Tesla Model 3 driven by the wrong owner

[khorton]

"Mahmoud Esaeyh, who owns the Tesla that Randev drove off in, was home at the time. He said he had loaned his car to his brother Mohammed, who was using it to run an errand. When Mohammed returned to where he’d parked, he noticed the remaining Tesla had a different interior and wasn’t Mahmoud’s. He called Mahmoud, who was able to track the location of his car — being driven by Randev — on his app. But when he attempted to remotely lock the Tesla from his phone, it failed, he said."

Tesla #1:
So the brother Mohammed was likely driving the car using a Tesla key card because he borrowed it and he still has his phone because he called his brother on it.

Tesla #2
Rajesh Randev of Vancouver told Global News that a stranger’s Tesla was parked next to his and was the same model and color as his own. He used his app to open the car, and reality started sinking in a few miles down the road when Randev noticed the windshield of the Tesla he was driving was cracked.

The solution is Tesla #1 parks and gets out. He doesn't tap the side and lock the car with his key card. So now right after Tesla #2 walking to his car hits unlock on his phone... His car (Tesla 2) does unlock but he just jumped in Tesla #1 and left. If you hit unlock on the app in controls it stays unlocked. So now here comes Tesla #1 driver Mohammed who says let me try my key card on Tesla #2 and wow it opened.... But it was already open ; ) because Tesla 2 opened it then took Tesla 1 that was left open to begin with. He calls the guy that took his brother's car and says hey come back.

Done

The problem with this explanation is that Tesla #1 (the one that was driven away) would refuse to drive unless the key card was present. That is the way it is with my 2022 Model S, as I confirmed a few minutes ago.

I see several possible explanations:

• perhaps the Model 3 is different than my Model S, and the key card is not required if the driver walks away without locking.
• perhaps different SW versions work differently (I've got 2022.44.30.10)
• maybe the key card was left sitting on the card reader in Tesla #1
• maybe there really is a security bug (but it must be fairly new, or other users would probably have already found it)
• maybe the story is generally true, but some important fact is not as written
• maybe the story is a work of fiction.

We don't have enough info to decide which of these explanations is the real story.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Yeah, this story is garbage but @P3dStealth made an insightful observation that the "stolen" car had been borrowed and therefore was likely keycard activated - by an amateur.

So here's a simple scenario:

• Borrowed car was parked and locked with the keycard on the B-pillar, twice, thereby leaving it not just unlocked, but drivable
• Hapless fool randomly showed up within the 2 minute keycard timeout period, got in and drove off
• Fool's car had been left unlocked for any number of reasons

 

[PianoAl]

Back in 1969 a friend of mine had a new MG. I had a new XKE. We found out by mistake that each vehicle had the same key. No fancy security stuff back then.

Right, in 1970 my MGA key worked in a neighbor's MG.

BTW, how were you able to afford a new XKE at age, what, 20? 30?

 

[PianoAl]

Today my wife couldn't get into Tessie. The app said it was unlocked. She saw that the screen was telling her to use her keycard, but that didn't work either.

Turns out she was trying to get into the wrong car. Tessie was two parking spaces over.

 

[rpiotro]

Today my wife couldn't get into Tessie. The app said it was unlocked. She saw that the screen was telling her to use her keycard, but that didn't work either.

Turns out she was trying to get into the wrong car. Tessie was two parking spaces over.

I did that myself just this week. Pulled the handle and nothing. I thought WTF till I looked to my left.

My wife poo pooed the idea of ordering the car in blue with white interior. So I got my second choice. White with black interior.

I asked her, "Dear, I'm 70 years old. What will happen five years from now when the parking lots are full of white Teslas and I am 75 years old?" I guess that time arrived a lot sooner than I thought. At least I have a unique "Road America" specialty license plate. I'll have to pay more attention.

 

[ochompsky]

Its a word problem from school.

This does not jive. Opened as state above I can buy. But the stranger moving away from his own car out of blue tooth range would've cause his car to lock. Made up story for the papers, click bait.

do you even own a tesla or do you just not know how it works?

you even were corrected after your post, straight from the manual but didn't even acknowledge it, post #27.

whatever the opposite of FUD is, that's you. and not in the good way

 

[zoomer0056]

do you even own a tesla or do you just not know how it works?

you even were corrected after your post, straight from the manual but didn't even acknowledge it, post #27.

whatever the opposite of FUD is, that's you. and not in the good way

Ha,

 

[cbigfoot]

that's why I use the marvelous feature called Pin to Drive then even IF they get in and my phone is left in or key card, they can't go anywhere.

