Tesla’s Sentry Mode Catches Vandals Keying The Car

Thanks to new technology like this, maybe more vandals will be caught. If you’ve ever been the victim of car vandalism, you know how much it sucks and until now, finding the culprits can be a challenge.

Tesla owners are in luck, though! This Tesla Model 3 owner caught the moment two guys keyed his car and dinged the doors using the car’s own security camera system called Sentry Mode. Sentry Mode works by recording footage from Tesla’s Autopilot cameras when a driver enables the feature before walking away. When a “minimal threat” is detected by the car, the car’s touchscreen displays a warning to notify those around it that it has begun recording. The car saves the recording to a flash drive that the driver has plugged into the cabin, and will notify the driver on the screen that an event has occurred.

The video takes place in Sacramento, California and shows two guys approaching the Ram pickup truck parked next to the Tesla. After messing around with the truck’s door handle for several seconds, one of the men reaches into his pocket, pulls out keys, and goes to town on the paint.

They weren’t quite done, however. After laughing some more, one of them goes to the driver’s side of the truck and swings the door open, door-slamming the Tesla while his friend isn’t done and comes back once again and keys the Tesla once more.

The video doesn’t state if the owner of the Tesla filed a report but did note that damage has been estimated to cost more than $2,000 to repair.