# mod3 not locking into park, rolls away instead



## johnhoh

I must doing something wrong, probably because I'm in a hurry. Here's what is happening (sometimes):

I pull into my garage, press the brake firmly/briefly, press the Park button firmly/briefly, open the car and jump out toward the rear. All that happens very quickly, like in maybe 1-2 seconds because I'm in a mad rush for whatever reason. Then once I'm outside the car I can see it is starting to slowly roll backwards so I grab the trunk lid to stop the car. I do not understand why the Park button is not engaging, and for that matter why a firm brake press does not engage the Hold feature.

Is there a sequence I should be following here? Does the Park button not work unless the car has been at rest for a second or two? Has this happened to anyone else?

I'm just looking for the ability to stop and exit the car very quickly WITHOUT the risk of it rolling away, hoping someone can tell me the proper technique to do so. Btw if I'm not in a rush and do all the steps slowly, the car stays put. Thanks!


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## jdcollins5

I guess I have never been in that much of a hurry. I just watch for the P to show up before opening the door to get out. 

Also, if you are not in park and open the door you will get a warning message and if you try to get out of the seat it will put it in P.

So other than doing it so quickly I cannot see why it rolls backwards with you. Try to take it a second slower. You cannot be in that big of a hurry😀


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## slacker775

I’ve brainfarted and tried to get out of the car while stopped with Hold, but not in Park and that car automatically engaged Park. I don’t see how this scenario could happen.


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## AutopilotFan

It sounds like something is wrong. Report this to Tesla and ask for service.

There is an extra double-park you get if you hold the Park button down longer. You'll see a "(P)" icon show up in the white area of the screen near the big P. You might try using that to see if it will hold onto the car while you wait for your service appointment.


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## Love

My ONLY guess... and this is kinda far fetched. If you don’t put a Tesla in park and just get out, it puts itself in park. If you are still in the car and don’t have your seat belt on and remove your butt enough from the chair, it will put itself in park. So, on to my far fetched scenario: In your hurried state, you are getting the seat belt off, opening the door and are halfway out as you are also pressing the Park button. Maybe there‘s some sort of Park/Unpark mixed signal there the car is not understanding. Like, it senses seat belt off and no driver in the seat so it’s putting itself in park, only to have you press the button on your way out so it lets itself out of park? I’ll end my wild hypothesis that I don’t feel like even testing myself now!


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## GDN

This sounds like some sort of rodeo? If you jumped off a well trained horse, while calf roping, the horse will backup for you and keep the rope tight while you go on about your business tying the calf. I'm having a hard time imagining dismounting a vehicle with that kind of speed for any kind of reason.

To say the least - on the serious side - has it ever done this when you get out in a slow methodical way? Truly if you are hitting the park button that should do it, if not getting out the seat should do it. I would think multiple systems have to be failing or as @Lovesword notes it's all happening so fast that a "switch" doesn't get set properly or set and then overridden by some other action.

You need Tesla service for sure as,the car should not move when you get out of it, even though most every car made will do this if you don't take the time to secure it before getting out. You need to see the P appear on the dash to know it went in to park.

This would be a very good time for a body cam to see and follow the sequence of events when you get out to truly know what is going on though.


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## johnhoh

I need to be able to replicate the problem consistently before taking it into service, which I have not yet been able to do. So I just tried a few more test runs to dig into it some more...

- it DOES go into park automatically once I leave the vehicle, but not until the car has drifted back a few feet. Which is a few too many.
- I am probably not always holding the brake down long enough to engage Hold, which is why HOLD is not always happening.
- When I press the P button extra firmly, it does seem to always go into park. Maybe that is the fix here - maybe I am not pressing the button hard enough sometimes. I just need one solution that always works, but changing the overall speed of my routine is not one of them, lol, have been exiting cars this way for 40 years.

So for now I am thinking the fix is to just press the P button harder.


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## JWardell

I ~_think_~ I remember experiencing this once before, and I think I was doing something like jumping out quickly, only when I had the door open while the car was rolling as I was moving it in the driveway, and it did roll a bit before automatically engaging park. I think the problem is pressing the door open button before pressing the park button. Please experiment and try to find a repeatable pattern if you are prone to it. It would be great to know about.

