Made the car alarm go off

[paulkva]

Been there, done that. Leave the key fob with the car occupant if you are leaving. Otherwise its going to lock and trigger the alarm if a door is opened from inside and you're not around.

But it locked and alarmed anyway in my case. Maybe it would've been different if I had left both fobs with her? Not sure.

What if your wife had gone into the store with you and purposely or inadvertently left her bag, with the fob in it, in the car? That seems like a pretty common scenario in which people would definitely want the walk-away locking to engage. It's a pretty simple thing to consciously disarm the alarm any of the ways I suggested upthread if someone is staying in the car.

I actually left my wife in the car the other evening, and as I left I wasn't sure what would happen, so I warned her to tap the screen after I left to turn it back on, and I also unlocked the car when I left. One or both of those worked, as the alarm did not go off.

There are plenty of little things Tesla could change to make things better. I just don't agree that this is one of them.

Interesting point about accidentally leaving the fob inside. Though I thought I read somewhere that when you leave the fob in the car, it's technically unlocked, and you can press the handles to make them extend. I could be wrong / misremembering. And I agree this issue probably wouldn't make it to the top of anyone's to-do list at Tesla.

In any case, lesson learned: don't try to exit the car while it's off, because there's a good chance the alarm is armed. Any of the workarounds discussed previously should be sufficient.

 

[Andyw2100]

But it locked and alarmed anyway in my case. Maybe it would've been different if I had left both fobs with her? Not sure.



Interesting point about accidentally leaving the fob inside. Though I thought I read somewhere that when you leave the fob in the car, it's technically unlocked, and you can press the handles to make them extend. I could be wrong / misremembering. And I agree this issue probably wouldn't make it to the top of anyone's to-do list at Tesla.

In any case, lesson learned: don't try to exit the car while it's off, because there's a good chance the alarm is armed. Any of the workarounds discussed previously should be sufficient.

Yes, I believe if you had left both fobs the walk away locking would not have triggered. I think what you are referring to with respect to leaving a fob in the car is what prevents you from locking yourself out of the car with the fob in it. But the car figures if you've walked away with one, you have it, and can't lock yourself out. The fact that there's another one left in the car is irrelevant, as you may intentionally be leaving that one in the car.

 

[Chipper]

My experience has been if you leave a fob in the car the car will not automatically lock (it senses the fob). If you leave a fob in the car and want to lock the car, you have to lock it manually with a single press on the fob you have with you. If you leave with the fob and have someone staying in the car all they need to do is touch the main screen after you have departed but before the car auto-locks. It will stay unlocked and the heat/ac and radio etc. will all be operational while you are gone. If you leave and the person forgets to touch the screen, the car will lock and they will set off the alarm if they try to open the door.

 

[Cyclone]

Yes, I believe if you had left both fobs the walk away locking would not have triggered. I think what you are referring to with respect to leaving a fob in the car is what prevents you from locking yourself out of the car with the fob in it. But the car figures if you've walked away with one, you have it, and can't lock yourself out. The fact that there's another one left in the car is irrelevant, as you may intentionally be leaving that one in the car.

While logically this makes sense, I doubt it is what is happening. People posting about wishing how the driver profile could be pegged to the fob have been told that the car cannot distinguish individual fobs. If that is the case, I would imagine that the above would be incorrect as the car wouldn't be able to tell which fob (or any fob if they are viewed as idential) has left the vehicle. What I can imagine is that the Paul's wife fob was next to her cell phone in her purse and together, it was enough to interfere with the fob signal or the Paul accidentally locked the car by accidentally pressing the fob through his pocket.

 

[Andyw2100]

While logically this makes sense, I doubt it is what is happening. People posting about wishing how the driver profile could be pegged to the fob have been told that the car cannot distinguish individual fobs. If that is the case, I would imagine that the above would be incorrect as the car wouldn't be able to tell which fob (or any fob if they are viewed as idential) has left the vehicle. What I can imagine is that the Paul's wife fob was next to her cell phone in her purse and together, it was enough to interfere with the fob signal or the Paul accidentally locked the car by accidentally pressing the fob through his pocket.

Right now the fobs can't be tied to individual driver profiles, but that doesn't mean the car can't tell that there are two of them there, and that if one leaves, there is still one there.

