On Labor Day, I decided to run out and pick up lunch only to find the car not responding to my phone's proximity. This had happened before and was fixable by restarting the app or cycling Bluetooth off and on again, but this time, no joy. I started developing some consternation when the car also failed to respond to the keycard. The previous evening was utterly normal and there was no indication there was any issue with the car.
So I went into the Service section on the app and submitted a supplication for assistance, fully expecting to be deprived of transport for a fortnight or so. I got a response advising me to do a soft reset which might have been a wonderful idea if only I were able to get into the car. When I made it more clear that I was actually locked out of the car and it was not responding to the keycard, I was advised to contact Roadside. Why this was not something that could have been an automatic warm hand-off is a question for another time, I suppose. But Roadside, in contravention of the many horror stories I have posted about days-long radio silence, responded to me within about five minutes, and about twenty minutes later, a tow truck was onsite. After using the pigtails in the front bumper to force the Frunk open, I was surprised to see a 12v battery under the air intake shroud (I had thought the 12v battery was under the rear passenger seat), but attempting to "jump" that battery went nowhere- the car was still stone dead. Fortunately, the car didn't have to be dragged more than about five meters on wheelskids to get loaded onto the flatbed. Kind of a shame you need to be able to power on the car to get it properly set into "Tow Mode".
Nine in the morning the next day, I got a call from Tesla Service- my car was ready for pickup after replacing the 12v battery, and I already had the Uber voucher waiting for me in the Tesla app.
In short, I was less than 24 hours without my car, and other than the inconvenience I was made whole at no cost to me. In contravention of all the stories I read here and elsewhere about service nightmares, this was handled as well as I imagine it possibly could have been. It would have been nice though if I'd gotten any indication that my 12v was in poor health, but that's not something I can attribute to service personnel, roadside or otherwise..
So I went into the Service section on the app and submitted a supplication for assistance, fully expecting to be deprived of transport for a fortnight or so. I got a response advising me to do a soft reset which might have been a wonderful idea if only I were able to get into the car. When I made it more clear that I was actually locked out of the car and it was not responding to the keycard, I was advised to contact Roadside. Why this was not something that could have been an automatic warm hand-off is a question for another time, I suppose. But Roadside, in contravention of the many horror stories I have posted about days-long radio silence, responded to me within about five minutes, and about twenty minutes later, a tow truck was onsite. After using the pigtails in the front bumper to force the Frunk open, I was surprised to see a 12v battery under the air intake shroud (I had thought the 12v battery was under the rear passenger seat), but attempting to "jump" that battery went nowhere- the car was still stone dead. Fortunately, the car didn't have to be dragged more than about five meters on wheelskids to get loaded onto the flatbed. Kind of a shame you need to be able to power on the car to get it properly set into "Tow Mode".
Nine in the morning the next day, I got a call from Tesla Service- my car was ready for pickup after replacing the 12v battery, and I already had the Uber voucher waiting for me in the Tesla app.
In short, I was less than 24 hours without my car, and other than the inconvenience I was made whole at no cost to me. In contravention of all the stories I read here and elsewhere about service nightmares, this was handled as well as I imagine it possibly could have been. It would have been nice though if I'd gotten any indication that my 12v was in poor health, but that's not something I can attribute to service personnel, roadside or otherwise..