 

[E90alex]

that's why I use the marvelous feature called Pin to Drive then even IF they get in and my phone is left in or key card, they can't go anywhere.

Except that completely defeats the convenience of passive entry/exit

 

[cbigfoot]

Except that completely defeats the convenience of passive entry/exit

lol yeah well it does but its security i liken it to having to press the start button on a ICE car or having to turn the key ewwwww. but i prefer that to my car being stolen if i leave my phone behind by accident its passive exit just not entry .

 

[E90alex]

lol yeah well it does but its security i liken it to having to press the start button on a ICE car or having to turn the key ewwwww. but i prefer that to my car being stolen if i leave my phone behind by accident its passive exit just not entry .

I would prefer a start button and a key system that actually knows if the key is in the car or not.

I hate that the radio and climate turn on every time I open a door in my garage and I hate that everything turns off when I get out of my car for a second (eg getting my mail).

 

[enemji]

Today my wife couldn't get into Tessie. The app said it was unlocked. She saw that the screen was telling her to use her keycard, but that didn't work either.

Turns out she was trying to get into the wrong car. Tessie was two parking spaces over.

Tessie knows not to spread for the wrong one

 

[RxMx]

My wife showed me this story. My immediate thought was the guy had all this stuff in the car to ID him and provide a phone number to someone rummaging around in his car but didn't think twice about having the wrong car? Not the weird seat settings or audio settings? And that the other guys first thought was "this car must be the car of the guy who took mine, let me see if I can open and find some info". Phone key is Bluetooth so that makes zero sense for it to work on someone else's car. Maybe it was already unlocked and the key card was in there or he used his own key card and it happened to work but who uses the key card over phone key? Key card is the only logical explanation but the story specifically leaves the part out on which way the car was unlocked. (at least in the version I read).

Multiple story sources say that driver 1 unlocked his car with just his phone. Driver 2 used his card key (e.g. see also Tesla owner says his app unlocked a stranger's car — and let him drive off with it).

Further, if you try to allow your car to do a keyless-start, the app times that out after a minute or two. So say Driver #1 left his cardkey in the car (which would be dumb cuz anyone could drive off if your car isn't locked), then gets into Car #2. How did #2 unlock and start? Remember Driver #2 said he used his card key to unlock Car #1 (which may have been done with Driver #1's app), but then he also started it. Unless he followed #1 before the "Start from Phone" key timed out, then Driver #2 started Car #1 with his phone.

If this is BS then where is Tesla in terms of calling BS on this story? They have logs on everything; if this is BS then with all the traction it is getting, why has't Tesla said as much? They have the data that will let them know in a moment if this really happened or was a comedy of pilot errors.

I'll tell you why this bothers me so much: I have PIN to drive set on my car. But if you unlock/start your car with your phone, Tesla ignores the PIN setting and just lets you drive. So if there is a bug (remember, this is software and software always has weird bugs). Ignoring the PIN is considered a feature.

This is why I'd really like to hear from Tesla if this is a problem, because it would bypass PIN to drive.

 

[enemji]

Multiple story sources say that driver 1 unlocked his car with just his phone. Driver 2 used his card key (e.g. see also Tesla owner says his app unlocked a stranger's car — and let him drive off with it).

Further, if you try to allow your car to do a keyless-start, the app times that out after a minute or two. So say Driver #1 left his cardkey in the car (which would be dumb cuz anyone could drive off if your car isn't locked), then gets into Car #2. How did #2 unlock and start? Remember Driver #2 said he used his card key to unlock Car #1 (which may have been done with Driver #1's app), but then he also started it. Unless he followed #1 before the "Start from Phone" key timed out, then Driver #2 started Car #1 with his phone.

If this is BS then where is Tesla in terms of calling BS on this story? They have logs on everything; if this is BS then with all the traction it is getting, why has't Tesla said as much? They have the data that will let them know in a moment if this really happened or was a comedy of pilot errors.

I'll tell you why this bothers me so much: I have PIN to drive set on my car. But if you unlock/start your car with your phone, Tesla ignores the PIN setting and just lets you drive. So if there is a bug (remember, this is software and software always has weird bugs). Ignoring the PIN is considered a feature.

