- Tesla's app server experienced an outage Friday, affecting hundreds of drivers, reports said.
- Downdetector said the outage occurred at around 3:33 p.m. ET.
- "Looks like we may have accidentally increased verbosity of network traffic," Elon Musk tweeted.
About 500 Tesla owners reported being locked out of their cars on Friday, due to a problem with the company's mobile app, according to Reuters.
The outage appeared to occur at around 3:33 p.m. ET, according to outage monitoring website Downdetector.
The blog Electrek first reported on the outage, with editor Fred Lambert saying he was unable to connect to his car through the app.
Drivers used Twitter to complain about the problem, with some addressing Tesla and Elon Musk directly.
"I'm experiencing 500 server error to connect my @tesla Model 3 on my iOS app in Seoul, S.Korea. Seems like this is a worldwide issue. @elonmusk," one user wrote.
In response to the Tesla owner, Musk tweeted: "Should be coming back online now. Looks like we may have accidentally increased verbosity of network traffic."
He added: "Apologies, we will take measures to ensure this doesn't happen again."
Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Tesla owners can unlock and access their cars through the mobile app, as opposed to traveling with the key.
A representative for Tesla previously told Insider's Mary Hanbury that the key is still the primary way of using the car, however. The rep recommended that customers always carried it in case their phone cut out, for example.
Model 3 owners also have the option to unlock their Tesla by using the "phone-as-key" function, which connects to the car via Bluetooth. If the app is down, owners would still be able to use this service.
Tesla systems have suffered hiccups in the past.
In 2019, customers said they were left "stranded" after the app ceased to work. And last September, Insider's Graham Rapier reported that Tesla's network appeared to briefly go down, forcing some customers to use their physical keys.