Tesla drivers left unable to start their cars after outage

[Jilly_in_VA]

Tesla drivers say they have been locked out of their cars after an outage struck the carmaker's app.

Dozens of owners posted on social media about seeing an error message on the mobile app that was preventing them from connecting to their vehicles.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk personally responded to one complaint from a driver in South Korea, saying on Twitter: "Checking."

Mr Musk later said the app was coming back online.

The Tesla app is used as a key by drivers to unlock and start their cars.

Owners posted a multitude of complaints online about not being able to use their vehicles.

"I'm stuck an hour away from home because I normally use my phone to start [my] car," one owner tweeted.

About 500 users reported an error on the app at around 16:40 ET (21:40 GMT) on Friday, according to the outage tracking site DownDetector. Five hours later, there were just over 60 reports of an error.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59357306
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Oopsy!

[USALiberal]

1. Wow, no backup way to start it?

[Zorro]

2. Yes there is

Depending on the model, Tesla has a key fob or key card that can be used to drive the car.

[USALiberal]

3. Ok, so not that big a deal? Nt

[Zorro]

4. Not really

There have been some reported cases of people leaving their fobs/cards at home and ending up driving to areas that don't have cell phone coverage, and end up not being able to drive after getting out of the car. But they're idiots.

[beaglelover]

7. Correct. I always have my key card in my wallet although I very rarely need to use it.

[Miguelito Loveless]

8. And that only happens if you close the app on your phone

If you leave the app running, it is already “logged in”, so you can still unlock and drive the car through Bluetooth connection. If you close the app, it would be unable to authenticate, meaning you’d have to use the keycard. I drove on multiple errands yesterday completely unaware of the outage.

[SmartJellyfish]

5. Two ways

Your primary way to unlock and start the car is Bluetooth connection. No internet or app required. There are also two card keys provided which you should be carrying one on your person like a credit card or driver's license. Anyone getting locked out is not using the car correctly.

[USALiberal]

10. Thanks!! Nt

[Voltaire2]

6. Of course there is.

Every car comes with either cards or fobs that can unlock the car.

Tesla reporting in the media is generally shoddy unresearched bullshit.

[USALiberal]

9. Thanks! Yes, people love to hate him!