I don't think the scenario you spell out, with the car confusing Paul's wife's fob and her cellphone, and Pual accidentally locking the car had to happen at all. It sounds like Paul has walk-away locking enabled, so the car locked when his fob walked away, as it is supposed to. I am fairly certain there is no mechanism in place to check if there is a second fob in the car and not "walk-away lock" if there is, because as I pointed out upthread, if Paul's wife had left with Paul, but purposely or inadvertently left her fob in the car, say in her purse sitting on the passenger seat, you would definitely want the car to lock. And if someone is staying in the car, there are several ways to disable the alarm.

I am fairly certain the car operated exactly as it should have, and that no change in the way the car operates is needed here.

 

[Cyclone]

It sounds like Paul has walk-away locking enabled, so the car locked when his fob walked away, as it is supposed to. I am fairly certain there is no mechanism in place to check if there is a second fob in the car and not "walk-away lock" of there is

This sounds like the most plausible scenario.

I am fairly certain the car operated exactly as it should have, and that no change in the way the car operates is needed here.

Agreed!

 

[paulkva]

Yes, I do have walk away locking enabled. No, I didn't press the button on my fob to accidentally lock the car as I walked away. And yes, I'm sure I didn't press it.

In hindsight, and after reading all the follow-up posts, I think Andy's explanation makes the most sense and seems to be a reasonable design choice: that walk away locking doesn't care how many fobs remain, whenever at least one fob walks away the car locks. It's a subtlety that my wife and I certainly hadn't thought about. And I'm sure it didn't help that I was dealing with the kids and she was dealing with her phone call at the time.

 

[dweeks]

Yes, I do have walk away locking enabled. No, I didn't press the button on my fob to accidentally lock the car as I walked away. And yes, I'm sure I didn't press it.

In hindsight, and after reading all the follow-up posts, I think Andy's explanation makes the most sense and seems to be a reasonable design choice: that walk away locking doesn't care how many fobs remain, whenever at least one fob walks away the car locks. It's a subtlety that my wife and I certainly hadn't thought about. And I'm sure it didn't help that I was dealing with the kids and she was dealing with her phone call at the time.

Here's what I (actually my wife) would like, and I cannot figure out the easy way to do it.

We park. I have the fob, and leave the car. Walk away locking is enabled. The wife wants to have the car doors lock immediately while she waits in the car for me. My understanding is that if she taps the screen before the car locks, the car will stay awake and not lock.

What's the best/easiest way to allow her to lock the car right away when I leave? Does she need to go to the screen and tap Controls to bring up the door locking panel?

And then if she decides to leave, it sounds like the alarm is going to go off regardless, as she does not have the fob. Right?

 

[gpetti]

Here's what I (actually my wife) would like, and I cannot figure out the easy way to do it.

We park. I have the fob, and leave the car. Walk away locking is enabled. The wife wants to have the car doors lock immediately while she waits in the car for me. My understanding is that if she taps the screen before the car locks, the car will stay awake and not lock.

What's the best/easiest way to allow her to lock the car right away when I leave? Does she need to go to the screen and tap Controls to bring up the door locking panel?

And then if she decides to leave, it sounds like the alarm is going to go off regardless, as she does not have the fob. Right?

This is my expectation but I think some testing may be in order here.
I think there is another point here to be aware of. The key fobs aren't always detected. I've had the car tell me that no key fob is detected on occasion even though I had it in a pocket. It appears that sometimes purses can be like a faraday cage and this can create problems. I started a thread last year because my wife got locked out of the car having left her purse in the car. I can't remember the details but at some point the car had lost contact with the fob so it locked after she turned it off and left. Her phone was in the purse too! This has happened to me on on occasion where I took my jacket off to wash the car with the key in the jacket pocket somewhere in the trunk. Fortunately I had my phone. These incidents all happened on a slightly older car 30287 so this may have improved.

 

[Andyw2100]

Here's what I (actually my wife) would like, and I cannot figure out the easy way to do it.

We park. I have the fob, and leave the car. Walk away locking is enabled. The wife wants to have the car doors lock immediately while she waits in the car for me. My understanding is that if she taps the screen before the car locks, the car will stay awake and not lock.

What's the best/easiest way to allow her to lock the car right away when I leave? Does she need to go to the screen and tap Controls to bring up the door locking panel?

And then if she decides to leave, it sounds like the alarm is going to go off regardless, as she does not have the fob. Right?

This is my expectation but I think some testing may be in order here.

