# Model 3 Trunk Vulnerable to burglar!!!Owners be aware!!!



## reve (Jun 3, 2018)

Long story short, my bag got robbed from Model 3 trunk earlier this week.

Model 3 Owners be aware!!!

Go to your lock setting to check if you've disabled the Unlock on park feature. If this is enabled, Trunk unlocked whenever you park. Since they rushed you out in 5 minutes, I didn't know it and paid my premium.
Disable this feature so at least the trunk stay locked when you park. Checking surrounding before you get off the car.

When you open the door, no matter you enabled or disabled this feature, the trunk will unlock. If a burglar is nearby your car, your chance of get your belongings robbed is extremely high.

Don't keep your valuable in the trunk even when you are in the car.

Frunk is safer in this case but it is not in long term as it can be forced open as well.

Tesla confirmed that they design the trunk to be automatically unlocked when doors open for convenience.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

reve said:


> Long story short, my bag got robbed from Model 3 trunk earlier this week.
> 
> Model 3 Owners be aware!!!
> 
> ...


It also locks when you walk away and the doors lock. So if you are seeing your trunk not lock with the doors, something is wrong. Either it was not latched, doors also were not locked or something is not working correctly.


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## slacker775 (May 30, 2018)

That’s been my experience as well. I walk away about 20ft or so, I get the lock chirp sound and the trunk, frunk and doors are all locked.


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## reve (Jun 3, 2018)

MelindaV said:


> It also locks when you walk away and the doors lock. So if you are seeing your trunk not lock with the doors, something is wrong. Either it was not latched, doors also were not locked or something is not working correctly.


Trunk shouldn't be unlocked unless you want to.

If you are followed by a thief, they have enough time to take your belongings before you can react.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

So you had someone get into the trunk and take something out while you were in the car, or within feet of it?


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## reve (Jun 3, 2018)

MelindaV said:


> So you had someone get into the trunk and take something out while you were in the car, or within feet of it?


I was still in the car.


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## plankeye (Oct 17, 2016)

Then you need to move.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

plankeye said:


> Then you need to move.


Seriously, is someone is going to 'break-in' to a car with people in it, that is not some place I would be parking and leaving the car!


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

I'm perfectly happy with the options the way they are. I don't want to have to go to an extra step to unlock the trunk after getting out of the car. If you had someone so brave to open your trunk and steal your bag with you in the car, you might consider yourself very lucky that you are unharmed and all they got was your bag. There is a lock icon on the top left of the screen. You can lock the car while you are sitting or camping or whatever else is going on.


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## reve (Jun 3, 2018)

MelindaV said:


> Seriously, is someone is going to 'break-in' to a car with people in it, that is not some place I would be parking and leaving the car!


I stopped at a parking lot of a big company where I was going to have an job interview there.
It doesn't really matter. HPD are useless and these kind of crime become more and more common.


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## reve (Jun 3, 2018)

GDN said:


> I'm perfectly happy with the options the way they are. I don't want to have to go to an extra step to unlock the trunk after getting out of the car. If you had someone so brave to open your trunk and steal your bag with you in the car, you might consider yourself very lucky that you are unharmed and all they got was your bag. There is a lock icon on the top left of the screen. You can lock the car while you are sitting or camping or whatever else is going on.


Wouldn't it be nice if they can default the trunk stay locked? It can be unlocked when you approach it with your phone/key card.
That'd be much safer.


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## Toadmanor (Jul 23, 2018)

reve said:


> I stopped at a parking lot of a big company where I was going to have an job interview there.
> It doesn't really matter. HPD are useless and these kind of crime become more and more common.


I do not think I would take a job there with that type of criminal activity.


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

reve said:


> Wouldn't it be nice if they can default the trunk stay locked? It can be unlocked when you approach it with your phone/key card.
> That'd be much safer.


I don't totally disagree with this, but it would have required another bluetooth receiver on the back if you want it to unlock automatically when you walk up and push the button. Or you would have to pull your phone out and hit unlock which I definitely do not want to do.


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## plankeye (Oct 17, 2016)

I'm pretty sure I've opened the trunk before unlocking the car.


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## Brokedoc (May 28, 2017)

GDN said:


> I don't totally disagree with this, but it would have required another bluetooth receiver on the back if you want it to unlock automatically when you walk up and push the button. Or you would have to pull your phone out and hit unlock which I definitely do not want to do.


There are 4 BT receivers. I believe on in each side mirror and possibly one each in the trunk and frunk region.

