The Lost Key
Teslas don't come with a traditional door key. If your electronic keys are lost, you're in trouble.
Two key cards come with your Tesla. If you lose them, it will cost you $40 to replace them.
Car keys as we know them trace back to 1949, when Chrysler invented a key that could start a vehicle’s engine. Key technology has evolved over the decades. Remote keys go back to the late 1980s, and fobs to the early 1990s.
How to open a Tesla door — if it’s unlocked.
I’ve found that some people used to keys and fobs can’t figure out how to open a Tesla door. The above animated GIF shows you how.
But that assumes the door is unlocked. If it’s not, you have only two ways to unlock it.
One is through the Tesla app on your smartphone, known as the phone key. The other is by using one of the two key cards that come with the car when you buy it.
There is a third way — you can order a fob — but it costs $175. The fob also requires the periodic replacement of its battery.
According to the online Tesla Model Y manual:
Model Y supports a total of 19 keys, which can include phone keys, key cards, and up to four key fobs.
Those are a lot of keys!
Let’s assume you have only the phone key and the two key cards, as most people do when they start out. I have one of the key cards, while my wife has the other. We both have the Tesla app on our smartphones.
For the keys to work with your Tesla, you must pair them with the car. Here are the instructions. Although the phone key is wireless, the key card is not. To enter the car, you touch the key card to the driver’s side door pillar. To drive the car, you place the card on the wireless phone charger pad.
In practice, using the key card is fairly rare. Under ideal circumstances, the car recognizes your smartphone as you approach. If you’ve paired the phone to your car (via Bluetooth), then the car should unlock. If the phone is in the car, you should be able to drive.
Sometimes, though, it’s not ideal.
I’ve had a few times where the Tesla did not recognize my smartphone. Why? I’ve no idea. Bluetooth was on. I tried restarting the phone but it didn’t help. I had to get the key card to enter the car.
Sometimes the car still wouldn’t recognize the phone, even after a restart.
One solution might be to do a soft reboot of your Tesla, just as you would with a personal computer.
How to perform a soft reboot of your Tesla. Video source: It’s Electric YouTube channel.
As shown in the above video, park your vehicle and depress both scroll wheel buttons simultaneously until your touchscreen goes dark. This may take several seconds. It will seem like you car has died, but be patient. It will come back online, even though it may take a while; my experience has been up to 30 seconds.
Don’t do what I did — press both scroll wheels while the car is in motion. The Tesla started accelerating and made a beeline for the curb! I hit the brake and forced the steering wheel to turn. Why did I do this while the car was moving? Someone online said it was possible. Don’t believe what you read on the Internet. (Which means you shouldn’t believe me either. That’s why I provide the links.)
In the worst case scenario, you can use your key card to access and start the car.
That assumes you have your key card.
I drive the Tesla a couple times a week to a local aquatics center. Because we’re in Florida, it’s too hot to leave my smartphone in the car, so I take it with me to the pool.
But after the car failed at home a couple times to recognize the smartphone, as a backup I started taking my key card too.
This was a swell idea, until … I lost the key card.
Apparently I dropped it somewhere at the pool, in the parking lot, who knows.
I had to pay Tesla $40 plus tax (shipping was free) to order two more key cards. It took a week for them to arrive. Once they did, I had to pair them to the car.
One is a spare, kept in a safe and secure location. A spare is always a good idea if you’re going to have a valet park your car, or a guest drive it. You can limit its functionalities.
To ensure I don’t lose the other one, I ordered a SkyArmor card holder. It has a place for an air tag, so I ordered a set of Otag Air Tags.
It’s a bit of an inelegant solution, but for this senior it’s big and obvious and more difficult to lose.
Sure, you can carry your key card in your wallet, but what if it’s lost or stolen? The card would be useless to the thief unless he knew which car was yours, but still you’d have only your smartphone or your backup card at home.
I’d also argue that the card holder is a better way to go with valet parking. All Tesla key cards look alike. If yours is in a card holder, with some bauble on the key ring to make yours unique, it’s less likely to get lost in the clutter.
Even so, this solution is not foolproof.
As I pulled in the driveway yesterday, I couldn’t locate the key ring. I thought, “Oh s%#@ I left it at the pool!” When I walked in the door, I realized it was in my pocket.
Don’t get old.
This could be you! This works if you haven’t lost your key card — and your mind. Video source: Tesla How To YouTube channel.