Tesla Model 3 Down: Won't Power Up, and is Inaccessible

[TEG]

Wonder if one of these jump starters would work to revive the car if it is indeed a dead 12V battery?

The 9 Best Portable Jump Starters to Buy in 2018

Maybe... If you used it to pop the front hood with the special procedure (open the tow hook port) and then removed the cowling over the 12v battery to hook up the booster.
But again, Tesla didn't want him to do that. They wanted to investigate what went wrong first before trying that.

Note to OP, I fixed the wording in the title.

 

[TEG]

On other models, Tesla had put in emergency release procedures for things like opening frunk, etc., but then people posted that thieves / miscreants could abuse those emergency releases.
Maybe that is why there is no manual override on the charge port? And the frunk requires a battery to open? The charge port things concerns me. What if the car fails to start at some out of the way charging location, and you want to have it towed to a shop, but the car is "tethered" to the charging station? KInd of a dilemma, where you want to have the owner be able to manually override the locks when power is down, but they don't provide a conventional key.

In the grand scheme, having your car get stuck in your garage was probably one of the better places to have this happen. ( Best place would be while charging at a service center... )

 

[MarkS22]

On other models, Tesla had put in emergency release procedures for things like opening frunk, etc., but then people posted that thieves / miscreants could abuse those emergency releases.
Maybe that is why there is no manual override on the charge port? And the frunk requires a battery to open? The charge port things concerns me. What is the car fails to start at some out of the way charging location, and you want to have it towed to a shop, but the car is "tethered" to the charging station? KInd of a dilemma, where you want to have the owner be able to manually override the locks when power is down, but they don't provide a conventional key.

In the grand scheme, having your car get stuck in your garage was probably one of the better places to have this happen. ( Best place would be while charging at a service center... )

Agreed. I was lucky to be safely in my garage with a mobile charging adapter. It occurred to me it could be a major headache if this happened at a public charger or even if I had it hardwired.

I’d feel more comfortable, especially with mass adoption, if there was some way to unlock that cable in a situation like this. I’m winging it here, but perhaps the instant 12v is not detected, a relay closes and unlocks the charging cable?

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Tesla adding a plastic emergency key (similar to the Germans) and a semi-hidden lock on the trunk lid or the like would be optimal, though, and would not necessarily require metallic keys. Maybe they could even integrate it into a Model 3 type of keycard. That would then allow e.g. access to charge port release (which is in the trunk).

 

[Saghost]

Agreed. I was lucky to be safely in my garage with a mobile charging adapter. It occurred to me it could be a major headache if this happened at a public charger or even if I had it hardwired.

I’d feel more comfortable, especially with mass adoption, if there was some way to unlock that cable in a situation like this. I’m winging it here, but perhaps the instant 12v is not detected, a relay closes and unlocks the charging cable?

Where is the power to activate the relay coming from? What is the system running on that's noting the loss of 12V power?

At the moment, I believe all the computers in the car are running off of that 12V power, so when it dies, the computers all stop running...

 

[TEG]

Maybe another thing like they did for the frunk...? Where you can pop an access port and wires drop out, and if you have 12v, you could pop the charge port lock relay ?

Those emergency access 12v wires are a bit peculiar, but at least they keep someone from casually walking up to your car and trying to unlock something as a spur of the moment thought.

Back in the day, seeing someone carrying a "siphon hose" around was a sign that they might be up to no good. Now if you see someone carrying a small 12v battery and small jumper cables, you are going to wonder what they are up to.

 

[dm33]

Tesla publishes the battery jumping procedure in the first responders guide online. Its readily available is someone wanted to jump the car enough to open the frunk.

I wonder what would happen if you're in the car, especially the back seat and the 12v system dies. Can't get out of the car!

 

[JRP3]

Maybe the person scanning this thread and posting to Twitter would like to link to my initial 100 mile impressions instead of paraphrasing the negatives?

That wouldn't support his insane hatred of Tesla and Elon, so no.
To throw in my own "12 volts" on this issue I'm guessing the DC/DC failed which eventually caused the 12V battery to die, or just a faulty 12V battery from the factory which died prematurely.

 

[N5329K]

Agreed. I was lucky to be safely in my garage with a mobile charging adapter. It occurred to me it could be a major headache if this happened at a public charger or even if I had it hardwired.

I’d feel more comfortable, especially with mass adoption, if there was some way to unlock that cable in a situation like this. I’m winging it here, but perhaps the instant 12v is not detected, a relay closes and unlocks the charging cable?

Did you try throwing the breaker for the wall charger? If there's no power detected by the car, will it automatically release?
Robin

 

[MarkS22]

Where is the power to activate the relay coming from? What is the system running on that's noting the loss of 12V power?

At the moment, I believe all the computers in the car are running off of that 12V power, so when it dies, the computers all stop running...

A relay can be set to open or close depending on if detects low voltage power. In this case, having 12v power would keep it closed. Losing all power would cause it to change state and that could trigger an “emergency release.” Under most circumstances, it would have 12v power and act like usual.

Of course, you have to weigh this added complexity and cost against the chance of the original failure. Basically, I’m just thinking they could introduce the most simplistic “if 12v = 0 then unlock charging cord.”

 

[MarkS22]

Did you try throwing the breaker for the wall charger? If there's no power detected by the car, will it automatically release?
Robin

Yes actually. And it’s a mobile adapter which I unplugged as well. Loss of power didn’t release it.

 

[woof]

Who knew “more dead” would seem more appropriate in hindsight?

"mostly dead".

 

[stopcrazypp]

Maybe another thing like they did for the frunk...? Where you can pop an access port and wires drop out, and if you have 12v, you could pop the charge port lock relay ?

Those emergency access 12v wires are a bit peculiar, but at least they keep someone from casually walking up to your car and trying to unlock something as a spur of the moment thought.

Back in the day, seeing someone carrying a "siphon hose" around was a sign that they might be up to no good. Now if you see someone carrying a small 12v battery and small jumper cables, you are going to wonder what they are up to.

Well in this case the person would only be able to get into the frunk if the 12V battery is dead. The Frunk unlock doesn't work if the 12V is still active.

 

[MarkS22]

"mostly dead".

Have fun stormin’ the castle!

 

[McRat]

The odds of a 12v battery defect failure are wildly slim today. If 1 out of 2000 batteries bricked immediately, no OEMs would buy them, and word of mouth would decimate retail sales. It takes a serious internal issue to cause that like a post connection inside breaking due to cable tension during chassis flex (this has happened to various first run cars over the years).

A relay can be set to open or close depending on if detects low voltage power. In this case, having 12v power would keep it closed. Losing all power would cause it to change state and that could trigger an “emergency release.” Under most circumstances, it would have 12v power and act like usual.

Of course, you have to weigh this added complexity and cost against the chance of the original failure. Basically, I’m just thinking they could introduce the most simplistic “if 12v = 0 then unlock charging cord.”

Actually, 'if 12v system < 10.8v, then unlock charging cord, email owner, notify MFR, save data, shut down.

10.8 vdc will brick a lead acid battery in static state. It won't recover in my experience. It might be usable for a month if lucky. But it's damaged pretty good at that point.

 

[seattlite2004]

Looks like you got a reddit thread: [Discussion] Model 3 quality issues • r/teslamotors

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

What would you call an ICE vehicle if it quit working and needed service?

An ice cube?

 

[TEG]

An ice cube?

No, ICE brick...

 

[smak]

A Ford...

Haha, my Fusion Energi has been "bricked" about 6 times due to 12v battery issues.

 

[seattlite2004]

An ice cube?