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/5-bluetooth-connections-from-model-3.106954/


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

@Brokedoc Yep - not sure what I was thinking when I said that, thanks for that tidbit. I'm not sure where the 4 are, probably need to go back and watch @Ingineer s videos to see if he called them out exactly. Just confirmed, phone in house, about 30 ft from car, trunk nor car would open. Phone in pocket, walked up to trunk first and it unlocks and open, mirrors stay folded, assume rest of car is still locked at this point.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

MelindaV said:


> Seriously, is someone is going to 'break-in' to a car with people in it, that is not some place I would be parking and leaving the car!


If you're familiar with an area, and the area has such a reputation, then sure. But @reve brings up a good point. If thieves learn that Teslas automatically unlock the trunks when the cars are parked, that's information that they can potentially take advantage of.


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## EValuatED (Apr 29, 2017)

reve said:


> Long story short, my bag got robbed from Model 3 trunk earlier this week.
> 
> Model 3 Owners be aware!!!
> 
> ...


Yikes! Sorry you had this negative experience. Good advice and made me look at the Model 3 owners manual... as I'm still awaiting my car, I'm wondering if an owner could answer as to whether you can further disable "all doors unlocking" when you open any of the doors? If not, needs to be a feature request for sure...


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## Point 3 (Mar 16, 2018)

plankeye said:


> I'm pretty sure I've opened the trunk before unlocking the car.


Yes, I do every day


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## Point 3 (Mar 16, 2018)

reve said:


> I stopped at a parking lot of a big company where I was going to have an job interview there.
> It doesn't really matter. HPD are useless and these kind of crime become more and more common.


This big company probably has many cameras you can access to catch this robber.
Perhaps you can go back and check with them.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

I’m sorry to hear this happened to you.

I would put in an enhancement request with Tesla to add an option for trunk to remain locked on door open.

I myself wouldn’t opt to use it though. I may just be neurotic, but I always scan any situation before I park/get out of my car. If I don’t like what I see I stay in the car or relocate.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

reve said:


> I stopped at a parking lot of a big company where I was going to have an job interview there.
> It doesn't really matter. HPD are useless and these kind of crime become more and more common.


I think it's time to consider moving far away from Katy, TX. These criminals are really ballsy considering no handgun permit is required in Texas to legally carry a loaded weapon in your car. I thought the story was, the more guns, the fewer crimes?


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## Brokedoc (May 28, 2017)

The bigger problem here is that there are thieves and pickpockets that are getting smarter. This has been a problem from the beginning of time. See this video of a woman's purse being stolen while she was at a gas station. Should the car not have the driver's door unlocked in that situation?






Living around NYC, I feel that I'm probably more hyper-vigilant than others that live in less crime-prone areas. In my past cars, I've had settings to only unlock the driver's door when shifting into park or unlocking by keyfob so nobody enters through the other doors if they're hiding close to the parking spot.

It should be easy for Tesla to allow configurable locking for drivers that choose this but the wish list of UI customization is very long...


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

Brokedoc said:


> See this video of a woman's purse being stolen while she was at a gas station.


another great reason for Oregon (and New Jersey) to continue on with no self serve gas


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## Oregonian (Dec 30, 2017)

Brokedoc said:


> See this video of a woman's purse being stolen while she was at a gas station.


Gas station burglary.....+1 for an EV!


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## Brokedoc (May 28, 2017)

Oregonian said:


> Gas station burglary.....+1 for an EV!


Absolutely. ICE proponents say "It only takes me a few minutes to gas up a full tank"

But in those few minutes, you could get robbed or worse yet, your car could get destroyed by someone else's stupidity.


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## John (Apr 16, 2016)

There are lengths you can go to in order to protect your stuff, but a recent break-in to my car has led me to one solution.

Cut out a piece of carpet-go ahead and buy yourself something nice, it's a small piece-that exactly fits the back trunk floor. I would suggest black.

Then, when thieves break into the trunk, they will just see an empty trunk. Not the trap door with your valuables below, which was already kind of subtle, but with the addition of carpet it's gone completely.

Two caveats:

1. Assumes thieves don't have deep knowledge of Model 3 (pretty safe bet for a while)
2. Assumes your trunk isn't stuffed full of junk all the time

A little junk in the trunk is helpful, as the thief thinks they can see what's there, and isn't tempted to poke around. However, in my case the thief (who broke the tiny back window and reached in and flipped the seat down-which works identically to other cars, so no knowledge needed-saw a perfectly empty trunk, and moved on.

