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I could be wrong, but don't think you can initiate autopark on the Model 3 from the screen. But instead need to use summon on the app. (Im sure someone will correct me if wrong :) )
The only auto park I know of, you absolutely initiate from the screen.
 
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Good info. Key difference between what happened to me and what your scenario suggests is that I never closed the door. I was half-way out of the car and it started rolling. Door was open.
Was it a powered roll like summon or a slower roll like gravity.

Either way it should not have happened with an open door. In neutral or drive, it automatically goes in park as soon as you lift your butt. This is why car washes are a PIA unless you know the correct settings. For autopark to work, the door needs to close. Definitely the software guys need to figure this one out so someone doesn't get hurt!
 
Unless I missed it, you haven't confirmed if you attempted to reach out to them via phone. You need to do this ASAP, just so they get a chance to preserve logs/diagnostics data. Call your local service center, call the main toll-free.

Do you remember seeing the keycard animation?

Wouldn't autopark use the turn signals (which are pretty audible, and even visible)?
 
Discussion starter · #25 ·
Unless I missed it, you haven't confirmed if you attempted to reach out to them via phone. You need to do this ASAP, just so they get a chance to preserve logs/diagnostics data. Call your local service center, call the main toll-free.

Do you remember seeing the keycard animation?

Wouldn't autopark use the turn signals (which are pretty audible, and even visible)?
Unfortunately, I have NOT been able to call them because I have been traveling this week (near Fremont, CA of all places. Model 3s everywhere!). They did reply back to me and suggested that I also call their support number. I will do so today during my lunch break.

In terms of logs and other data, I put a total of 10 miles on the car since the event happened. M3 just sitting in the garage while I travel this week.
 
I don't know about the model 3 but if the model s detected that the seat wasn't occupied it would go into park, an example, some people when backing up will "stand" a bit removing their rear end from the seat and the car would immediately stop, so I question the OP's assertion of the car rolling away unattended.
 
Discussion starter · #27 ·
UPDATE: I did call the number the Tesla team advised me to call. I was rerouted to the Cleveland, OH service center and was provided the option to leave a voice message. I was very detailed, yet brief in describing the problem I experienced. Call was made at 8:45am PT. No reply back as of this evening.
 
UPDATE: I did call the number the Tesla team advised me to call. I was rerouted to the Cleveland, OH service center and was provided the option to leave a voice message. I was very detailed, yet brief in describing the problem I experienced. Call was made at 8:45am PT. No reply back as of this evening.
You should call during business hours and speak with someone directly, I would also suggest making an appointment if you can reproduce this issue.
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
You should call during business hours and speak with someone directly, I would also suggest making an appointment if you can reproduce this issue.
I did call during business hours, early Wednesday morning Pacific time. As of today, Monday morning Eastern time, no call back.

The good news is that I have not experienced this issue since I returned home on Friday afternoon. I will call them again.
 
I could be wrong, but don't think you can initiate autopark on the Model 3 from the screen. But instead need to use summon on the app. (Im sure someone will correct me if wrong :) )
Autopark and summon aren't the same thing. Summon is engaged through the app. Autopark is engaged in the car through the screen.
 
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Just a thought, but maybe the car was accidentally put into neutral? By pressing the stalk maybe it accidentally went up slightly for enough time to engage into Neutral (and possibly didn't show on the screen).
Was the direction you were rolling on a slight incline?

Edit: I didn't read all the posts until the edit, so i think it's correct that Neutral doesn't allow you to be off your seat, but never tried it myself.
 
Autopark and summon aren't the same thing. Summon is engaged through the app. Autopark is engaged in the car through the screen.
what @Brokedoc was referencing though, was not the autopark (looking for a parallel or perpendicular space that the car would then maneuver into), but implementing summons from inside the car.
 
Discussion starter · #33 ·
UPDATE: Many thanks to those who chimed in with possible solutions to what happened to me 30 days ago. With a month's experience under my belt as a Model 3 owner, I have had more time to better understand the car and how it operates. I believe I know what happened and how/why the car moved. I'm interested in your thoughts.

As I only had the car for two days when this happened, I was not aware at the time that when you start the car by pressing on the break that you need to give it 2-3 seconds to wake up. Because I was trying to quickly move my car from blocking a driveway at the Farmers Market, I quickly jumped in, attempted to put the car in gear quickly, and nothing happened. The car stayed in park. I pressed down on the shifter at least two more times in the next five seconds with no results. Attempting to put the car in drive before waking up apparently does not work. You must give it those critical seconds to wake up.

Other things I now know that I did not know at the time: Because i was able to open the car without delay, my bluetooth connectivity was working properly. This did not phase me at the time. When I became frustrated that the car would not go into drive, I assumed that it had not been engaged with my Bluetooth, so I took my key card out and attempted to activate the car that way. Nothing happened, the car was still in park and I could not shift into drive.

At this point, I decided to get out of the car and place my key card on the outside sensor. It is at this point, while I was outside of the car and NOT in the driver's seat, the car engaged and moved forward about 3 feet.

My theory: I was too quick in trying to activate the car into drive. Too many commands while the car was waking up created an overload for a car/computer in wake-up mode. The car eventually kicked into gear just as I stepped out. It quickly stopped. I am assuming that it stopped because there was no one in the drivers seat.

