Parking Up, moving cones, with kids on board.

When she got out of the car, the car sensed that her weight was no longer in the driver seat. This essentially turned the car off (screen should go blank). The only way to restart the car would be to have the fob inside the cabin. So, the way you are describing it, no someone should not have been able to jump in and take off.

Rluner,

You have two adults and a Tesla available to you. How about some experimenting and report back?

Once the driver has left the seat, to get it back into drive needs: press on the brake, weight on seat, keyfob sensed, push the lever to 'D'. However, once it is in Drive, it will continue driving even if the key is no longer sensed: the car will then be immobilised next time it is put into Park.

Keyfob sensing is not precise: while it's trying to sense the fob inside, there have been cases of it activating from outside the window (typically: owner1 with fob in pocket waves goodbye to spouse who drives off without fob and then gets stuck at his/her destination; fortunately we now have the remote start via the phone app as a get-out-of-jail-free for that situation).

So for your example scenario, arguably the correct thing to do is to stand back at a safe distance and phone the police - your thief then won't be going anywhere. Whether anyone would be able to do that under the emotional draw of the kids in the car is rather doubtful....

Interesting scenario. So potentially somebody can steal your car before you very eyes, with or without kids on board.

Phil K said:

Interesting scenario. So potentially somebody can steal your car before you very eyes, with or without kids on board.

Click to expand...

Only if you were right next to the door kissing them good bye
And even then you could track them (and even if they were savvy enough to turn remote control off, Tesla can still track them as that just turns off the phone access)

Kribensa said:

Only if you were right next to the door kissing them good bye
And even then you could track them (and even if they were savvy enough to turn remote control off, Tesla can still track them as that just turns off the phone access)

Click to expand...

I was very surprised the big accident with the stolen car wasn't ended remotely rather than the carnage that it caused.

My old car had a GPS/3G tracker (at the insurance companies insistence) that could remotely disable the car.

Actually the Tesla fob detection system for the "keyless go" is pretty basic (as with many American cars). The fob can be a few metres away from the car and the ignition will still start. On the other hand in my 8 year old Audi the ignition won't start if the key is inside the car but in the back seat, or sitting on the roof of the car - it has to be genuinely in the driver's seat area before the car will start.

Rluner said:

I thought someone may already know, hence why I asked.

Thanks posters for your assistance.

Click to expand...

Fair enough.

I made my suggestion because I haven't really seen anybody post that they've really explored this. I mean REALLY explored... Repeat the scenario over and over with different sequences, timing, distances, etc, etc. I plan to do this once I get my Tesla.

Primarily because there are "discoveries" in the real world that can surprise us all. Example: I own a Nissan Leaf and quite often leave it 'on', in park, doors locked, AC running while I go into a store here in the Texas heat. This works great (the car complains that the fob goes away, via 3 beeps; nonetheless, it keeps running the air). This winter, I left the car in the same status (on, park, doors locked) but this time with the Heat on, and my elderly father (93) inside while I went into a store. Much to my surprise, the car cut off before I got back. It had not had much time to get cold... but since my Dad is not a cell phone user, this was a potential issue. So, AC v Heat... different behaviors.

Details of any given scenario aside, after this incident, I no longer trust any description of a sequence, nor do I trust "logical extensions" of sequences that I've personally tried. If it is important (kids in car), I'm going to try the EXACT scenario, over and over, until I truly understand it, and all the little "edge case" gotchas.


Anyway, I am going to try things like this when I get my Tesla in a month...

mgboyes said:

Actually the Tesla fob detection system for the "keyless go" is pretty basic (as with many American cars). The fob can be a few metres away from the car and the ignition will still start. On the other hand in my 8 year old Audi the ignition won't start if the key is inside the car but in the back seat, or sitting on the roof of the car - it has to be genuinely in the driver's seat area before the car will start.

Click to expand...

Hmm I just tried it here and the car failed to start once the fob was about 1m away from the car (equivalent to you standing far enough from the car for the door to be open far enough for someone to get in)
Of course I was trying it by placing the fob on the floor rather than on a person, and the range may depend on fob battery level, so it wasn't exactly scientific!

I guess the take out is that if someone gets in to try to drive off, don't tackle them through the window (bringing the fob with you) - walk away from the car (or drop the fob and then tackle if you must)

- - - Updated - - -

smac said:

I was very surprised the big accident with the stolen car wasn't ended remotely rather than the carnage that it caused.

My old car had a GPS/3G tracker (at the insurance companies insistence) that could remotely disable the car.

Click to expand...

My hope is that they one day add a Valet Mode that can be remotely set - then at least a stolen car could be highly limited (better than fully disabling IMO as a disabled car on a dual carriageway or motorway will be as much carnage as a high speed crash)

Kribensa said:

My hope is that they one day add a Valet Mode that can be remotely set - then at least a stolen car could be highly limited (better than fully disabling IMO as a disabled car on a dual carriageway or motorway will be as much carnage as a high speed crash)

Click to expand...

It never got tested on my old car, so I couldn't tell you how current remote immobilising works. I think it just killed the engine so the thief would cruise down to a stop, if the car was being pursued by police as in the LA event this would have been OK.

A valet mode would be nice. Remotely setting it might be a bit of a problem from a liability/legal POV, as you the person driving wouldn't be technically be fully in charge of the car.

There were quite a few procedures involved in disabling my old car. I couldn't do it for example, it had to be a formal police request, they had to phone me back and ask for passwords, the tracking centre all had to be police vetted, etc. etc.

I agree that limiting a car would be technically better, or the disabling could be geo-fenced, but I suspect the end result would be the same if the car was restricted to say 50 whilst on a dual carriage way, the thieves would just stop and flee on foot.

Kribensa said:

Hmm I just tried it here and the car failed to start once the fob was about 1m away from the car (equivalent to you standing far enough from the car for the door to be open far enough for someone to get in)
Of course I was trying it by placing the fob on the floor rather than on a person, and the range may depend on fob battery level, so it wasn't exactly scientific!

Click to expand...

Just tried the same thing. Started car, got out, placed the fob about 1 meter away from the car on a shelf, got back in and the car went right into drive. Did the same thing but moved the fob about 4 meters away, got back in and it failed to go into drive with the message that the fob was not detected.

So sounds like you have the right advice, get the fob away from the car if someone get in....