Obviously there's a limit to what the basement can hold, but in my case a couple of laptops loaded with my company's intellectual property will always get stowed down low.

If thieves ever get wise to the hidden basement, it will be time to put sturdy hinges (with security screws) and a combo lock on it. The disadvantage to that approach will be convenience; it's so nice to be able to slide the hatch to the front of the car sometimes instead of tilting it up, because sometimes you want one big compartment instead of two.

In my opinion, there's not much safer than a car with electric security locks and a completely concealed trunk compartment that has a lock on it. I mean, that's layer after layer of security.

Here's a commercial version of a trunk mat you can buy from Lloyd's. I'm sure others are available, too.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

Brokedoc said:


> The bigger problem here is that there are thieves and pickpockets that are getting smarter. This has been a problem from the beginning of time. See this video of a woman's purse being stolen while she was at a gas station. Should the car not have the driver's door unlocked in that situation?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


When I used to pump gas (man that feels like ages ago ), I would open the gas door from inside the car, get out, close the door, lock the doors, and then pump gas. Again may just be me being neurotic


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

reve said:


> Wouldn't it be nice if they can default the trunk stay locked? It can be unlocked when you approach it with your phone/key card.
> That'd be much safer.


Well in this case, if you are in the car with your phone, The trunk will open if the doors are unlocked. 
I personally don't have mine unlock on Park. I think it is unnecessary since when I push the button to get out, they unlock. But if you are in the car with the doors locked, then even with the phone in the car, the trunk will not open. I just tested this.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

plankeye said:


> I'm pretty sure I've opened the trunk before unlocking the car.


Right. But you were outside the car approaching with the phone. If you are in the car with the doors locked, with your phone, it will not open if someone try's to open it.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

SoFlaModel3 said:


> I'm sorry to hear this happened to you.
> 
> I would put in an enhancement request with Tesla to add an option for trunk to remain locked on door open.
> 
> I myself wouldn't opt to use it though. I may just be neurotic, but I always scan any situation before I park/get out of my car. If I don't like what I see I stay in the car or relocate.


Yes, best to always check your surroundings, but if you don't see anyone around and are comfortable, the trunk will lock with the doors on walk away. If you aren't then use the app to lock it right away. I know there are a million scenarios but Tesla cant make an option for every one of them. I personally think the system is fine with Unlock on Park turned OFF.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

reve said:


> I stopped at a parking lot of a big company where I was going to have an job interview there.
> It doesn't really matter. HPD are useless and these kind of crime become more and more common.


I have never heard of this kinda theft becoming a thing. Where are you located? Your signature doesn't say. I am assuming by HPD, you mean Houston


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

LUXMAN said:


> I have never heard of this kinda theft becoming a thing.


I guess it wasn't possible to be a thing until Teslas became popular.
Do the S and X hatchbacks open manually from outside? I wonder if anybody has tried to steal something out of them in this manner.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

garsh said:


> I guess it wasn't possible to be a thing until Teslas became popular.
> Do the S and X hatchbacks open manually from outside? I wonder if anybody has tried to steal something out of them in this manner.


I feel like this was possible in each and everyone one of my previous cars.

Some had a key lock next to the release handle to drop the seat though.


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## teslarob (Oct 31, 2017)

Need a cross-hatch feature on the backup cam for thief targeting...throw it in Reverse and attack!


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

doesn't most all SUVs / wagons with liftgates act the same? I've not owned any of these types of cars, but have passengered in them, and always seems like if you need to get in the back when you arrive somewhere, you just push the button on the liftgate handle - already unlocked because the people doors are unlocked.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Yes, you're correct. Anything with a hatchback acts this same way. it's been a while since I owned a car with a trunk. It may be that all cars work this way nowadays.



MelindaV said:


> doesn't most all SUVs / wagons with liftgates act the same? I've not owned any of these types of cars, but have passengered in them, and always seems like if you need to get in the back when you arrive somewhere, you just push the button on the liftgate handle - already unlocked because the people doors are unlocked.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

garsh said:


> it's been a while since I owned a car with a trunk. It may be that all cars work this way nowadays.


I'm used to this, so can't imagine a situation where I would not be aware someone was getting into the trunk , and is always locked, requiring the keyfob to open it. (Franz certainly likes the wacky doors/hoods/trunks)


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## Brokedoc (May 28, 2017)

The Solstice has such a beautiful, futuristic design! Way beyond it's time 10 years ago and still looks great now.
I LOVE Franz' design style and I'm so happy he is with Tesla.


