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Tesla in Pasadena Accident: Driver Fled

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Why does Tesla allow the trunk to close if the key is in it? I have driven multiple manufacture's cars for the past 10 years with key-fobs and every single one will not allow the trunk to close if a fob is detected in the trunk. I have not tried it with our MS yet but I would be pretty shocked if the trunk closes and locks. I will try it tonight.
 
Why does Tesla allow the trunk to close if the key is in it? I have driven multiple manufacture's cars for the past 10 years with key-fobs and every single one will not allow the trunk to close if a fob is detected in the trunk. I have not tried it with our MS yet but I would be pretty shocked if the trunk closes and locks. I will try it tonight.
Why would that matter? First, in order for that to happen, the car would have to have a proximity sensor(s) to determine where the fob is. Is it in your pants pocket (6" outside the trunk), or in the trunk itself? Seems like a tough thing to determine. Either way, the car unlocks with a push on the door handles or the trunk latch.
 
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Why would that matter? First, in order for that to happen, the car would have to have a proximity sensor(s) to determine where the fob is. Is it in your pants pocket (6" outside the trunk), or in the trunk itself? Seems like a tough thing to determine. Either way, the car unlocks with a push on the door handles or the trunk latch.

Cars that don't use a physical key do have this sort of proximity sensor as it needs to know the person with the key is inside the car and not just nearby. Otherwise, someone could get in drive off while you stand near the car with the key on you. I remember there was at least one case in the past when these advanced keyless systems were in their infancy where a car (a BMW, IIRC) was stolen while the owner was outside but near the car at a gas station.
 
Cars that don't use a physical key do have this sort of proximity sensor as it needs to know the person with the key is inside the car and not just nearby. Otherwise, someone could get in drive off while you stand near the car with the key on you.
Except you CAN do this with a Tesla, and I've often done this.

If I ask my wife to pull the car out so I can take out the trash cans, all I need to do is be within 2-3 feet of the car, and she can start the car (key fob is in my pocket), drive the car out, I'll take the trash cans out, and get into the car.
 
Except you CAN do this with a Tesla, and I've often done this.

If I ask my wife to pull the car out so I can take out the trash cans, all I need to do is be within 2-3 feet of the car, and she can start the car (key fob is in my pocket), drive the car out, I'll take the trash cans out, and get into the car.

Yup, I have found the car to unlock when the key is within 20 feet of the car and drive when it is in 10ft. This could be a problem if you park on the driveway
 
Why would that matter? First, in order for that to happen, the car would have to have a proximity sensor(s) to determine where the fob is. Is it in your pants pocket (6" outside the trunk), or in the trunk itself? Seems like a tough thing to determine. Either way, the car unlocks with a push on the door handles or the trunk latch.

My 2009 Lexus IS250 had this feature. It would loudly honk at you if a FOB was left in the car and wouldn't let the car lock. And our current Audi can tell which key is standing at the drivers door to unlock the car and sets the correct seat profile even if both keys are present near the car (which is the best feature, ever, BTW)

So it is possible to create a system with a pretty good proximity locator, and has been for a few years.
 
My 2009 Lexus IS250 had this feature. It would loudly honk at you if a FOB was left in the car and wouldn't let the car lock. And our current Audi can tell which key is standing at the drivers door to unlock the car and sets the correct seat profile even if both keys are present near the car (which is the best feature, ever, BTW)

So it is possible to create a system with a pretty good proximity locator, and has been for a few years.

Now that you mention it there have been a couple of times with my Camry that my wife left a purse or travel bag in the backseat and when we got to our destination I would try to lock the car before she could retrieve her bag and the car would beep and NOT lock since a key was detected in the passenger compartment.

So yeah, it seems silly to me that the most technologically advanced car in the world would not have such a feature and allow the car to be locked or the trunk to be closed with a key fob inside. That is really just stupid.

(Shoutout to you in Palmdale BTW. I am in Lancaster LOL! Not a lot of Teslas here in The AV)
 
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Can someone copy the remote signal and use it to unlock the car? I know for sure they won't be able to drive because of the OBD port only supplies power.

If Tesla did the security right then the onboard computer will measure the time the signal was sent from the car and when the authenticate response is sent back, and if it exceeds a certain time limit then it will get disallowed.

The remote unlocking actually happened to me and a neighbor a few years ago, her BMW and my Audi both got remote unlocked. Since we live in San Francisco we were smart enough not to keep anything in our cars, so there was nothing to steal. But after that incident I keep my keys in a metal box when at home -- a faraday cage for my car key.
 
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Except you CAN do this with a Tesla, and I've often done this.

If I ask my wife to pull the car out so I can take out the trash cans, all I need to do is be within 2-3 feet of the car, and she can start the car (key fob is in my pocket), drive the car out, I'll take the trash cans out, and get into the car.

I haven't tried this with my Tesla but I believe you. Sounds like another non-essential area that Tesla is behind the state of the art in.
 
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Why does Tesla allow the trunk to close if the key is in it? I have driven multiple manufacture's cars for the past 10 years with key-fobs and every single one will not allow the trunk to close if a fob is detected in the trunk. I have not tried it with our MS yet but I would be pretty shocked if the trunk closes and locks. I will try it tonight.
I don't think the car locks when the key is inside. If one key is inside the car and another key gets out & walks away the car will stay unlocked. The handles will retract, but all someone needs to do is walk up and press on the handles to get them to present. Then that person could get in & drive.
 
Why does Tesla allow the trunk to close if the key is in it? I have driven multiple manufacture's cars for the past 10 years with key-fobs and every single one will not allow the trunk to close if a fob is detected in the trunk. I have not tried it with our MS yet but I would be pretty shocked if the trunk closes and locks. I will try it tonight.

When my 12 volt battery died (or a contractor or something), service has me leave my key in the trunk lower compartment (I do not have the rear seats), and leave the car on the side of the road whilst I caught an uber. The trunk definitely closed.

I think the doors locked as well, because it can't detect the key from there, but I can't remember. There are certainly spots from within the car where it can't detect the key (like the cup holder)
 
I don't think the car locks when the key is inside. If one key is inside the car and another key gets out & walks away the car will stay unlocked. The handles will retract, but all someone needs to do is walk up and press on the handles to get them to present. Then that person could get in & drive.

That's right. In the parking garage at my office building, we leave the keys in the car so the attendant can moves the cars around as necessary. I know the guy pretty well so I park my car myself, but he still likes to have the key just in case. I leave it in my cupholder and move the armrest forward. The handles will retract but you just touch the handle and it pops out.

This is also why I've inadvertently left my key fob in my car on many occasions. But our car lives in the garage at home so it almost never makes a difference other than the screen staying awake all night while it charges. I don't think a key fob in the car unattended is a rare occurrence at all.
 
...there have been a couple of times with my Camry that my wife left a purse or travel bag in the backseat and when we got to our destination I would try to lock the car before she could retrieve her bag and the car would beep and NOT lock since a key was detected in the passenger compartment.


(Shoutout to you in Palmdale BTW. I am in Lancaster LOL! Not a lot of Teslas here in The AV)


My Volt did the same thing - Wouldn't lock the trunk and honked the horn IIRC.