Person's Hands on the Steering Wheel of a Tesla

By: Otaiba Ahsan

As motor vehicles become progressively more advanced, it’s becoming easier for new drivers to get acclimated to the roads. However, while many teenagers are responsible behind the wheel, we know that they’re more likely to engage in risky behavior. That’s why Tesla introduced Parental Controls, which can limit the capabilities of the vehicle, to give parents some peace of mind when their children are on the road. Continue reading for steps on how to enable Parental Controls for your Tesla.

Parental Controls

Parental Controls enable you to reduce the capabilities that your Tesla can perform, and ensure that safety settings are enabled and can’t be changed. When the Require Safety Features are configured, your Tesla will engage the following:

Automatic Emergency Braking and Obstacle-Aware Acceleration.
Automatic Blind Spot Camera and Blind Spot Collision Warning Chime.
Automatic 911 Call and Park Assist Chimes.
Lane Departure Avoidance is set to Assist.
Speed Limit Warning is set to Chime.
Forward Collision Warning is set to Early.
Allow Mobile Access.

NOTE: You can’t enable Parental Controls if Speed Limit Mode is already on. We’ve created a guide on how to enable Speed Limit Control for your reference.

Enabling Parental Controls

When in your Tesla, tap Controls > Safety > Parental Controls using the touchscreen. You can then toggle the Parental Controls for the following settings:

Limit Speed: Caps the speed at which your Tesla can drive.
Reduce Acceleration: Limits the car’s acceleration to the Chill setting.
Requires Safety Features: Enables several safety features (see above) so long as the vehicle is equipped with them. Drivers can’t change these settings while Parental Controls are active.
Send Curfew Notifications: Turns on curfew notifications from 11 PM to 4 AM. If an individual shifts the car to Drive after the start of curfew, a notification is sent through the Tesla mobile app to all phone keys paired with the vehicle.

Once you’ve configured the settings to your liking, simply hit Confirm and then enter a PIN. You’ll be required to re-enter this PIN if you ever need to disable or toggle the Parental Controls settings again.

The Bottom Line

The steps on how to enable Parental Controls for your Tesla are simple. When in your vehicle, hit Controls > Safety > Parental Controls and then toggle the settings to your liking. Once done, hit Confirm and set a PIN to ensure that the configuration cannot be changed by anyone but yourself or an individual with the PIN.