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Sorry if this has been posted before. I did search.

Today I parked at the local retail park next to one of those windscreen repair tents. It was the only space available.

I couldn't open the door because of a tent pole so I exited on the passenger side. I checked I had my fob in my pocket and walked away as normal and did some shopping.

On my return, while still some distance away I noticed the headlights were still on. When I got closer I noticed he screen was on and the car was completely unlocked and awake. I tried to lock the car with the remote fob but it beeped and refused to lock.

I opened and closed the driver door and tried again and it duly locked. It's probably in the manual somewhere but it's worth making the point that if you don't open and close the drivers door after parking (which you would normally of course). You CAN'T lock the car!

Not ideal.
 
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I've often wondered if I could trust the auto turn off and lock feature. This just makes me trust it less. Think I'll be using the fob to lock it just to be sure. Call me old fashioned but at least I'll be sure!
 
Perhaps there could be a feature that occurs when away from home. When you walk away from the car it subtlety honks and flashes to confirm the car being locked. Or perhaps a vibration from the Tesla app that shows up on your lock screen but doesn't persist in the Notification Center (you won't have to manually clear the lock notifications). It would be even better if the notification was appended to a custom vibration pattern in the OS settings.
 
it appears that you didn't close the door properly when you first left the car, if the door is not fully closed it will not lock.
on my '14 this never was an issue the door easily closed on my latest car it takes a conscious effort to close the door.
I would recommend visually checking the door to be certain that it seated correctly and will lock
 
it appears that you didn't close the door properly when you first left the car, if the door is not fully closed it will not lock.
on my '14 this never was an issue the door easily closed on my latest car it takes a conscious effort to close the door.
I would recommend visually checking the door to be certain that it seated correctly and will lock
His driver door was closed. It was because he exited thru the passenger door that the car thought he was still inside. I think the suggestion of an audible beep of some sort is more reassuring than flashing since I'll be walking away at the time!
 
Other cars do the same thing if you exit from the non-driver's door and don't do any warning either because it's expected that there is a driver sitting in the driver's seat. Tesla is really just following standard industry practices here.
 
The driver's door controls the auto-lock, but you could still have locked it with either the fob or the App. And it does flash when it locks.
Other cars do the same thing if you exit from the non-driver's door and don't do any warning either because it's expected that there is a driver sitting in the driver's seat. Tesla is really just following standard industry practices here.

Hi Jerry. I'm afraid have to disagree on both counts. My main point was that the car would NOT lock with the key fob. It beeped and refused until I opened and closed the drivers side door, so even if I had walked away and pressed the fob to lock the car, unless I'd looked to check (which I always will now), I would still have come back to an unlocked, awake car with the headlights on, I don't think that is industry practice.

No doors were left slightly open. If the drivers door had been open it must have been open from my house and I would have had a bing bong alert and screen notification for the whole drive to where I parked - I didn't open it when I got out.
If I had somehow not fully closed the passenger door when I exited then the car would still not have locked when I opened and then closed the drivers door (from the outside) after returning, but it did.

I tried four or five times to lock the car with the fob with no joy. To be fair I didn't try the app but I don't think that would have proved any more successful.
The car definitely received the fobs lock signal because it beeped in response, it just didn't comply with the command.
I have spoken to Tesla about it, they weren't aware and were pretty shocked and said it would be pushed up the chain with urgency.
I'm not complaining, I only posted for info, there will be many many glitches to come I'm sure. I love the way that Tesla are keen for us to report them so as to be able to address them. That was my experience anyway.
 
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Thanks for finding this issue and reporting it. When a remote lock command is received, the car should lock, no matter what. Any and every door that is shut should lock when that command is received. Car should assume nothing, it is being told to do something.
 
I have spoken to Tesla about it, they weren't aware and were pretty shocked and said it would be pushed up the chain with urgency.
I'm not complaining, I only posted for info, there will be many many glitches to come I'm sure. I love the way that Tesla are keen for us to report them so as to be able to address them. That was my experience anyway.
Did you ask them to add the audible beep too? :wink:
 
Hi Jerry. I'm afraid have to disagree on both counts. My main point was that the car would NOT lock with the key fob. It beeped and refused until I opened and closed the drivers side door, so even if I had walked away and pressed the fob to lock the car, unless I'd looked to check (which I always will now), I would still have come back to an unlocked, awake car with the headlights on, I don't think that is industry practice.

Perhaps this is a problem only with right hand drive cars. The fob has locked the car for me (but I've only exited out of the passenger side a couple of times). I agree the fob should always lock the car unless there is a door ajar.
 
I can confirm a similar experience...

I trailer my S inside an enclosed car hauler behind my motorhome. Due to the alignment of the exit doors on the car hauler and the front doors on the S, I have to back the S into the hauler and exit from the passenger side.

In my instance, I use the 'Power Off' option in settings as I'm exiting. Not quite feasible or expected to be needed in day to day operation though.

LK
 
We inadvertently confirmed this today: unless the driver's door is opened, the car won't lock if you get out through the passenger door. Perhaps this happens only with RHD cars because they haven't quite switched things round properly.
Inadvertently? Tell us more... I will try this later with my LHD seat. When I had the walk thru with the DS upon picking up the car, I asked about this specifically and he said there is a sensor on the drivers seat. He seemed to not believe me when I mentioned this.
 
Inadvertently? Tell us more... I will try this later with my LHD seat. When I had the walk thru with the DS upon picking up the car, I asked about this specifically and he said there is a sensor on the drivers seat. He seemed to not believe me when I mentioned this.
We went out for lunch; I drove but my wife had a 'key' and I did not. When we got out, I expected - on the basis of this thread - that the car would not lock (because I did not have a key). However, it did. My clever wife deduced that it did so because, even though I didn't have a key, I did open the driver's door. So the solution to getting out through the passenger door and having the car lock seems to be to open and shut the driver's door before you do so.

I too thought that the seat-sensor would tell the locking system that the driver had left the car but it seems not. I'll be interested in the result of your test.
 
We went out for lunch; I drove but my wife had a 'key' and I did not. When we got out, I expected - on the basis of this thread - that the car would not lock (because I did not have a key). However, it did. My clever wife deduced that it did so because, even though I didn't have a key, I did open the driver's door. So the solution to getting out through the passenger door and having the car lock seems to be to open and shut the driver's door before you do so.

I too thought that the seat-sensor would tell the locking system that the driver had left the car but it seems not. I'll be interested in the result of your test.
The result of my test is that the doors did lock on their own! So perhaps it is related to L/R seat differences. What I did was got in the car with the keys in my pocket as usual. Then I climbed out the passenger side and walked far enough away and kept looking at it until I saw the mirrors fold in.

i think the fact that the keys left with your wife and the driver's door was open and closed probably was enough for the car to detect you had left the car.

If if you're able to do the same test I and the OP did, that might tell us a little more.

thanks!