[chronart]

All of a sudden after 2 years my Model 3 wants the black card that let's me drive instead of my iPhone. My iPhone is connected for phone calls, etc, and it opens the door okay with the iPhone, but it won't let me drive the car without tapping the card and pushing the break peddle. I tried software reset and a full reset, but it was no help. Any idea what's cooking? Thank you. Barry Gamble

 

[Ed Woodrick]

in the app, under the new security area, does it show connected?
Also, take the phone out of you pocket and hold it facing the car as you approach it.
Probably just need to remove the key and add it again. Some iPhone update might have made it unhappy.

 

[JasonF]

Delete the key from inside the Tesla app and re-pair it.

 

[NR4P]

Known issue

Delete phone key on TS
Remove BT pairing on TS
Delete Tesla App in phone

Download Tesla App
Log in
Add phone as a key again
Reconnect BT

That normally fixes it.

 

[garsh]

@NR4P has a nice thread on fixing these issues.
I'll move these posts into that thread.

As an owner for two years and have both iOS and Android phones, I experienced great success with the BT unlock feature and over time, degraded performance. Meaning it wouldn't work without lighting up the phone or launching the App. From 100% effective to 20% effective over time.

I found a way into Tesla HQ and have their attention. Engineering has an investigation open.
For anyone with this issue on an Android or iPhone here's what they suggest we try.

1. Delete Phone Key parings in vehicle
2. Delete the Tesla app
3. Re-download the Tesla app
4. Re-pair your phone as a key

I have 2 phones where I did this (one is 3 years old) and one where I have not for comparison.
The 2 phones are perfect, again. Even in my pockets.

This could explain why if you get a new phone, everything is perfect.

Let's track any degradation over time. Chime in with success or failure and as the weeks and months go on, lets see what happens. I can provide feedback to the mother ship.

Disclaimer: Your body can still affect performance. If you have one of those bodies and removing the phone and holding it solves your problem, the above probably won't help you.

 

[jdfphoto]

As an owner for two years and have both iOS and Android phones, I experienced great success with the BT unlock feature and over time, degraded performance. Meaning it wouldn't work without lighting up the phone or launching the App. From 100% effective to 20% effective over time.

I found a way into Tesla HQ and have their attention. Engineering has an investigation open.
For anyone with this issue on an Android or iPhone here's what they suggest we try.

1. Delete Phone Key parings in vehicle
2. Delete the Tesla app
3. Re-download the Tesla app
4. Re-pair your phone as a key

I have 2 phones where I did this (one is 3 years old) and one where I have not for comparison.
The 2 phones are perfect, again. Even in my pockets.

This could explain why if you get a new phone, everything is perfect.

Let's track any degradation over time. Chime in with success or failure and as the weeks and months go on, lets see what happens. I can provide feedback to the mother ship.

Disclaimer: Your body can still affect performance. If you have one of those bodies and removing the phone and holding it solves your problem, the above probably won't help you.

Thanks for your input. All is working as it should now. I removed the app., redownloaded it, restarted my phone, repaired the phone and now it works as it should.

 

[jammerdjc]

I find that this happens once every 3-4 weeks. Restarting bluetooth from either end doesn't work. Restarting the Tesla doesn't help. Rebooting my iphone works every time.

 

[todd.smithgall]

Wife’s iPhone 12 Pro Max phone key fails every week or two, making her dig for her key card. We have two Tesla cars and her phone drops both keys at the same time. Bluetooth off/on provides no benefit. Signing out of the Tesla app and back in again fixes it. My iPhone 15 Pro Max has never had an issue.

 

[zroger73]

A few times, I had to use my key card to unlock my 2023 Model Y when I owned an iPhone XS Max. I'm fairly certain (but, can't guarantee), that this became less frequent or disappeared completely, following a software update for the vehicle and/or phone. I have since upgraded to an iPhone 15 Pro Max, which has not failed to unlock the vehicle a single time in the months I've been using it. I can't say with 100% certainty why reliability improved, but it did.

Earlier this year, Tesla updated the software to support a more reliable phone key system using UWB, but this is only supported by the 2024 Model 3 and Cybertruck and 2023 Model X.

Some words of advice: Periodically test your key card to make sure it still works. Not long ago, I discovered that the key card I had been carrying in my wallet cracked in less than ten months and stopped working. If I would have been unable to unlock the vehicle using my phone, this would have been very inconvenient. Begrudgingly, I purchased two more key cards and put the new one in a different place in my wallet that I hope results in longer life.

