 

[boaterva]

There are also issues with Teslas connecting to networks with video servers on them. If you have TiVo’s or Plex servers, you may need to add/enable a guest Wifi network and use that for the car. Note the car doesn’t need to access anything in the house, it needs the internet. Good idea for a lot of devices in the house also, they would be safer on a separate network that only goes outside.

Lots of threads on this if you search for them. WiFi issues have been a large topic, unfortunately, over the years.

 

[dcmetro]

Unless something has changed, Tesla will not connect to a network that is only 'n' or 'ac'. You need to make sure sure you support 'b/g'.

Honestly, wish it did support ac for better security...but then b/g is plenty fast for what its intended for.

 

[xcell]

I have lost connection to my MX after 3 month (on 20.3.). My network and router are working fine.
Can there be a problem as I could not update the firmware since 3 month (as the app does not allow to do so)?
Current Version: 2017.50.3 f3425a1

 

[CBPfromTN]

I have lost connection to my MX after 3 month (on 20.3.). My network and router are working fine.
Can there be a problem as I could not update the firmware since 3 month (as the app does not allow to do so)?
Current Version: 2017.50.3 f3425a1

Hey...I am no expert by ANY stretch of the imagination however, like everyone says, this is a great place to find out from other owners about what they have done in the same or similar circumstances. I have learned SO much from everyone on this forum!
One thing you could do is call the 1-877-79TESLA customer service line and ask THEM also. I have called them a few times and have always gotten some answers and resolution to my issue.
Good luck! You definitely need those updates!

 

[CBPfromTN]

There are also issues with Teslas connecting to networks with video servers on them. If you have TiVo’s or Plex servers, you may need to add/enable a guest Wifi network and use that for the car. Note the car doesn’t need to access anything in the house, it needs the internet. Good idea for a lot of devices in the house also, they would be safer on a separate network that only goes outside.

Lots of threads on this if you search for them. WiFi issues have been a large topic, unfortunately, over the years.

WELL! Get THIS!
NOW, my TiVo will not connect to the internet LOL. I finally got my car to connect, using a WiFi extender and now I cannot get the TiVo to connect so we have no DVRs right now because I have the TiVo Roamio Plus with 3 TiVo minis that are connected to other televisions and my theatre room, so my car gets a great signal and the TiVo gets none. May be related, probably NOT but what a coincidence. Comcast is coming out Sunday to see if they can determine why my signal is weak, all of a sudden. They're saying the signal is weak before it even GETS to my modem/router so who knows what the problem is NOW. TiVo does say that a weak signal can cause TiVo to not be able to connect to the internet (it uses a MoCA connection with COAX and Ethernet cable connected to the back of the TiVo.) SO, I guess I will find out what the issue is and hope they can determine where the problem stems from which is more than likely outside my home. All underground utilities etc, no poles with wires to climb so it's going to probably be a real bear trying to figure out where the problem is that is causing my signal strength to be so weak. Internet using WiFi works great, tho. What.A.MESS.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Don’t forget that you don’t need to connect to wifi for your app to be able to connect to your car. The car should still connect to the cellular (phone) network, the way it does when you’re driving.

No sure if mentioned further up thread, but you can try rebooting the main screen by holding both scroll wheels down (on the steering wheel) for 10 seconds.