The app for electric vehicle-maker Tesla went down for several hours Monday, locking numerous users out of their cars.
Complaints began rolling in on social media late Monday afternoon, with one user asking the company if their vehicle had become nothing more than “a red brick.”
Hey @Tesla. I love my new Model 3… but now the app won’t refresh, won’t let me sign in, and says I have no vehicle. I’ve been on hold for tech support for an hour. Is my new car a red brick already?
— Ethlie Ann Vare (@ethlie) September 3, 2019
While Tesla owners are given a physical card to open their doors, many appear to rely solely on the company’s smartphone app.
@Tesla what’s the status of the network? I’m stuck at a supercharger, plugged in. Trying to get home with a dead key fob, was using the app to run the car. Now the system’s down for 3 hours. Help!
— Kristian Kicinski (@kkicinski) September 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/TonyF_Lourenco/status/1168707618338168832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/_karthik1107/status/1168723903029530624?s=20
According to the website Downdetector.com, the app outage began at around 4:30 p.m. PT and remained offline for around four hours.
Some Tesla owners attempted to contact the company’s customer support line but complained that they had difficulty reaching a human operator.
@Tesla @elonmusk i am locked out of my car and been on hold now for 12 minutes. Why is it so difficult to talk to a Tesla trained human for support?
— briango (@briango) September 3, 2019
One user alleged that the issue was related to routine maintenance on behalf of Tesla, although neither Tesla or company CEO Elon Musk have confirmed the cause.
Wait…server maintenance affects customer use of their vehicle??? holy hell that’s laughably bad if true.
— 9 million socially conscious and unified citizens (@9Unified) September 3, 2019
A Tesla representative did confirm the outage to Business Insider, however, but did not reveal what caused the issue.
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