Doors

Using Exterior Door Handles

A light press on a door handle extends it provided Model S is unlocked and detects a phone key or key fob nearby. You can set door handles to extend automatically when you approach the driver’s side carrying a phone key or key fob by touching Controls > Locks > Auto-Present Handles. Select Exclude Home to disable door handle presentation at home (set your home address by touching Navigate > Set Home).

arrows pointing to the door handles sliding in and out

Insert your hand into the handle and pull to open the door.

Door handles retract if you do not use them within ten seconds after they extend. Just press a handle to extend it again. Door handles also retract ten seconds after the last door closes, when Model S begins moving, and when you lock Model S.

Note

To preserve battery life, Model S is designed to temporarily disable the Auto-Present Handles feature if the vehicle is unable to detect a phone key nearby.

In these cases, extend a door handle by pressing it, or by pressing the unlock button on the key fob. There is no need to reset the setting. The next time you approach Model S, provided the above conditions do not apply, handles automatically extend.

CAUTION

Slamming or forcing closures (including the doors, liftgate, or front trunk) can result in damage not covered under warranty.

Opening Doors from the Interior

Model S doors are electrically powered. To open a door while sitting inside, press the button located at the top of the interior door handle and push the door open.

an arrow pointing to the open door button

Note

To prevent children from opening the rear doors, turn on child locks (see Child Locks).

You can also use the touchscreen popup to open and close doors when inside Model S while the vehicle is in Park.

Note

In the unlikely event that Model S has no low voltage power, you will be unable to open the doors with the button on the top of the door handle. See Opening Doors with No Power for more information.

Interior Locking and Unlocking

While sitting inside Model S, you can lock and unlock all doors and trunks by touching the lock icon in Controls.

The icon changes to indicate whether doors are locked or unlocked.

If you have enabled your phone as a key, your vehicle cannot tell whether your phone is inside or outside of the vehicle. If you want to lock the doors while inside Model S so that they cannot be opened from the outside, close the doors and use the lock icon on the touchscreen. This temporarily overrides any phone lock settings, such as Walk-Away Door Lock. Otherwise, because your phone is enabled as a key, the doors will unlock when the exterior door handles are pulled even if you press the lock icon on your mobile app. If you open the door from the inside, that will once again allow the doors to be opened from the outside so long as the phone key is detected. (see Phone Key for more information).

Walk-Away Door Lock

Doors and trunks can automatically lock when you walk away carrying your phone key or paired key fob . To turn this feature on or off, touch Controls > Locks > Walk-Away Door Lock.

Note

If you have authenticated an Apple Watch to be used as a key, it also works with Walk-Away Lock.

When the doors lock, the exterior lights flash once and the mirrors fold (if Fold Mirrors is on). To also hear a confirmation sound when Model S locks, touch Controls > Locks > Lock Confirmation Sound.

Note

Touch Toybox > Boombox > Lock Sound to customize the lock sound when the vehicle is locked from the outside (Pedestrian Warning System required).

Model S does not automatically lock if:

You check the Exclude Home checkbox and Model S is parked at the location you have designated as Home. For details on how to designate a location as Home, see Home, Work, and Favorite Destinations.
A phone key or paired key fob is detected inside Model S.
A door or trunk is not fully closed.
The phone key's Bluetooth setting is turned off.
The driver does not use the driver door to get out of the vehicle.

Note

It is ultimately your responsibility to ensure your vehicle is locked, even when Walk-Away Door Lock is enabled.

Drive Away Locking

Model S automatically locks all doors (including the trunks) when your driving speed exceeds 8 km/h.

Driver Door Unlock Mode

Enabling Controls > Locks > Driver Door Unlock Mode only unlocks the driver door when you first unlock Model S. The driver door unlocks only if a key is present on the driver side of the vehicle and not the passenger side. To unlock the remaining doors, long press the button located at the top of the interior driver door handle, use the touchscreen, mobile app, or press the key fob a second time.

Car Left Open Notifications

To receive a mobile notification if a door, trunk and/or window is left open or if Model S is left unlocked unexpectedly, touch Controls > Locks > Car Left Open Notifications.

Child Locks

Model S has child locks on the rear doors to prevent them from being opened using the interior release buttons. On the touchscreen, touch Controls > Locks > Child Lock. You can choose Both to engage the child lock on both rear doors, or you can choose Left or Right to engage it on just a specific door.

Warning

It is recommended that you turn on child locks when children are seated in the rear seats.

Unlock on Park

When you stop Model S and engage Park, you can choose to unlock all doors. To turn this feature on or off, touch Controls > Locks > Unlock on Park.