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Poll: Model 3 Phone Key Failure Rate

How frequently does the "phone key" fail to work properly with your Model 3?

  • 0-1% failure rate, iPhone

    Votes: 50 32.7%
  • 0-1% failure rate, Android

    Votes: 10 6.5%
  • 2-10% failure rate, iPhone

    Votes: 19 12.4%
  • 2-10% failure rate, Android

    Votes: 9 5.9%
  • 11-25% failure rate, iPhone

    Votes: 7 4.6%
  • 11-25% failure rate, Android

    Votes: 12 7.8%
  • 26%+ failure rate, iPhone

    Votes: 12 7.8%
  • 26%+ failure rate, Android

    Votes: 34 22.2%

  • Total voters
    153
  • Poll closed .
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So far so good. I have Android essential phone, wife has iPhone x.

Twice I get in, step on brake to start but asks for key card even though I unlocked via phone. Both times too lazy to get card out of wallet I just said, "homey don't play that" hit it over the head with a sock filled with beans, and just step on brake again and it works.

Same thing with unlocking by pulling handle. Only couple times it doesn't recognize first pull. I wait a second and pull again successfully unlocking.

One thing is the range isnt consistent. Walking away could be 30ft sometimes. Of course when I want to charge, the range is 2 ft so I have to keep the door open to keep it unlocked. Looks like a comedy show when I am about to plug in to the port and it locks and closes charge port.
 
At any rate, I’m not clear as to why this requires that the Tesla app be running. shouldn’t it be able to recognize the Bluetooth signal coming from a trusted device? Same way any other Bluetooth connection works.
It doesn't require the app to be running (and there's no way to keep the app running under iOS anyway). I would try deleting the phone key and setting it up again.
 
Mine has failed 3 times in 2 weeks (iPhone 6). The first two times I cycled blutooth off and on to get it to work. The last time I just turned the phone on and tried again and it worked. Hopefully that works from now on if I have a problem again. Never had an issue starting the car once I got in. As for the charge port, I've learned that when I go out to the car I touch the rear door handle to get the green light, push the button on my connector (not a Tesla charger) to turn the light white, then remove. At first I was struggling to get it to let go, but that works every time.
 
It doesn't require the app to be running (and there's no way to keep the app running under iOS anyway). I would try deleting the phone key and setting it up again.

For me it definitely does require the app to be backgrounded. How else do you explain that it won’t unlock in the morning until the precise moment that I open the Tesla app. Clearly the app needs to pass the credentials for authenticating with the security module.
 
For me it definitely does require the app to be backgrounded. How else do you explain that it won’t unlock in the morning until the precise moment that I open the Tesla app. Clearly the app needs to pass the credentials for authenticating with the security module.
When you get close enough to the car your phone should automatically connect, which causes the Tesla app (or a small part of it anyway) to launch automatically (in the background, you won't see anything happening). Obviously that's not happening for you for some reason. Manually launching the app probably attempts a connection on startup but should not be necessary. I rarely open the Tesla app and have never been required to interact with my phone to unlock the car. Just a couple days ago I tested it by restarting my phone and using it unlock the car without opening the app.
 
Mine, too. Now it's usually about 5% failure. But, once it fails, I need to do something about it (usually rebooting my LG V20, Android 8) or the failure rate will climb quite a bit.
The problem I have is that the phone sometimes needs to be "awake" for a while before the car starts talking to it. Generally, the problem happens when both my car and phone have been asleep overnight. The other 95% of the time the only problem I have is a slight delay in the car/phone connecting aka sometimes I have to wait a few seconds before the car will open.
 
I used to have a high failure rate with my Samsung S9 (Android). However, I made some settings changes as suggested here, and it has been working "perfectly" for a couple of months now. I say "perfectly", but sometimes it does not automatically unlock the doors and I have to take out my phone, bring up the app (I always have it running in the background) and wait for it to connect to the car before the doors will unlock. There are also a couple of times when I had to use the card once I was inside even though the doors unlocked with the phone, but that used to be common and now it is rare. Personally, I am really enjoying the phone app and would not want a fob.
 
I think this is a much more serious issue. My wife now refuses to drive our M3 because 75% of the time she walks up to the car and the doors wont open. It happens to me with my phone too. She has an iPhone 8 and I have an X. Both car and phones are updated. She is obviously scared that she would need to get in the car fast in a dark lot or something and not be able to. Tesla needs to get a handle on this and the service center has no idea as to what to do.
 
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I think this is a much more serious issue. My wife now refuses to drive our M3 because 75% of the time she walks up to the car and the doors wont open. It happens to me with my phone too. She has an iPhone 8 and I have an X. Both car and phones are updated. She is obviously scared that she would need to get in the car fast in a dark lot or something and not be able to. Tesla needs to get a handle on this and the service center has no idea as to what to do.

Tesla has key fobs for the Model 3 now. Well, they did. They're sold out after the first day of being offered, but keep checking the Tesla store for when they're back in stock again.
 
i've noticed that often times, my failures are due to proximity detection fails. the BLE connection gets made when I'm really far away from the car (provided there's no obstructions in line-of-sight), and I can always lock/unlock via BLE connection from the app without fail. But when I'm standing next to the car, it's totally hit or miss. If I'm trying to open the rear doors, nothing happens sometimes, and if I shift my body toward the front of the car, the car detects it and the door opens. Or sometimes I have to take the phone out of my pocket and it suddenly works. This is especially true when I'm already seated and try to start the car. I often have to pull my phone out, and then the car recognizes the phone and lets me put it into reverse/drive.

Seems like the issue here is that every phone's BLE radio is broadcasting at different volumes, making it hard for the car to tell how close you are to it. I assumed that because the car has 4 radios in different locations, it is doing some sort of triangulation as well. maybe not.