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Warning for Those Who Back into Their Garages

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I reverse into my garage so that my FWDs are beyond the overhead garage door opener allowing the to open freely while inside. I have single garage doors into a multiple bay garage so the openings are relatively narrow and challenging to navigate. Sometimes it takes several attempts backing-in then pulling-out to get this wide beast lined up properly inside the garage. I've gotten fairly good at it over the past few weeks, but sometimes I still struggle if I'm tired or careless.

Late last week I was significantly off on my first backing-in attempt, so I needed to pull all the way out of the garage to realign. On my second attempt I reversed directly into a closing garage door! Bang! Oh crap! Not good!

After some serious head banging and sole searching I realized that the 20ft auto open/close Homelink distance must be measured from the front of the car where the RF transmitter is located. So, if you back into your garage, then slowly pull out about 3.5ft past your back bumper (car is 16.5ft long) the car thinks you're on your way out and closes the garage door behind you. There is no audio alarm if you decide to reverse back into the garage for a second attempt and aren't paying attention to the Homelink notification top of screen! ..especially if your neighbor's lawn is being mowed a few yards away and you can't hear the garage door closing, like in my case.

I'm fairly certain others will run into this issue if they reverse into their garages and are anything like me about the position of their cars inside the garage. The SW should be smart enough to differentiate between pulling in forwards or backwards into a garage and adjust the 20ft distance accordingly - perhaps 30ft from the middle of the car (simulated distance). Or at minimum, allow the distance variable to be user defined similar to the Summon settings. Maybe even sound an alarm if the car changes directions within a minute of Homelink activation. I logged a ticket with Tesla in hopes of alerting them to this use-case and hope this note helps others avoid an embarrassing situation and a potentially costly repair.
 
Where is this Homelink Autoclosing option?

Controls -> Settings -> HomeLink on the touchscreen.

The OP just needs to reset the GPS location of the HomeLink Device initiation. Mine is set to open or close my garage door at the bottom of the driveway - not - as the directions indicate - "as close as possible to the ... garage door".

Reset Homelink Location.JPG
 
How tall is the ceiling in your garage? I have a low 8 foot ceiling, and raised the middle garage door (where the X will be parked) to the ceiling. (You will need a new opener like the Liftmaster 8500). Now the FWDs can open. Backing into a narrow garage is going to be a pain in the rear for the life of your car, made worse if you have to disable the auto opening/closing garage door. That is one of my favorite features now on my Model S.
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How tall is the ceiling in your garage? I have a low 8 foot ceiling, and raised the middle garage door (where the X will be parked) to the ceiling. (You will need a new opener like the Liftmaster 8500). Now the FWDs can open. Backing into a narrow garage is going to be a pain in the rear for the life of your car, made worse if you have to disable the auto opening/closing garage door. That is one of my favorite features now on my Model S.
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It's not the ceiling hight, but the opener motor-unit placement that is the issue with head-on parking; similar to your Model S bay. I like your setup though! Will definitely consider this option when upgrading my garage doors - will need to be soon as they are pretty beat up from years of car/wall/garage-door scuffles between my wife and I (mainly her, it if wasn't for this last incident :))
 
It's not the ceiling hight, but the opener motor-unit placement that is the issue with head-on parking; similar to your Model S bay. I like your setup though! Will definitely consider this option when upgrading my garage doors - will need to be soon as they are pretty beat up from years of car/wall/garage-door scuffles between my wife and I (mainly her, it if wasn't for this last incident :))
I am going the same route as @rdalcanto , and my problem is the same as yours, the center rail+motor assembly. My garage ceiling is pretty high so the plan is to raise the rails higher up and pair it up with a jackshaft motor on the side, which in turn requires no center rail. the X FWD would love that sort of setup :)
 
It's not the ceiling hight, but the opener motor-unit placement that is the issue with head-on parking; similar to your Model S bay. I like your setup though! Will definitely consider this option when upgrading my garage doors - will need to be soon as they are pretty beat up from years of car/wall/garage-door scuffles between my wife and I (mainly her, it if wasn't for this last incident :))

You don't need to upgrade the doors. Same doors, just new tracks and new jackshaft motor to there is nothing hanging down in the middle and the entire door goes higher when it is in the open position.