I agree with gpetti that you should test this, but I believe that if your wife unlocks the car from the touchscreen before exiting the car the alarm would not go off.

As to the rest of your question, I think the only way your wife could leave the car and lock it, without using a fob, would be to use the app. I think to expect someone without the app or the fob to be able to lock the car is not really a reasonable expectation. Sure, with traditional cars anyone can lock the car, but with traditional cars anyone can also lock their keys in their car. You've got to give something up for all the added convenience we get from the Tesla Model S system, and with the flexibility afforded by the app, I don't see that we're really giving up much at all.

I think there is another point here to be aware of. The key fobs aren't always detected. I've had the car tell me that no key fob is detected on occasion even though I had it in a pocket. It appears that sometimes purses can be like a faraday cage and this can create problems. I started a thread last year because my wife got locked out of the car having left her purse in the car. I can't remember the details but at some point the car had lost contact with the fob so it locked after she turned it off and left. Her phone was in the purse too! This has happened to me on on occasion where I took my jacket off to wash the car with the key in the jacket pocket somewhere in the trunk. Fortunately I had my phone. These incidents all happened on a slightly older car 30287 so this may have improved.

I've read elsewhere that close proximity between the fob and a cellphone can often be the cause for the fob not being recognized. It sounds like that could be at the root of the problem many times when a fob isn't recognized in a purse.

 

[gpetti]

I've read elsewhere that close proximity between the fob and a cellphone can often be the cause for the fob not being recognized. It sounds like that could be at the root of the problem many times when a fob isn't recognized in a purse.

Sounds plausible! With the double whammy that if the phone and the key are both in the purse then the app cant be used either. In our case, my wife asked somebody to borrow their phone to call me and I unlocked the car.

 

[Andyw2100]

Sounds plausible! With the double whammy that if the phone and the key are both in the purse then the app cant be used either. In our case, my wife asked somebody to borrow their phone to call me and I unlocked the car.

Funny you should mention that. My wife thinks I spend way, WAY too much time on TMC. I will occasionally send her a link to a thread I think she should read, or just distill something down for her. After posting my comment above, I turned to her and very seriously explained that it might be possible for her to lock her fob and her phone in the car at the same time, in which case she would not be able to unlock the car with the app, and wouldn't even be able to call me to get me to unlock the phone. She was barely listening, as is usually the case when I'm talking about Tesla things, so I had to continue on and point out that she'd need to use someone else's phone to call me to get me to unlock the car with my app!

 

[gpetti]

Funny you should mention that. My wife thinks I spend way, WAY too much time on TMC. I will occasionally send her a link to a thread I think she should read, or just distill something down for her. After posting my comment above, I turned to her and very seriously explained that it might be possible for her to lock her fob and her phone in the car at the same time, in which case she would not be able to unlock the car with the app, and wouldn't even be able to call me to get me to unlock the phone. She was barely listening, as is usually the case when I'm talking about Tesla things, so I had to continue on and point out that she'd need to use someone else's phone to call me to get me to unlock the car with my app!

Glad to provide a cautionary tale. Of course you DO spend too much time on the TMC but you are in great company.

 

[Andyw2100]

Glad to provide a cautionary tale. Of course you DO spend too much time on the TMC but you are in great company.

Yeah, I didn't say she was wrong about that.

 

[Rheazombi]

My experience has been if you leave a fob in the car the car will not automatically lock (it senses the fob). If you leave a fob in the car and want to lock the car, you have to lock it manually with a single press on the fob you have with you. If you leave with the fob and have someone staying in the car all they need to do is touch the main screen after you have departed but before the car auto-locks. It will stay unlocked and the heat/ac and radio etc. will all be operational while you are gone. If you leave and the person forgets to touch the screen, the car will lock and they will set off the alarm if they try to open the door.

The exception to this is: If passenger forgets to touch the screen in time, all hope is not lost. They just press down on the driver's seat and the screen will light up again.

 

[morbot]

I set mine off the other day. I was at work after getting my wheels powder coated and I noticed there was a lot of grease on the wheels. I keep a kit of various odds & ends in the frunk, including paper towels. So I got into the frunk and grabbed some paper towels, but didn't shut it tight in case I needed more paper towel.

Went around the car finishing with the front passenger side, then went to close the frunk. Apparently I had been out of range from the fob sensors long enough that when I pushed down to latch the frunk, the alarm went off.

Gave me quite a startle.