Auto Power off?

[be236]

Our kids have accidently left the Leaf on, both in summer with AC running and winter with the heat on and it does just stay on. I admit that I have many times left it "on" and locked it to keep it cool or warm, but how does the car know if it is intentional or not. I have also dropped my wife off, she had the key and I drove to work, wonder what the heck the car was beeping about, now I know

So I guess I would prefer it to stay on, but can see why it doesn't auto shut off with the "key" out of range.

Yup.. or have this as an Option/Setting in the menu system. You can select "auto power off" with a Yes or No value.

Then both types of people can be accommodated. I would just like the car to lock itself up and power off if I walk away from the car with keyfob (in case when I forget to do those things manually).

[cwerdna]

^^^
I've never forgotten. IIRC, if the car's in READY mode and you try closing the door while the fob's outside the car, it beeps a bunch of times.

Also, before that point, when you open the driver's door while in READY, you should hear beep-beep pause beep-beep and so on.

[be236]

^^^
I've never forgotten. IIRC, if the car's in READY mode and you try closing the door while the fob's outside the car, it beeps a bunch of times.

Also, before that point, when you open the driver's door while in READY, you should hear beep-beep pause beep-beep and so on.

Ah, ok, I might have heard those beeps but didnt know what they mean.

I guess I'll just be more aware of beeps to alert me something is wrong and I should go and look at the display to see if it's still on ...

Good tip.

[goldbrick]

I too have heard those beeps when jumping out of my car to open the garage door or something while the car was 'on'.

I know I should just RTFM but can someone explain to me briefly how to 1) avoid the beeps when parking for just a minute to jump out of the car before continuing on

and/or 2) park the car but leave the AC or heat on? I have a 2017 S.

[baustin]

I too have heard those beeps when jumping out of my car to open the garage door or something while the car was 'on'.

I know I should just RTFM but can someone explain to me briefly how to 1) avoid the beeps when parking for just a minute to jump out of the car before continuing on

and/or 2) park the car but leave the AC or heat on? I have a 2017 S.

You can't avoid the beeps if you leave the car on. You can use the remote climate control function to avoid the beeps on the SV and SL models if you want the AC or heat to run while parked, but it only stays on for 15 minutes, unless the charger is plugged in, and then it will only stay on for two hours.

[gshepherd]

Auto-power off could be implemented such that car is in Park, key is not detected, seat sensors indicate no occupants, all seatbelts unlatched, and optional timeout enabled. Telematics would push a message a few minutes after abandoning the car, five minutes before timeout, and at timeout shutdown. Allow remotely shutting down if same conditions are met. The big problem to avoid is shutting down with a child or pet in the car. I don’t believe there are rear seat occupancy sensors, so that could be a problem.

I can see where it would be easy to leave the LEAF running when, say, parking at an airport and being in a hurry and distracted.

Tesla somehow managed to get rid of the power button altogether, instead using the seat sensor, brake pedal switch, and key proximity. A simpler solution.

[jlv]

Tesla somehow managed to get rid of the power button altogether, instead using the seat sensor, brake pedal switch, and key proximity. A simpler solution.

It's rather nice - get in the car and press the brake, and the car turns on. Get out of the car and it turns off. Close the doors and walk away and the car locks itself. There's nothing to do or think about.

On the other hand, they had to invent something special ("camper mode") for the very rare times you want the car to stay on (run the HVAC) when you get out of it.

[Deltaflyer21]

When I first got my Leaf (2018), I had this problem too, and I did walk away a few times. What I learned was that since the doors lock once you start driving, and don’t unlock until you turn it off, once I got to my destination, the locked doors prevented me from leaving while the car was on. In other words, if I have to manually unlock my car, it was a good reminder that the car was still on. I haven’t left it on by mistake since.

[larsamike]

I hate auto door lock while driving function. Leaf Spy disabled that. Love the Spy!
Also disabled low speed noise maker...did I say love the spy!