Tesla backing away from "Phone Key as primary key"

[BioSehnsucht]

You can disable walk away lock I think (car settings > locks or perhaps security, maybe hit the gear icon in top right if it's not on the main settings screen? don't recall precisely where), but it's either on or off, no option to do it based on location.

 

[dusdev]

My phone has worked fine so far. 5 days in total.
I also have a Prius with Smart key and the fob worked well...except when the battery went dead. When you approached the car it sensed you and when you touched the door handle it unlocked. However sometimes you had to let go and grab it again if you ran up too quickly.

My complaint is that the car automatically locks when you walk away after a few seconds. When I am at home, in the garage, I don't want this to happen. But when I'm anywhere else I do want this. On the Prius I could just tap the door handle and it would lock...or I could skip this.

I think the valet key cards are a good idea (as a backup)

Mike

I was wondering about this situation (leave car unlocked at home). I thought one way to work around it is to leave the door closed but unlatched, which should prevent it from locking. It's stupid to have to even consider this... But until they have an option for leave unlocked at home

 

[SpudLime]

I read a thread wher a guy used an amazon button and hacked it to unlock his car. He kept it in the garage mounted under his garage door opener. He could just hit the amazon button and his car would unlock. Smooth idea.

 

[brianman]

amazon button

Link?

 

[SpudLime]

I’m on mobile. Ping me tomorrow and I will find it.

 

[SpudLime]

Found it.

Amazon Dash button to control a Tesla

 

[cpa]

I was wondering about this situation (leave car unlocked at home). I thought one way to work around it is to leave the door closed but unlatched, which should prevent it from locking. It's stupid to have to even consider this... But until they have an option for leave unlocked at home

My wife has sometimes not closed the door fully on our 3. What I have noticed is that the light stay on (not sure how long), and the climate control continues to work (again, not sure how long). I can hear the roar of the cooling fans from inside the house, so I go outside to shut the door completely and everything shuts down.

One would think that there could be an easy fix to have a selection to leave car unlocked at the "home" location. But I know nothing about how to make computers do their voodoo.

 

[dusdev]

My phone has worked fine so far. 5 days in total.
I also have a Prius with Smart key and the fob worked well...except when the battery went dead. When you approached the car it sensed you and when you touched the door handle it unlocked. However sometimes you had to let go and grab it again if you ran up too quickly.

My complaint is that the car automatically locks when you walk away after a few seconds. When I am at home, in the garage, I don't want this to happen. But when I'm anywhere else I do want this. On the Prius I could just tap the door handle and it would lock...or I could skip this.

I think the valet key cards are a good idea (as a backup)

Mike

Complete use case failure in my opinion. This really ought to be fixed for a genuine positive experience with the door lock functionality.

 

[crackers8199]

has anyone else noticed that walk away lock either doesn't always work or doesn't update in the app? i went into the grocery store this afternoon and while inside checked my phone, and it said the car was unlocked...i have no way of knowing if it actually was or not, but i tapped the lock button just to be safe.

 

[diamond.g]

has anyone else noticed that walk away lock either doesn't always work or doesn't update in the app? i went into the grocery store this afternoon and while inside checked my phone, and it said the car was unlocked...i have no way of knowing if it actually was or not, but i tapped the lock button just to be safe.

With 2018.26 you should be able to turn on the horn for lock confirmation.

 

[crackers8199]

With 2018.26 you should be able to turn on the horn for lock confirmation.

i have it turned on, but if i have to stand there and wait for it to lock what's the point? i might as well just take the card out of my wallet and tap it on the door to be sure it's locked (and immediate)...

 

[diamond.g]

i have it turned on, but if i have to stand there and wait for it to lock what's the point? i might as well just take the card out of my wallet and tap it on the door to be sure it's locked (and immediate)...

I would assume if you don't hear the horn as you walk away, it isn't locked. The app should reflect if the car is locked or not.

 

[crackers8199]

I would assume if you don't hear the horn as you walk away, it isn't locked. The app should reflect if the car is locked or not.

right, but that doesn't really help me. if i can't count on walk away lock to work (which the app said it didn't), what's the point of it being there at all?

 

[iwannam3]

has anyone else noticed that walk away lock either doesn't always work or doesn't update in the app? i went into the grocery store this afternoon and while inside checked my phone, and it said the car was unlocked...i have no way of knowing if it actually was or not, but i tapped the lock button just to be safe.

That is the only thing that has worked 100%

 

[BioSehnsucht]

In my experience, walk away lock always works, as long as you didn't unlock previously with the key card. If using the key card to unlock, you must also use it to lock.

 

[crackers8199]

In my experience, walk away lock always works, as long as you didn't unlock previously with the key card. If using the key card to unlock, you must also use it to lock.

that actually makes sense...i can't remember if i had to use the card or not immediately prior to this.

the one thing i have noticed (which was interesting to me) is that on the occasion where i have to use the card (which is almost all the time) to unlock the car, the phone key then subsequently works for driving the car. i.e. i walk up to the car, try to open the door. the door doesn't open, the screen says "tap key card to unlock." i do that. then i sit down and press the brake, and the car is in gear (without tapping the card on the console, which means the phone key is suddenly working to drive after not working to unlock). the whole thing is just strange...

 

[BioSehnsucht]

Once you get the car to prompt for the key card, have you tried waking your phone up? Nearly always that will get it to connect and use phone key for me. I actually have more problems with the car being slow to wake to even get to that point (and then having to wait for the natural time it takes to authenticate that it should have done as I approached), versus the phone itself (if the phone was the issue, then the screen should immediately prompt for card as soon as I try the door - more often than not that takes a couple seconds to come up, though sometimes I do have to wake my phone before BT connects)

 

[crackers8199]

Once you get the car to prompt for the key card, have you tried waking your phone up? Nearly always that will get it to connect and use phone key for me. I actually have more problems with the car being slow to wake to even get to that point (and then having to wait for the natural time it takes to authenticate that it should have done as I approached), versus the phone itself (if the phone was the issue, then the screen should immediately prompt for card as soon as I try the door - more often than not that takes a couple seconds to come up, though sometimes I do have to wake my phone before BT connects)

i haven't, but i'll try to remember to do that next time it happens. i haven't seen the need to do that though since it apparently already recognized the phone key after i tapped the card on the door to unlock...it had to, right? otherwise it would have made me tap the card on the console to actually allow driving...

 

[BioSehnsucht]

It may be that by the time you got the key out and tried it, the phone was working too, but you hadn't tried the handle again and so the unlock was done by card instead.

 

[crackers8199]

It may be that by the time you got the key out and tried it, the phone was working too, but you hadn't tried the handle again and so the unlock was done by card instead.

also entirely possible. either way though, i think we can all agree the phone as key needs improvement as it's not working the way it is supposed to.