I've been on TMC for nearly a year now and don't recall reading about the issue I am about to describe, but maybe I missed it. Here is what happened to me today:
I was in Monterey CA headed back home to San Mateo (near S.F.) and stopped at the Gilroy SC for a brief charge. I was there for about 15 minutes charging at 115kW and decided I had plenty of range to get home. I exited the car and shut the door, my key fob was in my shoulder bag on the passenger seat with my wallet, iPhone and iPad, in the same position it had been for the entire drive. I detached the charging cable, hung it up, and went to get back in the car. The handles had already retracted and they did not open when I applied pressure to them. None of the handles would open. I was mysteriously locked out of my car with the key fob on the passenger seat. It was not blocked by the iPad or iPhone in the bag, it was just below the upper surface of the bag. After about a minute of trying to open the door handles without success I decided to try to open the trunk. It opened, and then all the door handles extended and I got back in the car and drove home without incident. I decided it was likely just a freak occurrence, as clearly the car was detecting the fob since when I got in I could drive it.
At home I got out of the car and without thinking about it again left my shoulder bag on the passenger seat with the fob inside and closed the door. I often do that because it is easier to retrieve the bag by going around an opening the passenger side door which is nearer the front door to my house as the wall of my house is very close to the drivers side of the car. I plugged in my HPWC cable, went around to the passenger side and again noticed that the door handles had retracted. It seems to me that they usually don't retract so quickly. Again none of the door handles would respond to pressure and open. I tried to open the trunk but it would not open. I tried several times. No luck. So I retrieved my spare house key from its hiding place outside my house, went inside to call my spouse to ask her to use her iPhone app to unlock the car, except she was out hiking with some friends and I could not reach her. After several more attempts to get the door handles to respond to me, I again tried the trunk and it opened and then the car unlocked so I could retrieve my shoulder bag with key fob.
I called Tesla Service. They said they would have someone look at the car's logs and let me know if they found anything amiss, but in the meantime suggested that it was possible the fob battery was weak so the car did not detect it. That doesn't make sense to me: I have had the car for less than 8 months and the car did eventually unlock by me opening the trunk so the car must have sensed the fob. I have since tried using the fob to open the car and it behaves normally, with the handles extending as I approach the car.
Regardless, I went out and bought two new batteries. I removed the batteries from both my fobs and measured their voltage, my fob was 2.99V and my wife's fob was 3.02V. The two new batteries I bought tested at 3.12V and 3.16V. A small difference between the old and the new batteries, but I am not convinced the original battery in my fob was the explanation for the problem I experienced.
I went ahead and installed the new batteries in both fobs just in case. I'm interested in hearing from others who have experienced the issue I have described.
I was in Monterey CA headed back home to San Mateo (near S.F.) and stopped at the Gilroy SC for a brief charge. I was there for about 15 minutes charging at 115kW and decided I had plenty of range to get home. I exited the car and shut the door, my key fob was in my shoulder bag on the passenger seat with my wallet, iPhone and iPad, in the same position it had been for the entire drive. I detached the charging cable, hung it up, and went to get back in the car. The handles had already retracted and they did not open when I applied pressure to them. None of the handles would open. I was mysteriously locked out of my car with the key fob on the passenger seat. It was not blocked by the iPad or iPhone in the bag, it was just below the upper surface of the bag. After about a minute of trying to open the door handles without success I decided to try to open the trunk. It opened, and then all the door handles extended and I got back in the car and drove home without incident. I decided it was likely just a freak occurrence, as clearly the car was detecting the fob since when I got in I could drive it.
At home I got out of the car and without thinking about it again left my shoulder bag on the passenger seat with the fob inside and closed the door. I often do that because it is easier to retrieve the bag by going around an opening the passenger side door which is nearer the front door to my house as the wall of my house is very close to the drivers side of the car. I plugged in my HPWC cable, went around to the passenger side and again noticed that the door handles had retracted. It seems to me that they usually don't retract so quickly. Again none of the door handles would respond to pressure and open. I tried to open the trunk but it would not open. I tried several times. No luck. So I retrieved my spare house key from its hiding place outside my house, went inside to call my spouse to ask her to use her iPhone app to unlock the car, except she was out hiking with some friends and I could not reach her. After several more attempts to get the door handles to respond to me, I again tried the trunk and it opened and then the car unlocked so I could retrieve my shoulder bag with key fob.
I called Tesla Service. They said they would have someone look at the car's logs and let me know if they found anything amiss, but in the meantime suggested that it was possible the fob battery was weak so the car did not detect it. That doesn't make sense to me: I have had the car for less than 8 months and the car did eventually unlock by me opening the trunk so the car must have sensed the fob. I have since tried using the fob to open the car and it behaves normally, with the handles extending as I approach the car.
Regardless, I went out and bought two new batteries. I removed the batteries from both my fobs and measured their voltage, my fob was 2.99V and my wife's fob was 3.02V. The two new batteries I bought tested at 3.12V and 3.16V. A small difference between the old and the new batteries, but I am not convinced the original battery in my fob was the explanation for the problem I experienced.
I went ahead and installed the new batteries in both fobs just in case. I'm interested in hearing from others who have experienced the issue I have described.
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