There are videos showing that we need to re-train ourselves as a society to open our doors with our right/inside hand instead of the left hand...this makes you turn your body and look before opening a door into a bicycle or traffic passing on the street. 
Similarly, we need to train ourselves to make sure we press the park button, visually check the state, then open our doors. 
Except for you fancy Model X owners. You get self-opening doors.


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## Frully

I've never successfully gotten out of the car while still in drive or neutral. Between roll-away protection auto-park from the seat sensor...and just momentary tapping Park...it's always in park.

When you press park, are you not hearing the e-brake electronically engage? It's hard to miss the sound.


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## johnhoh

JWardell said:


> I think the problem is pressing the door open button before pressing the park button. Please experiment and try to find a repeatable pattern if you are prone to it. It would be great to know about.


Good idea, I will try this and report back


Frully said:


> When you press park, are you not hearing the e-brake electronically engage? It's hard to miss the sound.


I guess I have never noticed a sound before, will check on that today. Thanks


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## Dr. J

johnhoh said:


> I'm in a hurry.





jdcollins5 said:


> Try to take it a second slower. You cannot be in that big of a hurry😀





GDN said:


> This sounds like some sort of rodeo?





GDN said:


> I'm having a hard time imagining dismounting a vehicle with that kind of speed for any kind of reason.





johnhoh said:


> I just need one solution that always works, but changing the overall speed of my routine is not one of them, lol, have been exiting cars this way for 40 years.


Clearly, he's Batman.


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## Dr. J

Creep ON or OFF?


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## johnhoh

Creep is off


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## johnhoh

Got a bit more info now...
- pressing P real firmly always engages park, so that's the fix. The tension of the button is strong enough that its easy (for me) to not depress it all the way unless I think about it.
- If the car is just sitting there and I open the door, Park immediate engages quickly and automatically.
- BUT, if I am rolling forward at 1mph and hit the brake slightly (not enough to engage Hold) to slow it to 0 and open the door right then, it will rolls backward before engaging Park protectively and I get that screen message "Park engaged to prevent rollaway". (in this example I am not hitting the P button firmly enough to force it into park manually). Sometimes it rolls 1 foot, sometimes 4 feet. There is definitely an inconsistent delay in how long it waits to engage Park when it is rolling away with the door open. It may have to do with when I am hitting the Open Door button, will have to test that later.

So the question for you all is: if you are on a upward slight incline going 1mph, and you let it slow to 0mph by itself, and you open the door right at that moment, how long does it roll backward before Park engages and you get the "Park engaged to prevent rollaway" message? Because for me its not consistently immediate.


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## jdcollins5

johnhoh said:


> Got a bit more info now...
> - pressing P real firmly always engages park, so that's the fix. The tension of the button is strong enough that its easy (for me) to not depress it all the way unless I think about it.
> - If the car is just sitting there and I open the door, Park immediate engages quickly and automatically.
> - BUT, if I am rolling forward at 1mph and hit the brake slightly (not enough to engage Hold) to slow it to 0 and open the door right then, it will rolls backward before engaging Park protectively and I get that screen message "Park engaged to prevent rollaway". (in this example I am not hitting the P button firmly enough to force it into park manually). Sometimes it rolls 1 foot, sometimes 4 feet. There is definitely an inconsistent delay in how long it waits to engage Park when it is rolling away with the door open. It may have to do with when I am hitting the Open Door button, will have to test that later.
> 
> So the question for you all is: if you are on a upward slight incline going 1mph, and you let it slow to 0mph by itself, and you open the door right at that moment, how long does it roll backward before Park engages and you get the "Park engaged to prevent rollaway" message? Because for me its not consistently immediate.


Why?


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## AutopilotFan

@johnhoh It looks like *your *best fix is to train yourself to hit that Park button really, really firmly. That's a small change to your exit routine and is likely to be effective in two ways:

The button gets pressed enough to engage it reliably.
You slow down that extra half-second which could give the car time to catch up with your exit routine.
Your Tesla has a lot more things to do to put itself to sleep than your previous cars. Is it unreasonable to ask you to change your habits long enough to make sure the car has come to a *complete *stop before you jump out?


