Walk away Lock does not involve walking away...

[Needsdecaf]

So I've got walk away locking enabled on my Model 3 and I'm puzzled by it's behavior. When I come home, typically getting out of the car is a bit of a process. I get my stuff out of the front, usually retrieve a jacket from the rear seat, and then something from the trunk. When I shut the trunk and go to grab the charging cable, the car honks and locks.

Sometimes this results in the charge port not opening from the wand, and sometimes it does. I can easily unlock the back door if needed to plug in the charger, but still...

At all times, I'm within mere feet of the car. My garage is pretty tight with two cars in it. I'm never further away than being able to reach out and touch the car. Yet every time, the car locks.

Is this normal?

 

[jjrandorin]

Thats how mine behaves (sometimes locking when I move even a few feet from the car, sometimes not locking till I actually walk away). Never had an issue with the charging cable not opening the port when it first locks though because it hasnt gone to sleep yet.

As long as its not fully asleep it will open the port from the wand... but sometimes I have to get the wand very close to the port, and sometimes it will work from further away.

 

[ewoodrick]

So, what would you name it?

Sometimes a name isn't a perfect descriptor, but a concept. Also functionality changes and a name that was once a perfect descriptor, isn't

 

[Needsdecaf]

So, what would you name it?

Sometimes a name isn't a perfect descriptor, but a concept. Also functionality changes and a name that was once a perfect descriptor, isn't

Right now it's just more like a timed lock. I don't believe it's working the way it's intended to by the description in the manual. Per the manual:

Walk-Away Door Lock Doors and trunks can automatically lock whenever you walk away carrying your authenticated phone. To turn this feature on or off, touch Controls > Locks > Walk-Away Door Lock.

I want it to not lock until I literally walk away. So once the phone is a certain distance from the car, it locks. It's annoying to have the car continually lock when I am not done getting in and out of it. Not to mention I don't enjoy the horn blasting in my ear in my garage.

 

[brandonee916]

Yup! I leave my door or trunk open until I'm finished with the charging cable. It doesn't work the same as the Model S/X with the Passive Fob

 

[Need]

I think originally it was really "walk away" lock when Model 3 first came out. In the original software, the car's doors will physically unlock when you get close to it and the mirror would unfold. So the doors would never auto lock when you are standing next to it with your phone. But since then they changed it so you have to push the handle to unlock, so now it is, like you said, a timed lock. They just did not change the name. How about "Step out of the car with your phone and close all the doors Timed Door Lock"?

 

[GregRF]

Yes, my car does the same. I have the charge cable in front of my car and that seems to be more of a dead spot for the bluetooth. So when walking up to get the cable (still arms length from the car) it would lock. I think it also has to do with the phone being in my pocket and my body between the phone and the car.

So yes it is "normal" behavior.

I recently upgraded my phone to a Pixel 3 and it seems to happen much less frequently now.

 

[Runt8]

I think originally it was really "walk away" lock when Model 3 first came out. In the original software, the car's doors will physically unlock when you get close to it and the mirror would unfold. So the doors would never auto lock when you are standing next to it with your phone. But since then they changed it so you have to push the handle to unlock, so now it is, like you said, a timed lock. They just did not change the name. How about "Step out of the car with your phone and close all the doors Timed Door Lock"?

It's not a timer, its based on distance as determined by bluetooth TOF, which is very finicky and very susceptible to interference. Just putting your body between the phone and the car can make it think you're far enough way to lock. So your phone, phone case, and how you carry your phone can all have an impact on how well this feature works.

 

[Feathermerchan]

My car behaves the same. And sometimes it just doesn't lock when I walk away. Those may be the times I have unlocked it with the card. I get out of the car and leave the door open and immediately plug in. Then I unload.

 

[Stoney35]

Mine behaves similarly. One option that I would like to see in the future is location specific walk away locking. For example, I would rather the car NOT lock when it is in my garage.

 

[Needsdecaf]

It's not a timer, its based on distance as determined by bluetooth TOF, which is very finicky and very susceptible to interference. Just putting your body between the phone and the car can make it think you're far enough way to lock. So your phone, phone case, and how you carry your phone can all have an impact on how well this feature works.

Hmm, that would make sense. I usually get out and put the phone in my pants pocket.

 

[Needsdecaf]

Mine behaves similarly. One option that I would like to see in the future is location specific walk away locking. For example, I would rather the car NOT lock when it is in my garage.

So would I! I wish I could disable it at home. The number of times I have gone out to the car to get something and realized I don't have my phone....

