Vehicle not "waking up" so charge port won't release

[AlanSubie4Life]

Have you ever tried walking up to the door with your phone in your back pocket? Did you notice the door did not unlock?

I think this is the issue you are seeing. To unlock/wake the car you have to be very close to the door with the phone very close to the door. At the charging port you are nowhere near a door.

This is not the problem. You can do the "trick" of tapping a rear door handle without changing position, and it then allows the charge handle unlock.

I am fairly sure that your car has the same behavior. Try removing the charge handle sometime without waking up your car (make sure it is sleeping first - using the widget, not the app, of course!). It won't release it. Obviously if the car is charging it is not sleeping. So in that case it will ALWAYS unlock.

 

[Pied]

Fix for me is to open the car door on the way to removing the charger, phone in hand... mostly works and fallback is the app (sigh)

This. I have to open a door so the car will wakeup and I can remove the charge cable. It happened after an update maybe last year? Probably a way to fix phantom drain.

 

[Dan203]

Sounds like a good way to get your Tesla stolen.

If it's in a garage how would that happen? If they broke into my house they'd find my keys on the table by the door anyway, so they could still steal the car.

 

[Big Earl]

If it's in a garage how would that happen? If they broke into my house they'd find my keys on the table by the door anyway, so they could still steal the car.

If they break into your garage or you happen to leave the door open, the key and the car are in the same place. If the key is in the house, at least they have to go in there and rummage around to find it. Layers of security.

Of course, the need for security is location-dependent. My uncles leave the keys to their vehicles in the ignition, but you'd never do that around here.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

This. I have to open a door so the car will wakeup and I can remove the charge cable. It happened after an update maybe last year? Probably a way to fix phantom drain.

Interesting. Must have pre-dated my ownership (Nov 2018). That would be consistent with it being a hardware problem, which is what most people suspect.

 

[SSonnentag]

S is the same way, although walking near the doors with the key FOB wakes the car. The FOB has to be farther forward than the charge port to wake it though, so I have to take a step past the charge port and then it will wake and I can unplug.

Our X has MUCH more key FOB range and it wakes if you are within about 10 feet of the car.

I suspect the 3 will wake with the card on the pillar, but I don't have one to experiment with. I think you're saying that the bluetooth connection with the phone being near the car isn't enough to wake it, right?

 

[boaterva]

Same for us. Need to wake up car by opening the door. As for locking, as someone asked, you walk away from the car. Auto lock always works for us. It just doesn’t unlock until you open a door (unlike the S and X).

We never use the cards unless someone leaves a phone on their desk at work. (Still trying to remind GF that poor car doesn’t auto lock with the card! )

 

[Big Earl]

S is the same way, although walking near the doors with the key FOB wakes the car. The FOB has to be farther forward than the charge port to wake it though, so I have to take a step past the charge port and then it will wake and I can unplug.

Our X has MUCH more key FOB range and it wakes if you are within about 10 feet of the car.

I suspect the 3 will wake with the card on the pillar, but I don't have one to experiment with. I think you're saying that the bluetooth connection with the phone being near the car isn't enough to wake it, right?

Model 3 doesn't wake up until a door handle is partially pressed. Just being near the car with your phone-key isn't enough to wake it up.

 

[Dan203]

If they break into your garage or you happen to leave the door open, the key and the car are in the same place. If the key is in the house, at least they have to go in there and rummage around to find it. Layers of security.

Of course, the need for security is location-dependent. My uncles leave the keys to their vehicles in the ignition, but you'd never do that around here.

I have a MyQ garage door, so I get an alert if it's left open or it opens when I'm away.

If you live in an area where this is a concern then don't do it.

Sounds like the trick of pressing the back door latch a little is a better way to do it anyway. Like I said I don't have the car yet, so I'm not sure what'll work best for me until I get it.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I think you're saying that the bluetooth connection with the phone being near the car isn't enough to wake it, right?

That's correct in a general sense. I've found that if I mill around the car enough without touching it, it will sometimes wake up (obvious contactor sounds). But that could just be a coincidence, and the wake-ups with proximity but no input (anecdotally) seem to happen less for me now.