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## MelindaV

johnhoh said:


> So the question for you all is: if you are on a upward slight incline going 1mph, and you let it slow to 0mph by itself, and you open the door right at that moment, how long does it roll backward before Park engages and you get the "Park engaged to prevent rollaway" message? Because for me its not consistently immediate.


why not just always hit the park button? you dont even have to wait to come to a complete stop if you are in such a hurry, you can hit the park button, it will lurch to a stop and you are in park and can safely get out of the car without it rolling any distance.


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## SMITTY

In theory... I don't think its any different than getting out of any other car that has ever been built... Come to a stop... Put the car in park / engage E-Brake...THEN exit vehicle. Boom.


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## sduck

I'm wondering about the need for a firm press on the park button. Have they changed the design since my early VIN version? It's really hard for me NOT to press it hard enough - it's really an easy button to engage. Maybe this is a manifestation of some kind of QA shortcoming in the stalk assembly (again)?


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## FRC

On Monday mornings I drive a route(meals on wheels) with many stop/exit/return sequences. Before v10 the car successfully put itself in park about 90% of the time when I opened the door. Unfortunately, post v10 that percentage has fallen to about 20%. I've always double-checked that Park engages, but I sorely miss P on door open.


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## JWardell

johnhoh said:


> Got a bit more info now...
> - pressing P real firmly always engages park, so that's the fix. The tension of the button is strong enough that its easy (for me) to not depress it all the way unless I think about it.
> - If the car is just sitting there and I open the door, Park immediate engages quickly and automatically.
> - BUT, if I am rolling forward at 1mph and hit the brake slightly (not enough to engage Hold) to slow it to 0 and open the door right then, it will rolls backward before engaging Park protectively and I get that screen message "Park engaged to prevent rollaway". (in this example I am not hitting the P button firmly enough to force it into park manually). Sometimes it rolls 1 foot, sometimes 4 feet. There is definitely an inconsistent delay in how long it waits to engage Park when it is rolling away with the door open. It may have to do with when I am hitting the Open Door button, will have to test that later.
> 
> So the question for you all is: if you are on a upward slight incline going 1mph, and you let it slow to 0mph by itself, and you open the door right at that moment, how long does it roll backward before Park engages and you get the "Park engaged to prevent rollaway" message? Because for me its not consistently immediate.


So you're not pressing the button hard enough, and you're not pressing the brake hard enough? Time for a workout I guess! 
Maybe if you get a chance to swap with another model 3 owner and try each others buttons to see if there is a difference. (this sounds dirty for some reason...)



Dr. J said:


> Clearly, he's Batman.





Dr. J said:


> Creep ON or OFF?


Depends on the Batman movie


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## Dr. J

JWardell said:


> So you're not pressing the button hard enough, and you're not pressing the brake hard enough? Time for a workout I guess!
> Maybe if you get a chance to swap with another model 3 owner and try each others buttons to see if there is a difference. (this sounds dirty for some reason...)
> 
> Depends on the Batman movie


Both Funny and Winner!


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## nblew

I also sometimes quickly get out of my car, and know from experience that on my M3, the moment I push the park button you hear the E-brake engaging, however this can take upwards of a second and a half (usually no more than a second though). If you are not already firmly on the breaks or on "hold", then the car will begin to roll until the E-brake is fully engaged.

This is much more apparent if you are on a strong incline. If your car is moving slightly then obviously you're not in hold mode or on the brakes, so it would makes sense that it would roll a bit. This happens to me sometimes, so these are my recommendations that I do:
- Safest and most obvious: ensure the car is fully stopped and then wait 1 second after your car is in PARK before removing your foot on the break
- Ensure HOLD mode is on before putting car into park

If you really want to get out of the car super fast (as I do sometimes), then sometimes I'll ensure I'm going slow enough, and when I have approx 1 second before I would normally stop the car, I hit the park button. The car will continue to move with momentum until the parking brake engages and stops my car, which by then I'm (hopefully) at my intended parking spot.
I don't recommend this on any incline as it can be harder to judge how far the car will go before it stops.


