What caused this?

[SCTes1aMan]

I'm not sure this is the proper forum and apologize if not.

I pulled up to my office and when I went in I turned climate control on for my girlfriend. She had the window cracked and she hung out in the car for about 10 minutes. When she decided to leave the car and come inside she says she did nothing more than close the window, exit the car and walk off. The sentry alarm went off with the horn blowing, lights flashing, etc. What caused that?

 

[Supcom]

I suspect that the car locked when you walked away from it. Then, when your girlfriend opened the door, the car sensed that as a break in.

 

[zanary]

You didn't leave the key/keycard with her, so when you walked away, the car locked. When she opened it up it's no different than an intruder trying to open the door and succeeding. The alarm went off.

 

[SCTes1aMan]

You didn't leave the key/keycard with her, so when you walked away, the car locked. When she opened it up it's no different than an intruder trying to open the door and succeeding. The alarm went off.

Thank you. I assumed it was something simple but I wanted to be sure I understood how it worked. It does seem that car should recognize the door was opened by someone inside.

 

[Supcom]

Thank you. I assumed it was something simple but I wanted to be sure I understood how it worked. It does seem that car should recognize the door was opened by someone inside.

You could also have used camp mode before you left. That prevents auto locking. Of course, you would need to remotely lock the doors after the car is vacant.

 

[fobo]

It does seem that car should recognize the door was opened by someone inside.

And if someone broke the window and opened the door?

 

[SCTes1aMan]

And if someone broke the window and opened the door?

I'm not even sure how to answer that. Obviously the alarm would be tripped by the broken window. It may make a little more sense if the window were open and someone were to reach in and open the door. But with someone in the car and later exiting the car it seems odd to me that the alarm would go off.

 

[B3stswat]

Any vehicle would do that not just Tesla.
If I lock my wife's Nissan Rogue while she is in there and she manually opens her door the alarm would go off.

 

[ajstan]

Seems like unexpected behavior by the car and a use case that could be accommodated by software. I just leave my phone in the car if I run in somewhere and my wife wants to stay in the car, so I never had a situation like yours.

Here‘s a way to submit a bug report to Tesla and they will be able to download diagnostic info from the car:

Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn how to contact Tesla to learn more about your vehicle, and communicate questions and concerns, as well as how to contact regulatory agencies to report safety defects.

www.tesla.com

I‘m assuming you use your phone as a key and have the walk away door lock activated. Until Tesla addresses your situation, you could unlock the car and turn off sentry via your phone (after it auto-locks) and you give your girlfriend a key card so she can lock it if she wants to leave.

 

[SCTes1aMan]

Seems like unexpected behavior by the car and a use case that could be accommodated by software. I just leave my phone in the car if I run in somewhere and my wife wants to stay in the car, so I never had a situation like yours.

Here‘s a way to submit a bug report to Tesla and they will be able to download diagnostic info from the car:

Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn how to contact Tesla to learn more about your vehicle, and communicate questions and concerns, as well as how to contact regulatory agencies to report safety defects.

www.tesla.com

I‘m assuming you use your phone as a key and have the walk away door lock activated. Until Tesla addresses your situation, you could unlock the car and turn off sentry via your phone (after it auto-locks) and you give your girlfriend a key card so she can lock it if she wants to leave.

Thanks for the info. And yes I have walk away activated and the phone acts as the key. Honestly this wasn't a big deal but since it was the first time it's happened I thought I would ask here.