SUMMARY: While I believe my inexperience in starting the car played a huge factor in this, the end result is that the car still moved while I was out of the seat and my back was turned towards the outside sensor on the door. I know for a fact that I have resolved the first issue (my inexperience), but do worry still about how the car moved on it's own. I did call Tesla Support based on their email back to me about this. I never received a call back.
 
Thanks for filling us in.

I would just like to point out that cars moving with no one in the driver's seat has been an issue for as long as there were cars. Fortunately, as you experienced, the Model 3 cannot "runaway" like some other cars. It can only go 2 or 3 feet because it senses there is no driver.
 
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On a related note, my LEAF tried to kill me once! I had gotten out of my car while it was in the driveway for some reason (maybe I had to bring the garbage can in before I pulled in the car). As I was standing at the back of the garage doing whatever I was doing, I heard the LEAF's noise generator (thank goodness it had one) and I turned around to see my LEAF coming at me. Fortunately it ran into the garbage can(s) which provided just enough clearance such that the bumper didn't completely push my legs into my table saw I was standing in front of, but I was well and truly pinned as the car was putting significant pressure on me. Fortunately my wife was home and heard my screams for help.

I must have forgotten to click the "P" button in the LEAF, and because my driveway was on a very slight uphill slope, the car remained motionless until I had made my way to the back of the garage at which point it finally started rolling.

I have noticed the Model 3 that if you even open the driver's door while not in P it will definitely beep strongly at you!
 
UPDATE: Many thanks to those who chimed in with possible solutions to what happened to me 30 days ago. With a month's experience under my belt as a Model 3 owner, I have had more time to better understand the car and how it operates. I believe I know what happened and how/why the car moved. I'm interested in your thoughts.

As I only had the car for two days when this happened, I was not aware at the time that when you start the car by pressing on the break that you need to give it 2-3 seconds to wake up. Because I was trying to quickly move my car from blocking a driveway at the Farmers Market, I quickly jumped in, attempted to put the car in gear quickly, and nothing happened. The car stayed in park. I pressed down on the shifter at least two more times in the next five seconds with no results. Attempting to put the car in drive before waking up apparently does not work. You must give it those critical seconds to wake up.

Other things I now know that I did not know at the time: Because i was able to open the car without delay, my bluetooth connectivity was working properly. This did not phase me at the time. When I became frustrated that the car would not go into drive, I assumed that it had not been engaged with my Bluetooth, so I took my key card out and attempted to activate the car that way. Nothing happened, the car was still in park and I could not shift into drive.

At this point, I decided to get out of the car and place my key card on the outside sensor. It is at this point, while I was outside of the car and NOT in the driver's seat, the car engaged and moved forward about 3 feet.

My theory: I was too quick in trying to activate the car into drive. Too many commands while the car was waking up created an overload for a car/computer in wake-up mode. The car eventually kicked into gear just as I stepped out. It quickly stopped. I am assuming that it stopped because there was no one in the drivers seat.

SUMMARY: While I believe my inexperience in starting the car played a huge factor in this, the end result is that the car still moved while I was out of the seat and my back was turned towards the outside sensor on the door. I know for a fact that I have resolved the first issue (my inexperience), but do worry still about how the car moved on it's own. I did call Tesla Support based on their email back to me about this. I never received a call back.
It's conceivable that an interrupt from the stalk at "just the wrong time" might cause a race condition in the software, although I would think that, if that were really the case, we would have heard of many other such events by now. However, it is not possible to "overload the computer" by human actions -- in the time between two presses on the stalk, the computer can execute a few *billion* operations ;-) And, in my experience, using the stalk right after putting your foot on the brake in a parked car does nothing -- that is, the command does not get queued for execution once the car is up and ready. (I use easy entry, so the car takes about 3s to adjust the seat and during that time it cannot be taken out of hold.)

That being said, I have had a similar experience early in my ownership: just outside my garage, driver door open, safety belt off, RFID card on the console, left leg out of the car, but still 3/4 seated and right foot near (but not on) the pedals, and the car started rolling slowly forward. I hit the brake pedal immediately on noticing the movement, so it did not roll more than half a foot. I keep "creep mode" turned off, so even in drive the car would not normally move on its own, but the apron in front of the garage slopes down a bit, so the car rolled by gravity. I must have put it inadvertently in neutral, but in the short time the car was rolling, I did not look at the screen and by the time I looked at it, it was in Hold mode because of my foot on the brake.

The difference is that I still had enough of my weight on the seat to keep the car from stopping; and what I find worrisome about your experience is that it apparently took the car a few seconds to stop from the time you removed your weight from the seat -- a few seconds even at very low speeds is time enough for real damage with a car.
 
Discussion starter · #37 ·
......and what I find worrisome about your experience is that it apparently took the car a few seconds to stop from the time you removed your weight from the seat -- a few seconds even at very low speeds is time enough for real damage with a car.
In my case, the real "damage" would not have been to the car, but to the people loading up their car with produce five feet in front of me!!! That part still haunts me.
 
I would like to mention that the OP said he doesn’t remember if he stopped the car or it if the car stopped itself. Sounds like the car was in neutral before he got out and in the time it was trying to engage the parking brake it rolled a bit, unless he was on a steep hill I can’t see it rolling more than a few inches. How sure are you about the 3ft roll? How steep was the hill.

Just another theory
 
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