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## Klaus-rf

How do you get your door(s) to open when the car is still moving? My drivers door won't open when pressing the inside button until it's moving way at a snails walking speed.


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## DaveStorer

Nobody has mentioned that Park does NOT set the parking brake. When you press the button on the end of the shift stalk quickly, it sets the gear into Park but doesn't set the parking brake. To set the brake, you have to hold the button down for about 2 seconds. Then the brake symbol appears to the right of the P.
I'm not sure what happens when the software puts it in park. Does it also set the brake? I'm a little under the weather so I haven't experimented.


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## garsh

DaveStorer said:


> Nobody has mentioned that Park does NOT set the parking brake.


 That's not true. It does indeed set the parking brake.

When you press it a second time, it puts the parking brake on tighter.


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## Dr. J

garsh said:


> That's not true. It does indeed set the parking brake.
> 
> When you press it a second time, it puts the parking brake on tighter.


And it plays 5 bars of:


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## johnhoh

Klaus-rf said:


> How do you get your door(s) to open when the car is still moving? My drivers door won't open when pressing the inside button until it's moving way at a snails walking speed.


If you are going 0mph but the car is not in park, you can open the door. Then, if you are on an incline, the car will start to roll away AND there is a weird delay as to how far the car will roll before it (finally) automatically goes into park. My car will roll 2 to 5 feet with the door open before going into park. Unfortunately this means it will crash into the garage door unless I grab the rear trunk edge to halt movement.


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## jdcollins5

johnhoh said:


> If you are going 0mph but the car is not in park, you can open the door. Then, if you are on an incline, the car will start to roll away AND there is a weird delay as to how far the car will roll before it (finally) automatically goes into park. My car will roll 2 to 5 feet with the door open before going into park. Unfortunately this means it will crash into the garage door unless I grab the rear trunk edge to halt movement.


The park brake is electric. It takes a second for the brake to engage the rotor after it goes in to park. You can hear the electric motor when it goes in to P.


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## TomT

I can't understand why anyone would need to get our of a car this fast, unless it was on fire!



nblew said:


> If you really want to get out of the car super fast (as I do sometimes), then sometimes I'll ensure I'm going slow enough, and when I have approx 1 second before I would normally stop the car, I hit the park button. The car will continue to move with momentum until the parking brake engages and stops my car, which by then I'm (hopefully) at my intended parking spot.


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## JasonF

I'm personally disturbed by the car moving even a little after I put it in Park - so I trained myself to give the brake a good push before hitting the Park button so the brakes are in Hold mode when the parking brake engages.

But thinking about it, that habit probably also saves a lot of wear on the parking brake mechanism and the rear brake pad, because it rarely encounters any kind of force or resistance when engaging.


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## MelindaV

johnhoh said:


> Unfortunately this means it will crash into the garage door unless I grab the rear trunk edge to halt movement.


or just put it in Park before getting out of the car!


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## Defjukie

I've had this happen a few times, myself. I usually rely on the car putting itself in Park just by opening the door (I know, I probably shouldn't). There have been a handful of times that the car started rolling as I put my foot on the ground. I've noticed it happening more frequently, so I think it may be a software bug since V10.


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## Dr. J

Defjukie said:


> I've had this happen a few times, myself. I usually rely on the car putting itself in Park just by opening the door (I know, I probably shouldn't). There have been a handful of times that the car started rolling as I put my foot on the ground. I've noticed it happening more frequently, so I think it may be a software bug since V10.


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## GDN

Interesting tidbit this morning. I had to run an errand and when returning home I parked out on my driveway rather than pulling in to the garage (I've got an engineer coming this morning who will need in the garage.) For the fun of it since it is a slight slope I decided to press the button a second time to set the park brake. As I did I got a click from the front of the car and a message saying the "Front motor has been disabled". My heart sank just a little, but honestly I knew I needed to be inside. I got out of the car, went inside and so far have tried to forget the message. 

I've set the parking brake before and never received that message. I hope it was an anomoly. I'll give it another short drive at lunch and then back in to the garage. will report any issues then.


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## GDN

Happy to report that when I drove the car again - no sign of front motor issues. Seemed to be an anomoly for now.


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