Walk away lock while reaching for the charger

[Gauss Guzzler]

Is it just me? Normally when I park and walk away the car takes a very long time to lock - at a leisurely pace I'm usually 5-10 car-lengths away by the time I faintly hear the horn beep in the distance.

But when I park at a free Level 2 charger I run as fast as I can around the back of the car to get to the charger like I'm doing some sort of Olympic baton relay but it always seems to lock just as I'm rounding the trunk - before I can even reach the charger which is literally just 1-2 feet from my bumper. How does it know to lock within a few seconds of exiting when I park at a non-Tesla charger but then take its sweet time everywhere else?

Maybe it's just my imagination? Or something with my iPhone 13? But I sure wish that it would add 30 seconds to the walk-away timer if I've opened my charge port along the way.

 

[zecar]

I have this issue in my garage and the long charger cable. I can't get to the charge port before the car locks. Tesla sells the long cable for people who need it, but designed the lock timer to not account for that cable.

 

[MLXXXp]

I have this issue in my garage and the long charger cable. I can't get to the charge port before the car locks.

I have the same problem. I walk rearwards from the driver's door to the mobile connector's cable on the wall at the rear right corner of the car and it locks before I get to the charge port. On the other hand, I can walk 50 feet (15 metres) from the car in a parking lot before I hear the horn indicating it locked.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

OK, thanks for confirming that I'm not crazy! I've never actually timed it or anything but it just seems to lock soooo fast whenever I reach for a charger. Even if my hip (with phone in pocket) is actually brushing against the bumper at the time.

Perhaps there are multiple Bluetooth antennas around the car and if my phone jumps to a different antenna as I walk around the back it gets detected as a walk-away?

 

[philly4]

Or something with my iPhone 13?

Interesting because this behavior has never happened to me. My wife and I both have Samsung/Android phones...? Not sure if that's why.

 

[JCtx]

That's weird. But what's the problem? You cannot open the charge port anymore? I never had that issue when supercharging, and did it quite a few times. But yes, it takes a long walk before the car locks normally, and I can rarely hear the super wimpy 'meep' it does.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Yep, once walk-away lock is triggered the charge port instantly slams shut and my phone proximity only allows me to open the trunk or doors - not the charge port. So then I have to open a door in order to unlock the charge port.

 

[jjrandorin]

I have the exact same experience you mention, in that, when I leave the car to go into a store, I am always listening for the horn sound and can get quite a ways away before it locks. At least a couple of cars away, usually even further.

However, when I sometimes charge at work, I have gotten used to leaving my drivers door open, because otherwise the car will lock if I leave the drivers side door and close it, and try to authenticate with our work chargepoint chargers.

Not sure why that is, but its a thing, for sure. I just figured it had something to do with the phone leaving one Bluetooth LE connection, and the distance for that or something, but I dont know.

 

[Transformer]

Perhaps there are multiple Bluetooth antennas around the car and if my phone jumps to a different antenna as I walk around the back it gets detected as a walk-away?

Per @Flatbat, Model 3 has 4 Bluetooth antennas: cupholder, Left & Right B pillars, and rear bumper.

Maybe your driver's side B pillar antenna is not working?

 

[Darwood77]

I wish they would implement a 'time before auto-lock" setting. I've lost count of the number of times that I've gotten out of the car, walked around the rear to get to the right rear door to get my son out only to have it auto-lock right as I reach for the door handle.