Doors

Using Exterior Door Handles

Use your thumb to push the wide part of the door handle. The handle pivots toward you, and you can open the door by pulling the handle or pulling the edge of the door.

The handle retracts automatically.

When a door or trunk is open, the touchscreen displays the Door Open indicator light.

Note

See Cold Weather Best Practices to ensure door handles function properly in cold weather.

Warning

While using the door handle, take care to avoid allowing fingers, jewelry, acrylic nails, etc. from being pinched by the door or door handle mechanism. Failure to do so may result in damage or injury.

Opening Doors from the Interior

Model 3 doors are electrically powered. To open a door while sitting inside, press the button located at the top of the interior door handle while pushing 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).

Note

In the unlikely event that Model 3 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 3, you can lock and unlock all doors and trunks by touching the lock icon on the touchscreen.

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

Walk-Away Door Lock

Doors and trunks can automatically lock when you walk away carrying your phone key or paired key fob (if ordered after approximately October 1, 2019). 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 3 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 3 does not automatically lock if:

You check the Exclude Home checkbox and Model 3 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 3.
A door or trunk is not fully closed.
The phone key's Bluetooth setting is turned off.
If Model 3 detects an authenticated key for several minutes after you exit the vehicle and close all doors, Walk-Away Lock disables and doors do not lock when you walk away. In this case, you must manually lock your vehicle until after your next drive.
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 3 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 3. 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 3 is left unlocked unexpectedly, touch Controls > Locks > Car Left Open Notifications.

Child Locks

Model 3 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 3 and engage Park, you can choose to unlock all doors. To turn this feature on or off, touch Controls > Locks > Unlock on Park.