Tesla homelink skipped auto-close auto-open

[MichaelJava95]

Hi everyone. I finally got my Homelink auto-close, auto-open to work. I want to create this thread so other people googling this problem can hopefully come across this thread.

1- When you program the Homelink, point the car to the garage if you park front first(driving forward into the garage). Point the car away from the garage if you park back first(backing into the garage).

2- Start with the 100 feet option and if that doesn't work make your way down 90, 80, 70, etc. Even though I have the 100 feet selected, it closes the door the moment I leave the garage and it opens the door when I pull up to the gravel side road in front of my house that is 65-70 feet away from the garage door horizontally(garage is like 10-20 feet below street level). When i have it set to 100 feet, it opens the door before i put the car to reverse to back into the garage. Which is great because changing gear interrupts the auto-open.

 

[Alysashley79]

Good tips but I’ve always programmed mine with the front facing the garage. Two Tesla’s and several programs. I back into my garage 100% of the time and haven’t ever had an issue.

 

[Tha_Ape]

I just gone installed today. I've only tried it a handful of times. My auto-open works every single time. I've cant get auto-close work at all. It either says "skipped" even though I didnt press a button, or it doesnt say anything.

Out of the 2, Auto-Open is the one I like more, but still...

 

[Tha_Ape]

UPDATE: Works fine now. Just needed to give it time.

 

[swedge]

There are times when HomeLink will say "Activate / Skipped auto-close". This condition can persist, in which case manual activation is required to close the garage. I have found two actions which will cause it to go into the skip auto-close mode, and how to clear the skip mode.

One is to touch Cancel when it says "Auto Close in x Ft."

The other is to use Summon.

Both of these make it say "Activate / Skipped auto-close".

Most annoyingly, It seems to stay in this "skipped" state indefinitely until the car is driven away, outside of the geofence area for that HomeLink device, roughly 1/4 mile or so.

I am sharing this because a couple times our Model Y failed to close the garage and we drove away without noticing, oops. I think it was probably in the "Skipped" state and we didn't notice. To prevent recurrences, we wanted to understand what made it Skip in the first place. Searching TMC, including this thread and others, I didn't find the answer, so I spent some time characterizing it's behavior so I could share the above.

SW

 

[Ande]

The whole auto_open / close feature is broken.
Mainly because Tesla does not acknowledge that you can get to a physical location when reversing.
I do not drink and drive, so I prefer to back up into the garage, but Tesla can only approach the set position while driving forward.
This is beyond stupid.

 

[swedge]

Tesla can only approach the set position while driving forward.

Ande,

Clearly, this feature is not well documented. Like much of these cars' complex behavior, we are left on our own to figure out what they actually do.

Limiting this function to going forward would be dumb. However, while I did not try backing in, I think I did notice that "Auto-close in 20 feet" did come up when I put the car into drive as well as when going into reverse. Also, auto-close does activate to auto-close while in reverse, so at least closing is not limited to driving forward. So I wonder if there is maybe a different reason it isn't working for your.

I'll try to test that backing in when I get some free time, and will post if I learn anything.

Is your problem with both auto close and/or auto open? Are you able to use the manual Activate function to open and close your garage? When it does not work, does the display say "...skipped..." or "Activate" or what?

SW

 

[swedge]

I prefer to back up into the garage, but Tesla can only approach the set position while driving forward.

Ande,

It does work for me after backing into my garage. I put the car in Park, then into Drive, and the message "Auto-close will activate in 20 ft" came up. Pulled forward out of the garage, and HomeLink auto-closed just fine. Drove around the block and when I came back it auto-opened as usual, before I backed in.

So in your case there may be something wrong other than you thought. Or maybe the HomeLink was different in your 2016 car or country? Mine is a 2021 Model Y, firmware 2022.20.15 aka 10.69.2 FSD beta.

I'd suggest double checking the HomeLink settings: I have auto-open set to activate at 70 feet, and auto-close enabled. Also be careful not to Cancel auto-close. ( If you need to Activate to open the garage before leaving, do that with the car still in Park. ) If you are not getting auto-open and close displays at all, you may need to reset the location in the HL settings, as it uses GPS to know you are near the door. My Model Y manual says it wants the car just outside the door when you reset the location.

I'm sorry yours isn't working. It is a nice feature... when it works! Let me know if I can help.

SW

 

[Ande]

Ande,

Clearly, this feature is not well documented. Like much of these cars' complex behavior, we are left on our own to figure out what they actually do.

Limiting this function to going forward would be dumb. However, while I did not try backing in, I think I did notice that "Auto-close in 20 feet" did come up when I put the car into drive as well as when going into reverse. Also, auto-close does activate to auto-close while in reverse, so at least closing is not limited to driving forward. So I wonder if there is maybe a different reason it isn't working for your.

I'll try to test that backing in when I get some free time, and will post if I learn anything.

Is your problem with both auto close and/or auto open? Are you able to use the manual Activate function to open and close your garage? When it does not work, does the display say "...skipped..." or "Activate" or what?

SW

It's simply stops counting down at x meters (at the spot I start reversing. I did not try auto-close after leaving.

 

[swedge]

It's simply stops counting down at x meters (at the spot I start reversing. I did not try auto-close after leaving.

That sounds very annoying. I am not understanding the situation completely, so I can not guess why it is not working for you.

It sounds like the car is going through the Auto-Close in X distance sequence. This suggests the software is working. Try turning on the Chime on Auto-open and Auto-close. (You'll find this by using the HomeLink icon at the top of the controls menu, and then HomeLink Settings. This option is at the bottom. If you hear it chime when it "simply stops counting down", then it is probably sending the radio command.

Is it possible that the signal is just not strong enough? Perhaps, since the HomeLink transmitter is at the front of the car, the body of the car is blocking the signal? If this is the case, manually activating HomeLink from that same position and orientation would not work either.

I once had trouble when I used LED bulbs in my garage door opener, they were interfering with the receiver. It worked fine when the door was closed because the lights were still off. But when opened, the LEDs turned on, and the transmitter had to be very close to work. This was before I had the Tesla, but Auto-Open would have worked, but auto-close would not have. Weird symptom, but perhaps similar to what you are seeing. My fix was to put the LED bulb into a clip lamp a few feet away from the opener, using a screw-in to plug adapter.

SW