 

[stevemaude]

MYLR owner about 6 weeks. 2 phones, motorola g6, motorola g7. about 20% of the time BT key takes several attempts or doesn't work at all and app must be used. Today, a few minutes after car software update install completed, card key took several attempts to open car. (did not attempt to use phone) Have not attempted instructions yet

 

[Bmbuffalo]

Out of the blue my phone key started not working correctly.

The phone sees the car (I can see it's location, lock/unlock the doors, frunk and trunk, etc) in the app.

The doors do not lock when leaving the car. It will will not unlock when pulling the handle. It will not start. I need to use the card key.

iPhone 13 liOS 17.1.2.
Tesla app 4.28.2
Tesla Software 2023.44.30.5.1

Anyone have any ideas how to correct these issues?

Have this same issue also. Started after today to fsd v12.5.4.1. Have to constantly turn off my Bluetooth and then turn it on. Occasionally after doing that I can unlock the car but have to use my key card to drive. Tesla needs to fix this. It's really frustrating.

 

[Bmbuffalo]

As an owner for two years and have both iOS and Android phones, I experienced great success with the BT unlock feature and over time, degraded performance. Meaning it wouldn't work without lighting up the phone or launching the App. From 100% effective to 20% effective over time.

I found a way into Tesla HQ and have their attention. Engineering has an investigation open.
For anyone with this issue on an Android or iPhone here's what they suggest we try.

1. Delete Phone Key parings in vehicle
2. Delete the Tesla app
3. Re-download the Tesla app
4. Re-pair your phone as a key

I have 2 phones where I did this (one is 3 years old) and one where I have not for comparison.
The 2 phones are perfect, again. Even in my pockets.

This could explain why if you get a new phone, everything is perfect.

Let's track any degradation over time. Chime in with success or failure and as the weeks and months go on, lets see what happens. I can provide feedback to the mother ship.

Disclaimer: Your body can still affect performance. If you have one of those bodies and removing the phone and holding it solves your problem, the above probably won't help you.

They are giving you the tub around. All you need to do is close Bluetooth on your phone and then turn it on again. Tesla screwed up something in the car that it doesn't see your phone for some reason.

 

[Bmbuffalo]

I have to start with "Have you read any of the other threads on Bluetooth and/or iPhone? I'm pretty sure the number of responses on the two would be huge.

Unpair the phone from the car, delete the phone.
Unpair the car from the phone, delete the car.

Re pair.

Have you tried pairing your phone with other things?

And as is way too common, don't assume that the latest iPhone update makes it better.

You don't even need to do that. Just close Bluetooth and restart it. We shouldn't have to do this. Tesla needs to figure out what they screwed up. This started happening to me after my car updated to fsd v22.5.4.1. I was hoping now that it updated to 12.5.4.2 it would be fixed, but no. 🤔😔

 

[garsh]

Have this same issue also. Started after today to fsd v12.5.4.1. Have to constantly turn off my Bluetooth and then turn it on. Occasionally after doing that I can unlock the car but have to use my key card to drive. Tesla needs to fix this. It's really frustrating.

It usually turns out to be an issue with the phone.

 

[garsh]

They are giving you the tub around. All you need to do is close Bluetooth on your phone and then turn it on again. Tesla screwed up something in the car that it doesn't see your phone for some reason.

Or your phone is misconfigured. What model phone do you have?

 

[valgardurgudjonsson]

This behaviour comes and goes with different releases of the Tesla software - worked flawlessly for the first few months, problems started for me in November 2022, then after the next release, worked fine. As I have some (well a lot of) experience in software I have a fairly good idea why this happens, but have not been able to reach anyone at Tesla that will listen. At first only problem was that I had to open the Tesla app on the phone when approaching / locking when leaving. Now we occasionally need to use the card as the car flatly refuses to recognize the phone, even after a few successful open/close previously the same day. We have also had weird things like, (1) car opens without a problem (2) I start to drive (3) I set in Park (4) 20 seconds later the car demands keycard between the seats before allowing me to continue driving. PS. I reboot the car and phone regularly, have unpaired and repaired, uninstalled and reinstalled the app - makes no difference - the only changes I can see are linked with releases - but it has been a while since the last stable release.