This is why I'd really like to hear from Tesla if this is a problem, because it would bypass PIN to drive.

Did you have to get unlock your phone?

 

[skygraff]

I'll tell you why this bothers me so much: I have PIN to drive set on my car. But if you unlock/start your car with your phone, Tesla ignores the PIN setting and just lets you drive. So if there is a bug (remember, this is software and software always has weird bugs). Ignoring the PIN is considered a feature.

This is why I'd really like to hear from Tesla if this is a problem, because it would bypass PIN to drive.

I don’t understand. Just enabled PtD while on a trip and, every time I use phone as key, I’m having to enter the PIN.

What would be the point of PtD if you could set it to be ignored when your BT phone as key was used to enter? Especially if you’re concerned about leaving your phone in the car by mistake or having it with you but near the car.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I don’t understand. Just enabled PtD while on a trip and, every time I use phone as key, I’m having to enter the PIN.

What would be the point of PtD if you could set it to be ignored when your BT phone as key was used to enter? Especially if you’re concerned about leaving your phone in the car by mistake or having it with you but near the car.

I think @RxMx was referring to using the Tesla app manually to start the vehicle, not using phone as key passively.

I don't use PIN to drive but I could understand if that wasn't required when using the app since the user would've had to already unlock the phone to access the Tesla app and then choose the Start option.

 

[jazzerone]

Here's the part I don't quite follow... the news report says Tesla Guy #2 comes back to the car and notices IT HAS A DIFFERENT INTERIOR.

So Tesla guy #1, the guy who got in the wrong car and drove off DIDN'T notice that the car he was in had a different interior than his car??? How does that work? Back in my ICE days I stood outside what I thought was my Honda CRV trying to get the damn to unlock, which it wouldn't, until I noticed it had different wheels than my Honda... so, wrong car.

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and have been known to do things way stupider than stand outside somebody else's car trying to unlock it, but if I had a Tesla with a black interior, and you had the same color Tesla with a white interior, I'm going to say if I got in your car I'd probably notice the difference.

 

[LadyOnikara]

There aren't many Teslas in this area, but when me or my mom go to a place that has quite a few, we look for the white Tesla that has two bumper stickers, and stickers in the small rear windows that have the car's name and the character he's named after.

 

[Tripod1404]

Multiple story sources say that driver 1 unlocked his car with just his phone. Driver 2 used his card key (e.g. see also Tesla owner says his app unlocked a stranger's car — and let him drive off with it).

Further, if you try to allow your car to do a keyless-start, the app times that out after a minute or two. So say Driver #1 left his cardkey in the car (which would be dumb cuz anyone could drive off if your car isn't locked), then gets into Car #2. How did #2 unlock and start? Remember Driver #2 said he used his card key to unlock Car #1 (which may have been done with Driver #1's app), but then he also started it. Unless he followed #1 before the "Start from Phone" key timed out, then Driver #2 started Car #1 with his phone.

If this is BS then where is Tesla in terms of calling BS on this story? They have logs on everything; if this is BS then with all the traction it is getting, why has't Tesla said as much? They have the data that will let them know in a moment if this really happened or was a comedy of pilot errors.

I'll tell you why this bothers me so much: I have PIN to drive set on my car. But if you unlock/start your car with your phone, Tesla ignores the PIN setting and just lets you drive. So if there is a bug (remember, this is software and software always has weird bugs). Ignoring the PIN is considered a feature.

This is why I'd really like to hear from Tesla if this is a problem, because it would bypass PIN to drive.

#2 did not start the car though, he was just able to get in. A likely explanation is that #1 unlocked his car from the app but accidently entered the other car as the key card was left inside and drove off. #2 arrived and entered the other car as the car doesn't lock when unlocked from the app.

 

[father_of_6]

So Tesla guy #1, the guy who got in the wrong car and drove off DIDN'T notice that the car he was in had a different interior than his car??? How does that work?

This is easily explainable. When you have all white interior, you can easily not see that the car you're in has black interior by simply keeping your eyes closed the entire time. The same is true if you have black interior and get into a car with gleaming bright white interior.

Sometimes when I get home from work, I walk into the wrong house "accidentally". At that point, no reason not to grab something expensive and run out the door.

I'm not a Tesla fanbois, they do plenty of things wrong... but this story smells. I think it's not true.