Labor Day App Outage Left Some Tesla Drivers Locked Out

Some Tesla owners reported being locked out of their vehicles on Monday evening because the electric car's app was down. The problem is, app connectivity shouldn't have any effect on unlocking a Tesla.

On Monday, numerous drivers found their apps were down "for maintenance" and they were locked out of their vehicles, some for several hours. Tesla allows owners to unlock their cars both using a physical key card or fob, and virtually through their smartphones and the Tesla app. Even with the Tesla app down, the user's smartphone itself is designed to act as a key as long as it's in Bluetooth range of the vehicle.

The caveat here is that this phone-as-key function is only available for the Tesla Model 3, not the Tesla Model X or Model S. So even if Model 3 drivers left their key fobs and keycards at home, and their Tesla apps weren't fully functional, Tesla vehicles should still unlock once a driver's Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE)-paired smartphone is in range of the car.

A Tesla spokesperson confirmed to PCMag that the mobile app was briefly unavailable starting around 4 p.m. PST on Monday, but that full functionality was restored soon after. During the outage, a number of drivers took to Twitter to voice their frustration:

@Tesla what's the status of the network? I'm stuck at a supercharger, plugged in. Trying to get home with a dead key fob, was using the app to run the car. Now the system's down for 3 hours. Help!

— Kristian Kicinski (@kkicinski) September 3, 2019

@Tesla tesla app down, phone not working as key for a few hours now. Luckily I have a key card on me but if I did not I would be stranded

— Tony Lourenco (@TonyF_Lourenco) September 3, 2019

@Tesla your server is down for maintenance and we're locked out of the car. What's your ETA?

— Melissa Chan (@melissachanhk) September 2, 2019

#Tesla customers locked out of our cars...unknown error. Customer service says they don't know root cause and are all hands on deck to resolve. People stranded all over the country. Key card and fob work so if you have that with you, you are in luck. Call center is blowing up.

— Ana Grace (@anagrace) September 3, 2019

@Tesla @elonmusk i am locked out of my car and been on hold now for 12 minutes. Why is it so difficult to talk to a Tesla trained human for support?

— briango (@briango) September 3, 2019

Numerous other Tesla owners responded that despite the app outage, their key fobs, cards, and Bluetooth connectivity were working fine. The Model 3's phone-as-key function works separately from the in-app lock and unlock feature, which does require cellular connectivity and would be affected by an app outage.

Exactly. So key fob worked. Key card worked. Bluetooth opening by phone worked. Only thing that didn't work was to log into app to cool the car etc.

Most competitors don't even have a proper app, or Bluetooth key on phone. So app down = Tesla still better than any competitor.??‍?? pic.twitter.com/wQmsg9mult

— Tesla Driver ??‍?????????? (@M_xalher) September 3, 2019

Actually the app 100% does not respond to anything nor does it open the doors to my Tesla. There is a spinner at the bottom of the app that just spins and spins (been going for 30 mins now). Only way to get in is using a key card.

— Jason Glisson (@jasonglisson) September 3, 2019

If anyone was locked out it is because they didn't even try to get in or they uninstalled the app when they received an error.
The Bluetooth connection worked the whole time.

— Driving Slate (@DrivingSlate) September 3, 2019

There are a couple reasons why some users were locked out while others weren't. Some Tesla drivers were logged out of their apps around the time of the outage, and couldn't log back in due to the app server outage. Others, who drive a Model S or X as opposed to a Model 3, don't have phone-as-key functionality. If they were without a physical fob or keycard and couldn't log into their apps, they were out of luck.

A few people has the misfortune to have their app token expire around the same time, resulting in the app being unable to reauth.

We were told when we picked up the car to always keep the keycard with us.

— TopHat Programm≡r (@indiealexh) September 3, 2019

Plus all the people that have S/X cars and no fob with them are hosed too of course, unlike model 3 that "pairs" with your phone for unlock, on S/X if you want to unlock from the phone, you need to enter your password, which does not do you any good when app servers are down.

— green (@greentheonly) September 3, 2019

Tesla tells PCMag that the Model 3's phone-as-key feature was not impacted by the mobile app outage for users who stayed logged into their accounts. The company encourages all Tesla owners to carry physical keys with them, just in case.

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