During most of our first 12 months with our Tesla Model 3, using an Authenticated Phone as a “key” worked as expected. Every once in a while, I’d pull on a door handle or trunk release and nothing would happen. Sometimes trying again would open the car, and using the Tesla app on my iPhone X to remotely issue an Unlock command was a fall-back for those handful of times when trying the handles again didn’t help. Tesla owners experience their fair share of mysterious non-repeating problems - its something those of us working with tech take in stride. This was infrequent enough - perhaps once every two months on average - that it didn’t seem like a persistent problem. My wife experienced the same symptoms somewhat more frequently, but we put that down to her aging iPhone 6. Toggling the Bluetooth radio on and off on the iPhone 6 seemed to help, but that may not have been any more useful than re-attempting to open a door, which often works.
Lately, though, the symptoms have begun to occur more frequently - sometimes 3-4 times a week.
Over a year ago, I discovered that after setting up our iPhones as Authenticated Phones to unlock the Model 3, that in those phones’ Bluetooth control panels, in addition to the “Tesla Model 3” device which was paired with the Media and Audio System (for phone calls and media playback), I could see four additional Bluetooth radios with 18-character alphanumeric names like “SS9313dec7ccab013D” ending in “D,” “P,” “C” and “R.” I took these to represent Driver, Passenger, Center and Rear, and assume that these are networked Bluetooth radios which can all recognize the Authenticated Phone as a paired device. Comparing signal strengths between the four radios would allow the vehicle system to geographically identify where an Authenticated Phone was relative to the car, especially so that the user can’t lock the phone inside the cabin or trunk of the vehicle.
In the last few weeks, when I encountered a failure to unlock, I looked at the Bluetooth radios connected to my phone while standing next to the Model 3. I discovered that only ONE of the four “locking” radios - the one ending in “C” - appeared in the list on my iPhone X. I checked my wife’s iPhone 6, and it too only displayed the single “C” radio and the “Tesla Model 3” radio. This pretty much eliminated whether the “missing” radios symptom was related to my phone.
When I looked up old screenshots I’d taken of the Bluetooth radios, I discovered that as long as a year ago one of the radios (“P” - Passenger?) was already missing, and I hadn’t noticed. This might explain my wife having occasional trouble unlocking the doors from the passenger side of the car.
Because I’ve only got these two old screenshots with which to compare current observations, and because I never realized radios had vanished from the polled list until now, I’ve never witnessed one of these radios re-appearing in the phone’s Bluetooth control panel. That doesn’t mean they don’t. It’s also conjecture on my part that all of the Bluetooth radios should always be visible - I deduced that from seeing them back in November 2018, and it made sense. I’m assuming that all of those radios stay running and are visible when a paired phone is in range under normal circumstances. I have found a single example of someone else’s screenshot showing four Bluetooth IDs from a Tesla Model 3, so that supports the hypothesis that is the normal state.
Because our Model 3 has become increasingly recalcitrant about unlocking with our phones, I’m also assuming that the disappearing radios *is* related to poor unlocking performance.
Here are the three screenshots showing the progressive attrition of the Model 3’s locking radios over the past 13 months:
Just to be thorough, I’ve tried restarting Bluetooth on my phone and restarting the phone. But since my wife’s iPhone 6 shows the same missing Bluetooth radios, I really wan’t expecting anything to change - and nothing did change. Despite the fact that it should have nothing to do with door locking but again for thoroughness, I tried Restarting the Touchscreen on the Model 3 (by holding down the two thumbwheels). This also had no effect upon restoring the Bluetooth radios, or on Authenticated Phone unlocking performance.
I had a Tesla Mobile Service appointment for an interior trim issue this past week, and when the tech witnessed my failure to open the door on first try, I showed him my phone’s Bluetooth control panel (which looked like the “Dec 2, 2019” screenshot above). He said that if were his car, he’d contact Tesla Service about it.
I was waiting to post this after I got results from a Tesla Service visit for this issue, but it’s been rescheduled for January 2020, so I’m getting this out there in case it’s helpful to anyone else. I'll report back after my service visit.
Ellsworth Oct 2018 RWD LR
Lately, though, the symptoms have begun to occur more frequently - sometimes 3-4 times a week.
Over a year ago, I discovered that after setting up our iPhones as Authenticated Phones to unlock the Model 3, that in those phones’ Bluetooth control panels, in addition to the “Tesla Model 3” device which was paired with the Media and Audio System (for phone calls and media playback), I could see four additional Bluetooth radios with 18-character alphanumeric names like “SS9313dec7ccab013D” ending in “D,” “P,” “C” and “R.” I took these to represent Driver, Passenger, Center and Rear, and assume that these are networked Bluetooth radios which can all recognize the Authenticated Phone as a paired device. Comparing signal strengths between the four radios would allow the vehicle system to geographically identify where an Authenticated Phone was relative to the car, especially so that the user can’t lock the phone inside the cabin or trunk of the vehicle.
In the last few weeks, when I encountered a failure to unlock, I looked at the Bluetooth radios connected to my phone while standing next to the Model 3. I discovered that only ONE of the four “locking” radios - the one ending in “C” - appeared in the list on my iPhone X. I checked my wife’s iPhone 6, and it too only displayed the single “C” radio and the “Tesla Model 3” radio. This pretty much eliminated whether the “missing” radios symptom was related to my phone.
When I looked up old screenshots I’d taken of the Bluetooth radios, I discovered that as long as a year ago one of the radios (“P” - Passenger?) was already missing, and I hadn’t noticed. This might explain my wife having occasional trouble unlocking the doors from the passenger side of the car.
Because I’ve only got these two old screenshots with which to compare current observations, and because I never realized radios had vanished from the polled list until now, I’ve never witnessed one of these radios re-appearing in the phone’s Bluetooth control panel. That doesn’t mean they don’t. It’s also conjecture on my part that all of the Bluetooth radios should always be visible - I deduced that from seeing them back in November 2018, and it made sense. I’m assuming that all of those radios stay running and are visible when a paired phone is in range under normal circumstances. I have found a single example of someone else’s screenshot showing four Bluetooth IDs from a Tesla Model 3, so that supports the hypothesis that is the normal state.
Because our Model 3 has become increasingly recalcitrant about unlocking with our phones, I’m also assuming that the disappearing radios *is* related to poor unlocking performance.
Here are the three screenshots showing the progressive attrition of the Model 3’s locking radios over the past 13 months:
Just to be thorough, I’ve tried restarting Bluetooth on my phone and restarting the phone. But since my wife’s iPhone 6 shows the same missing Bluetooth radios, I really wan’t expecting anything to change - and nothing did change. Despite the fact that it should have nothing to do with door locking but again for thoroughness, I tried Restarting the Touchscreen on the Model 3 (by holding down the two thumbwheels). This also had no effect upon restoring the Bluetooth radios, or on Authenticated Phone unlocking performance.
I had a Tesla Mobile Service appointment for an interior trim issue this past week, and when the tech witnessed my failure to open the door on first try, I showed him my phone’s Bluetooth control panel (which looked like the “Dec 2, 2019” screenshot above). He said that if were his car, he’d contact Tesla Service about it.
I was waiting to post this after I got results from a Tesla Service visit for this issue, but it’s been rescheduled for January 2020, so I’m getting this out there in case it’s helpful to anyone else. I'll report back after my service visit.
Ellsworth Oct 2018 RWD LR