Walk away lock works 50% of the time

[digdoug]

I know this has been covered previously with varying outcomes, but my problem persists.

2022 Model 3 (my second M3, owned a 2018 as well) has about 25k miles.

Walk away locking works about half the time. I've tried a few things:

• opened and shut all doors (why? dunno, sensors or something)
• ensured app was running, tried in foreground and background
• tested with key card in wallet and without, as well removed all key cards

Baffling. And maddening, quite frankly.

Is there occupancy sensing that has maybe gone awry? Anyone have insight?

 

[GtiMart]

The fact that you have key cards in your wallet or not won't change anything. The cards only work in very close proximity to the readers, either in the B pillars or on the console to start the car.
I believe walk away lock only works if you've unlocked the door using the phone as key. If you have used your keycard to unlock the car or start it (say because phone as key wasn't working that particular time) then walk away lock won't happen. Do you do that?

 

[digdoug]

I almost never use keycard. I’ve used phone key for almost six years and having the keycard in my wallet as backup was never a problem.

Im beginning to suspect a sensor - maybe in the drivers seat - is malfunctioning.

 

[GtiMart]

I've had my drivers seat sensor go bad twice so far. When I got out of the car the lights would stay on, music would continue to play, the screen would stay on. It's quite obvious.

 

[digdoug]

Exactly! Scheduling for service. In the meantime i’ll experiment with giving the seat a couple of pumps/whacks when I exit.

 

[GtiMart]

When that happened to me, simply reopening and closing the driver door fixed it...for that one time.

 

[Need]

Could it be ice related? Like some ice got into the door or trunk latches area and the car thinks not all the doors/trunk are close so walk away door does not work? Or one of the door handles was slight ajar (water/ice got in between) so the car things the door is not fully close some of the time?

 

[PianoAl]

Are you sure there isn't another phone key nearby? This happened to me on a trip, and the problem was I had my tablet in the trunk.

It works half the time. Something different when it works vs not?

Can it work then you go back to the car open and close the door then walk away and have it fail?

I suggest some experimenting.

 

[E90alex]

This is why I don’t trust the walk away lock. Tesla should just have a lock/unlock button on the exterior.

I have gotten into the habit of opening my door then tapping lock on the screen before getting out. Or press lock on the key fob in my pocket before walking away.

 

[PianoAl]

Are you far enough from home when testing? These are lots of gotchas that result in confusing results.

See this thread:

Walk-Away Fails With Wife's Phone

RESOLVED: My testing was flawed because the car was either too close to home or Exclude Home was selected for one of the driver profiles. Walk-away lock works perfectly with my phone but fails to lock the car with my wife's phone. This happens with both of our cars. I've rebooted the screen...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[PianoAl]

This is why I don’t trust the walk away lock.

Same here, but I've gotten into the habit of listening for the lock sound and checking the mirrors.

 

[nicholb]

My son had his 2018 M3 start doing this. It ended up being the occupancy sensor in the driver's seat causing it.

 

[digdoug]

Could it be ice related? Like some ice got into the door or trunk latches area and the car thinks not all the doors/trunk are close so walk away door does not work? Or one of the door handles was slight ajar (water/ice got in between) so the car things the door is not fully close some of the time?

No, plus wouldn't the display indicate the car thinks something is open? Usually I get a warning when I put it in drive and a door is open.

 

[digdoug]

Are you sure there isn't another phone key nearby? This happened to me on a trip, and the problem was I had my tablet in the trunk.

It works half the time. Something different when it works vs not?

Can it work then you go back to the car open and close the door then walk away and have it fail?

I suggest some experimenting.

I'm sure there is no other device key - only the card in my wallet. Initially I thought it might be when my wallet was in my right pocket, which places the card close to the center console. I've since tested (by removing key card altogether from wallet) and eliminated that as a possibility. Now that I think about it - I actually removed my key cards from the car's authorized list...

 

[P3dStealth]

I've had my drivers seat sensor go bad twice so far. When I got out of the car the lights would stay on, music would continue to play, the screen would stay on. It's quite obvious.

I replaced mine twice also. Second time I did it myself because no more warranty. I found out the techs folded the ribbon cable and that's probably why it stopped working second time. Sensor is $12 from Tesla.

 

[digdoug]

I'm sure there is no other device key - only the card in my wallet. Initially I thought it might be when my wallet was in my right pocket, which places the card close to the center console. I've since tested (by removing key card altogether from wallet) and eliminated that as a possibility. Now that I think about it - I actually removed my key cards from the car's authorized list...

I've had this problem occur off and on when out running errands. On those trips i've asked myself the same question - what is changing here besides the store I am parked in front of? I really don't think anything is changing.

I may get a little more specific in my experiments.

 

[P3dStealth]

You can test the seat sensor in service mode. It's under seats and restraints. You tap the seat and it will say occupied then change to unoccupied when you lift your weight off.

 

[P3dStealth]

Could also be a phone issue.

You turning Bluetooth off on your phone while in the car? It will disable walk away lock.

You also need Bluetooth scanning always on.

Maybe try resetting your Bluetooth settings on your phone.

 

[Need]

No, plus wouldn't the display indicate the car thinks something is open? Usually I get a warning when I put it in drive and a door is open.

This happened to me last week. I put my grocery bag in the trunk and the thick long handle of the reusable bag was hanging off the edge of the trunk. When I pressed the auto close, it closed just fine. When I got into the car, it drove fine but after I got out of the parking lot, the car started beeping and I saw the trunk was not closed on the display. I kept driving and was looking for a place to safely stop to fix the trunk, but the warning went away after like 20 seconds. Since I need to get the grocery out, I didn't test to see if the auto lock would work when I got home. But I did spot the hang out grocery bag handle when I got home.

 

[digdoug]

Could also be a phone issue.

You turning Bluetooth off on your phone while in the car? It will disable walk away lock.

You also need Bluetooth scanning always on.

Maybe try resetting your Bluetooth settings on your phone.

Nah, I really never do this. I will try resetting BT, but I never really turn it off while in the car.