This past Friday I become locked out and stranded outside my Model X while parked alongside a strip mall in the late evening. A few days prior to this incident, the first of my two key fobs generated a "Key not inside car" message, and so I left the first fob at the house and grabbed the second one for this trip. This was just after replacing both batteries with new ones obtained from Amazon a few days earlier. This second key fob worked well into the evening so that my dog and I could make the rounds picking up a few items for the house. At about 8:00pm I hopped into my car after a quick visit to the hardware store and noticed that again the second key fob was causing the car to generate a "Key not inside car" message. I noted that this could become a problem and wondered if there was something wrong with the car's receiver as I had just replaced the batteries in both fob's.
I did not find what I was looking for at the hardware store so I set off to visit another. When I arrived at next store it looked like it may be closed, so I parked along side the strip mall and quickly hopped out to view the hours on the door. When I walked back I found I was locked out with my phone still in the car and the dead key fob inside my coat pocket which was also in the car and alongside the dog. I walked to the nearest open store and was grateful to find a cashier who let me borrow her cell pone to call Tesla roadside service. I selected the "locked out" assistance option but two calls to two different people at this number resulted in no one willing to remotely open the car for me, and so I walked 2 miles home and 2 miles back to get my first key fob and another new battery - with no coat at 32 degrees F (thank you Audrey).
The next day, I purchased four new batteries from a retail store thinking that I received a bad batch of batteries off of Amazon. I replaced the batteries again in both key fobs while inside the car. The car seemed happy at this point. Later on, into the evening I again received a "Key not inside car" message while having both fobs with me with the newly replaced batteries. This was odd, and I drove immediately home.
Once home, I cracked open both fobs, and with a new battery measured the current draw on each using a multimeter. The meter displayed a continual 38mA draw from each of the fobs. The Panasonic CR2354 battery has a 560mAh rating, meaning that a new battery would last round 14.7 hours at this current draw. What's going on?
I've scheduled a mobile service visit to fix this issue and they responded with an estimated cost to replace the batteries. I think the issue is with the fobs, not the batteries. Both fobs at the same time after no issues for two years? Has there been a software update to the fobs recently?
I did not find what I was looking for at the hardware store so I set off to visit another. When I arrived at next store it looked like it may be closed, so I parked along side the strip mall and quickly hopped out to view the hours on the door. When I walked back I found I was locked out with my phone still in the car and the dead key fob inside my coat pocket which was also in the car and alongside the dog. I walked to the nearest open store and was grateful to find a cashier who let me borrow her cell pone to call Tesla roadside service. I selected the "locked out" assistance option but two calls to two different people at this number resulted in no one willing to remotely open the car for me, and so I walked 2 miles home and 2 miles back to get my first key fob and another new battery - with no coat at 32 degrees F (thank you Audrey).
The next day, I purchased four new batteries from a retail store thinking that I received a bad batch of batteries off of Amazon. I replaced the batteries again in both key fobs while inside the car. The car seemed happy at this point. Later on, into the evening I again received a "Key not inside car" message while having both fobs with me with the newly replaced batteries. This was odd, and I drove immediately home.
Once home, I cracked open both fobs, and with a new battery measured the current draw on each using a multimeter. The meter displayed a continual 38mA draw from each of the fobs. The Panasonic CR2354 battery has a 560mAh rating, meaning that a new battery would last round 14.7 hours at this current draw. What's going on?
I've scheduled a mobile service visit to fix this issue and they responded with an estimated cost to replace the batteries. I think the issue is with the fobs, not the batteries. Both fobs at the same time after no issues for two years? Has there been a software update to the fobs recently?