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## KarenRei (Jul 27, 2017)

Reason #817 that I'm glad I live in Iceland...


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## KarenRei (Jul 27, 2017)

KarenRei said:


> Reason #817 that I'm glad I live in Iceland...


... not that I've never had anything stolen, mind you. I had a can of gas that I had left outside stolen once.

Got my revenge, though. I set another gas can out later. Full.
Anyone who poured a little out would have seen that it was clearly gasoline.
What wouldn't have been so obvious was that there were two separate liquids in the can, with the gasoline floating on top.
The bottom 50% was concentrated hydrochloric acid. Which eats steel.

It was stolen too


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

Brokedoc said:


> The Solstice has such a beautiful, futuristic design! Way beyond it's time 10 years ago and still looks great now.
> I LOVE Franz' design style and I'm so happy he is with Tesla.


it could be yours in the next month or so  my last car I sold to a guy I met thru its car forum in Indiana, so what's another couple states east?


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

KarenRei said:


> ... not that I've never had anything stolen, mind you. I had a can of gas that I had left outside stolen once.
> 
> Got my revenge, though. I set another gas can out later. Full.
> Anyone who poured a little out would have seen that it was clearly gasoline.
> ...


Missing the "Evil Grin" smiley.


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## LUXMAN (Apr 4, 2016)

KarenRei said:


> ... not that I've never had anything stolen, mind you. I had a can of gas that I had left outside stolen once.
> 
> Got my revenge, though. I set another gas can out later. Full.
> Anyone who poured a little out would have seen that it was clearly gasoline.
> ...


Nice but could have really hurt someone. Gas floats on water too and would have had a detrimental side effect on the engine without the possible burns.


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## KarenRei (Jul 27, 2017)

LUXMAN said:


> Nice but could have really hurt someone. Gas floats on water too and would have had a detrimental side effect on the engine without the possible burns.


Would only have drown the engine - a relatively cheap fix. The person would have continued to steal gasoline after fixing their car (although perhaps not from me  ).

Who dumps out gasoline onto their hands? People dump it straight from a gas can into their gas tank. I guess if it's an old car with a steel tank (the acid has no effect on HDPE, which is what modern cars generally use), or the ruining of their their engine, might indirectly cause a danger depending on how the car fails (a corroded steel tank would show up as leaks beneath the car, just like any corroded steel tank... not sure how the engine would fail... might just drown if not enough gasoline is taken up with it, wherein the acid would just sit in the engine until it's spent itself rusting it). In a steel tank, the reaction would be slow (indeed, steel is sometimes "pickled" with hydrochloric acid - they dip steel in HCl to remove rust, since it dissolves much faster than the steel itself). The first failure mode of over-pickled steel is that it becomes brittle and prone to cracking. In a hot engine, the reaction would be far faster; hot hydrochloric acid reacts very quickly. Regardless, the reaction of the hydrochloric acid turns it into a saltwater solution (in the case of reacting with iron, the salt is ferric chloride - a compound most widely used to help clean sewage). It's nontoxic (still somewhat acidic, but not burn-your-skin acidic). Hydrochloric acid itself - beyond its corrosive nature - is also nontoxic (it's the same acid our stomachs use to digest food).

I had considered water glass, but it's A) harder to get in sufficient quantity, B) more expensive to get in significant quantity, and C) killing cars with water glass is supposed to be done by adding it to the oil, not the fuel. Not sure it'd work that well in the fuel.

Regardless, I have trouble having a lot of sympathy for thieves. If a thief did touch a bit of non-spent acid for some reason it and it gave him a burn on his hand... then serves him bloody right.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

KarenRei said:


> Who dumps out gasoline onto their hands? People dump it straight from a gas can into their gas tank.


Was this a small can? I usually use a siphon hose for my 5 gallon (19 liter) cans. Nowadays, I use a shaker siphon, but back when I was a kid, we'd use a plain hose and suck on the end of it to get it started. We'd often get a little bit of gasoline in the mouth.

With the other end of the hose at the *bottom* of the can where the hydrochloric acid resides, that could result in a deadly injury.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

KarenRei said:


> back when I was a kid, we'd use a plain hose and suck on the end of it to get it started. We'd often get a little bit of gasoline in the mouth.


I think gas thieves use that technique to get gas _out _of your cars gas tank, once the gas is in a gas can, you pour it _into_ your tank using the spout on the can.

Did you steal Karen's gas? 