 

[Pete_in_FL]

It's not a timer, its based on distance as determined by bluetooth TOF, which is very finicky and very susceptible to interference. Just putting your body between the phone and the car can make it think you're far enough way to lock. So your phone, phone case, and how you carry your phone can all have an impact on how well this feature works.

Many times, I have to reopen the app on my phone to insure that the car will open when I approach it. Additionally, sometimes, the car does not lock when I walk away and I have to lock it with phone. I can discern any pattern here, except that when I walk away in front of the car, it locks quickly, but if I walk to the rear, it either waits a while or never locks at all. My wife is often with me, and her phone is enabled, but that has no effect of the locking behaviour. Both are Samsung S5s, if that makes a difference.

 

[Magnets!]

It's not a timer, its based on distance as determined by bluetooth TOF, which is very finicky and very susceptible to interference. Just putting your body between the phone and the car can make it think you're far enough way to lock. So your phone, phone case, and how you carry your phone can all have an impact on how well this feature works.

Can't believe that it is based on distance as when I exit the car in my garage it locks before I leave the garage. Less than 10 feet away.

 

[Runt8]

Many times, I have to reopen the app on my phone to insure that the car will open when I approach it. Additionally, sometimes, the car does not lock when I walk away and I have to lock it with phone. I can discern any pattern here, except that when I walk away in front of the car, it locks quickly, but if I walk to the rear, it either waits a while or never locks at all. My wife is often with me, and her phone is enabled, but that has no effect of the locking behaviour. Both are Samsung S5s, if that makes a difference.

Failure to unlock on approach is very common and appears to be highly dependent on your phone. I'm definitely confused as to why walk away unlock would fail - any time it loses the bluetooth connection it should lock. I'd put my money on a flaky bluetooth connection that has already dropped out before you opened the door and exited the car.

Can't believe that it is based on distance as when I exit the car in my garage it locks before I leave the garage. Less than 10 feet away.

I've done some (admittedly very non-scientific) testing with on this, here's the behavior I've observed:

1. If I walk away from the car holding my phone in my hand with a clear line of sight, it very reliably locks at roughly 25-30 feet away. The phone still shows multiple bluetooth connections to the car, so it doesn't appear to be locking based on losing a bluetooth signal.
2. If I stand closer to the car, it will lock after a much longer period, on the order of 1-2 minutes (which is very annoying when I'm washing the car, wish I could turn this off...). I'm not 100% sure if this is a timeout or for some reason the bluetooth connection is dropping - maybe my phone going to low power mode? I should test this while using my phone to prevent it from going to sleep.
3. If I have my phone in my pocket or I walk around an obstacle (another vehicle, or a concrete wall when I park in a parking garage), the car will always lock but the distance it does so varies much more. In the parking garage I can observe the bluetooth connections drop out as I walk around a concrete barrier - sometimes the car locks before they drop out and sometimes it locks after.

I'm using an iPhone X and I have a 100% success rate when it comes to locking and unlocking the car (maybe once a month it will take a couple seconds to unlock but if I hold the handle open it always works). It's not surprising at all that the distance varies as much as it does - as I said before bluetooth distance calculations use time of flight, which is very flaky.

 

[ddm3]

This has happened to me a lot too. There have been so many times where the car locks just as I'm about to open the charge port. Argh! I've also tried to go to the car without my phone. Another Argh!

Much happier with the fob. At home the charge port never locks up, and I don't have to remember to bring my phone when I go to the car in the garage.

 

[Pete_in_FL]

I am beginning to think that failure to lock after exiting it has something to do with my wife closing her door after I n close my door.

My Samsung S5 phone still does not unlock unless I activate the app before I get to the car.
.

 

[animorph]

We have to leave a door ajar before walking back to insert the charge connector, otherwise the car might lock before it's connected. We get very little distance for walk-away lock. Even less for walk-up unlock. I usually have to take the phone out of my pocket for that.

If you have a problem with walk-up unlock and use the card or fob, it will not have walk-away lock enabled. That has been our only problem so far with the car not locking itself.

 

[Randy350]

Personally, I like the "walk away door lock" feature and it has worked flawlessly for our M3. However, as mentioned in several posts, it is annoying when parking in my home garage to have it auto-lock. What if Tesla added an option to exclude Home, Work and/or Favorite places by selecting the appropriate checkboxes like they did with Sentry Mode? This could also keep the charging port ready to open when the Tesla Wall Connector button is pressed. If this makes sense to you, how do we get this input to Tesla?

 

[Feathermerchan]

Since I walk by my front (and rear) door to get to the charging port, I just push the door handle in on the way by and the car wakes up so I can remove the charging wand.