Once you hear the tell-tale whirr a few seconds prior to contactor closure (no matter how it is initiated), I am fairly sure the charge handle release button will work (assuming a valid phone is in the vicinity). That whirr is an indication that it is thinking about waking up and moving from sleep to idle mode.

It will make that whirr sometimes even when pressing a door handle without a phone in the vicinitiy - and it may sometimes even cause the car to go to idle mode (contactors clunk closed) - but presumably that would NOT be enough to release the charge handle, since there would be no valid phone present in that specific case.

 

[Joshan]

So the real issue is there is nothing on the charger that "tells" the car to wake up, like the door handle does? It would be great if it worked like the doors and touching it tells the car to check if the phone is near and unlock if true.

 

[Big Earl]

That's correct in a general sense. I've found that if I mill around the car enough without touching it, it will sometimes wake up (obvious contactor sounds). But that could just be a coincidence, and the wake-ups with proximity but no input (anecdotally) seem to happen less for me now.

Once you hear the tell-tale whirr a few seconds prior to contactor closure (no matter how it is initiated), I am fairly sure the charge handle release button will work (assuming a valid phone is in the vicinity). That whirr is an indication that it is thinking about waking up and moving from sleep to idle mode. It will make that whirr sometimes even when pressing a door handle without a phone in the vicinitiy - and it may sometimes even cause the car to go to idle mode (contactors clunk closed) - but presumably that would NOT be enough to release the charge handle, since there would be no valid phone present.

I was just about to post that you can hear it when it wakes up - that whirr before the contactors click. You summarized better than I was going to.

 

[qdeathstar]

Sounds like a good way to get your Tesla stolen.

Hey it was a hack job...

 

[Bill Foster]

S is the same way, although walking near the doors with the key FOB wakes the car. The FOB has to be farther forward than the charge port to wake it though, so I have to take a step past the charge port and then it will wake and I can unplug.

Our X has MUCH more key FOB range and it wakes if you are within about 10 feet of the car.

I suspect the 3 will wake with the card on the pillar, but I don't have one to experiment with. I think you're saying that the bluetooth connection with the phone being near the car isn't enough to wake it, right?

Correct. Seems to be a door handle touch or so to wake

 

[swaltner]

This. I have to open a door so the car will wakeup and I can remove the charge cable. It happened after an update maybe last year? Probably a way to fix phantom drain.

You don't have to actually open the door. Just push on the left rear door handle enough to make the front pop out maybe 1/2". That's enough to wake up the car and let it release the charge handle, but not enough to unlatch the door. Easy enough to wake up the car by doing that on the mornings that I don't pre-heat/cool the car...

 

[Akikiki]

This is called the Tesla Two-step. (Yeah, I coined that name.) You walk up to your Wall Connector or Mobile Connector (it's not a charger), and then take two steps toward the front door to trigger the fob connection to the antenna mounted at the dash. Then two-steps back to the rear to release the handle. Or, you can do this. Improved Charge Port Access with Extra FOB Antenna | TeslaTap one time.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

it's not a charger

True. But it’s just fine to call it a charge handle. No chargers are harmed or slighted with that nomenclature! Tesla doesn’t call it this - they call it “the button on the charge cable.” But I think it is clear enough. It’s the charge handle on the charge cable that goes into the charge port.

I did not read your link in its entirety since it seems to be for Model S, but not 100% sure it would be applicable to Model 3. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t?

 

[Akikiki]

 

[Big Earl]

True. But it’s just fine to call it a charge handle. No chargers are harmed or slighted with that nomenclature! Tesla doesn’t call it this - they call it “the button on the charge cable.” But I think it is clear enough. It’s the charge handle on the charge cable that goes into the charge port.

I did not read your link in its entirety since it seems to be for Model S, but not 100% sure it would be applicable to Model 3. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t?

Right. This doesn't work on the Model 3 since simply approaching the car doesn't unlock it, even if you have a key fob.

 

[jdcollins5]

That is how mine has always worked. I prefer to keep the charge port locked until I open door to wake up and unlock.

Open door, push button on charge cable, remove, jump in and take off.