I haven't had anyone steal gas from my Model 3 yet (and it doesn't even have a locking gas cap). I guess people around here are just super honest


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## KarenRei (Jul 27, 2017)

garsh said:


> Was this a small can? I usually use a siphon hose for my 5 gallon (19 liter) cans. Nowadays, I use a shaker siphon, but back when I was a kid, we'd use a plain hose and suck on the end of it to get it started. We'd often get a little bit of gasoline in the mouth.
> 
> With the other end of the hose at the *bottom* of the can where the hydrochloric acid resides, that could result in a deadly injury.


Yes, a 1 gallon can, with its own spout. No reason to siphon it.

Also, I can't imagine any way in which siphoning HCl would be "deadly". Bad burns to your lips and possibly the forward parts of your mouth, certainly. But it's not a toxic compound, just a corrosive one.

The worst thing you can realistically do with HCl is dump it over your face en masse. But that would take some new Darwin award-level stupidity to empty a can of gasoline you stole into a bucket (and in the process of emptying it, not noticing the colour / viscosity change halfway through), then dumping that bucket onto your head. Maybe the thieves were using it for some Zoolander-style "gasoline fight"?


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## tivoboy (Mar 24, 2017)

So, not sure if this is a discussion of the rear trunk functionality or about gasoline but I'll throw in an experience about the trunk.

When I come up to the car with just the phone key (phone in pocket) I usually all of the time I can open the rear trunk with the logic switch under the trunk lid, BUT often I cannot open the car doors.

Now, my phone key in the morning usually requires a pull on the handle, then about 5 seconds wait time before the door handle will allow direct entry to the car.

But, all the time and in the AM the car will allow the trunk to be opened manually at the car just upon approach.

Is this the same thing the OP was posting about? Could the external door 'wakeup' of whatever in the car is required be different for the trunk vs. the outer doors?

Is there some additional setting for this?


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## John (Apr 16, 2016)

tivoboy said:


> So, not sure if this is a discussion of the trunk functionality or about gasoline but I'll throw in an experience about the trunk.
> 
> When I come up to the car with just the phone key (phone in pocket) I usually all of the time I can open the trunk with the logic switch under the trunk lid, BUT often I cannot open the car doors.
> 
> ...


No knowledge here, but I'll bet this is a VCFRONT versus the side controllers issue. Maybe VCFRONT wakes up faster, and controls the trunk, whereas the VCLEFT and VCRIGHT control boards take a while to spin up. Just guessing.


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## Toadmanor (Jul 23, 2018)

What in the world is VCFRONT, VCLEFT, VCBACK etc?


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

Toadmanor said:


> What in the world is VCFRONT, VCLEFT, VCBACK etc?


The controller boards/computers in the car. Will hunt for the thread. An engineer has a totaled 3 and is reviewing components and giving some updates. Those are the names Tesla has given the control boards/computers.

Here you go: Amazing - Inginineerix Model 3 teardown


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## hdgmedic (Jun 8, 2017)

Pretty sure all vehicles with power locks that unlock upon park, unlock the trunk. That's the way it has been for my last 7 vehicles dating back to `91. This is not new and is a weakness of pretty much every vehicle that has power locking AND unlock upon parking. Or else it would be a giant pain in the behind to have to press the unlock button every single time you want to open your trunk. We don't use keys to unlock trunks anymore......


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## dragonvoi (Jun 30, 2018)

hdgmedic said:


> Pretty sure all vehicles with power locks that unlock upon park, unlock the trunk. That's the way it has been for my last 7 vehicles dating back to `91. This is not new and is a weakness of pretty much every vehicle that has power locking AND unlock upon parking. Or else it would be a giant pain in the behind to have to press the unlock button every single time you want to open your trunk. We don't use keys to unlock trunks anymore......


My M3 (Mazda3 that is) has the same feature for the hatch. But with the same logic, a theft could apply to a passenger door as well. The only real concern is that Teslas are pre once over to be rich-people or techie cars and are better targets than a guy like me in a mazda3.

I agree with the overall sentiment in the thread that whenever, wherever, be vigilant, and note your surroundings. A good practice (especially since the Model 3 doesn't have a spare) is to walk around your vehicle before entering, to inspect if there is some kind of booby trap, tire with low pressure, damage, leaks, or evil doer in hiding.

Having a better car is not an excuse to be lazy about safety but an excuse eliminator! All that time saved from not going to pump gas and get oil changes, you can now spend walking around your car before you leave.


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