Unable to Consistently Connect with Phone

[HAHAyes]

Hi everyone,

I recently picked up my SR+ and was trying to play around with the app and check out what it can do. However, I've noticed that the app after about 25ish minutes will no longer be able to connect to the car and eventually errors out with a "Vehicle Connection Error".

This isn't a problem if I turn the car on, it'll connect instantly but it does make using summon in the morning an issue.

Anyone experience this?

Phone(s) I've tested with: Pixel XL & S10+ w/car connected to wifi AND Pixel XL w/ car connected to LTE. [Pixel XL is on Android 10]

Thanks!

 

[brobinson]

try a soft reboot of the car by pushing and holding the two scroll wheel buttons until you see the Tesla logo on screen

 

[HAHAyes]

try a soft reboot of the car by pushing and holding the two scroll wheel buttons until you see the Tesla logo on screen

I tried that yesterday but still didn't seem to work, hmm i'll try another one tonight

 

[DavidL67]

I've been having the same "Vehicle Connection Error" over the past week. A reboot of the Model 3 has not fixed the issue. Signing in and out of the app doesn't fix anything, nor does toggling on/off Bluetooth. One the car door is opened (via Bluetooth key), then the connection is restored.

I'm using a Sony Xperia XZ Premium phone... I expect that there's a back-end connectivity issue.

 

[nvx1977]

that actually sounds like a bug with the app. Based on what I remember from the API calls, if the car goes to sleep, you have to issue a wake command first before getting the vehicle data. If you just make a call for the vehicle data, you'll get the error.

The app somehow is not doing a check to see if the car is awake or not. Just a guess. I rarely go into the app these days.

 

[HAHAyes]

I've been having the same "Vehicle Connection Error" over the past week. A reboot of the Model 3 has not fixed the issue. Signing in and out of the app doesn't fix anything, nor does toggling on/off Bluetooth. One the car door is opened (via Bluetooth key), then the connection is restored.

I'm using a Sony Xperia XZ Premium phone... I expect that there's a back-end connectivity issue.

Yeah that's the issue I had. I realized it might be what novox77 mentioned above where you have to send a command to the car first before it will let you see status and access the rest of the controls. So now I just do an unlock in app and then I use summon to back it up, not ideal but it works.

 

[HAHAyes]

that actually sounds like a bug with the app. Based on what I remember from the API calls, if the car goes to sleep, you have to issue a wake command first before getting the vehicle data. If you just make a call for the vehicle data, you'll get the error.

The app somehow is not doing a check to see if the car is awake or not. Just a guess. I rarely go into the app these days.

Yeah i would assume so, didn't bother trying to debug network responses but the bandage solution of unlocking or giving any quick command first to wake it up works so I'll do that until a real fix goes out.

 

[ewoodrick]

If the car doesn't have a cellular connection, you can't talk to it. WiFi isn't used for phone communications.

 

[nvx1977]

If the car doesn't have a cellular connection, you can't talk to it. WiFi isn't used for phone communications.

Just to be clear, with the exception of the BLE connection (which is used for the proximity detection and phone-as-key feature), there is no direct connection between phone and car. Both devices must have Internet connectivity in order for there to be communication between phone and car. Tesla's servers act as an intermediary. The phone app calls Tesla's API endpoints, and the server responds and contacts the car.

If the car is on Wifi that has Internet connectivity but has zero AT&T cell data coverage, it can absolutely still respond to phone app commands, provided that Tesla's servers are reachable and functioning, and the phone also has Internet connectivity, either via Wifi or cell data to communicate with Tesla's servers.

Anecdotally, I live in an AT&T deadspot, so the car never has LTE connectivity. I rely on my home wifi to have my car connected to the Internet.