Epidemic of Model 3 small window break-ins

[thecloud]

Really sorry this happened to you. In the Bay Area, it's been an epidemic for the past few years. Multiple car windows are broken like this every single night. As many of us have learned first hand, the police have different priorities and the penalty for this crime is currently just a misdemeanor.

Thank you for posting the close-up pictures of your Model 3's window. They show a small but significant change that was made in the Model 3 design: there is a gap/seam in the chrome frame that runs around the outside of the broken window. That seam means they only need to replace a small portion of the chrome, making the repair less expensive. (When the same window on my Model S was broken last year, it cost over $1000 to replace. Much of that was the labor to tear off the strip all the way around all windows and glue a new one into place.)

 

[crackers8199]

Well all I can tell you is we drove into a HD located down the street from a Supercharger to buy something and as we pulled into the parking lot (which was kind of dimly lit) we saw a guy over by a car with the trunk open. He had something in his hand. Turned out it was a short crow bar and when he saw us pulling up near him to park, he left the car with the trunk open and walked across the aisle to another car. We had parked and were walking into the store and I told my husband I was pretty sure the guy was breaking into that car. We tried not to look too obvious trying to watch him and saw him drive off. We went in and told Customer Service about what we thought we had seen. We described the car and as it turned out it was one of the CS reps at the desk. She ran out and said yes someone had broken into her car. Didn't find her purse but had rummaged through stuff in her trunk. Called in the report to the police. She said there had been other car breakins recently there. It's not like they were bashing the car with the crow bar but instead were prying it open. Not sure why you think this makes a lot of noise.

if someone wants into the trunk that badly there's not much you can do, but I'm not sure why you can't see the difference between a quick smash of the window vs taking the extra time to try to pry the trunk open with a crowbar. they're not the same thing.

 

[SMAlset]

Both can be quick. Saw dashcam video of our window incident and the seat flip (nothing inside or surely more damage would have occurred). In fact one owner shared a video of his recorded breakin with me and they went back to his car several times to gain further access to what they wanted out of the cargo area. When they thought they might be attracting attention they walked casually over to another car but then came back to finish the job. As I mentioned also saw the guy at HD using the crow bar pry open the trunk. My point in mentioning the two was more to the cost of repair however...a broken window and frame piece or a dented trunk lid from prying. Our Model 3 trunk seems pretty lightweight and wonder if it's mostly all or good part aluminum.

As for the time factor just depends on who's around, lighting conditions and whether or not they feel rushed I would think although I see from some posts this is also happening in broad daylight. If the perp breaks the window and after flipping the seat down wants something back there, it's more time since he's not going to be crawling through that triangular window. Popping the trunk gave the perp we saw full access to the trunk area and the quick ability to make off with anything back there they saw of value. He quickly hid how he was holding the crowbar and for all we knew initially he was in his own trunk putting things in it. Wasn't until he walked away without closing the trunk did I suspect anything. Assume the trunk wouldn't stay closed after he did his number on it.

Definitely agree with you on the "if someone wants into the trunk that badly there's not much you can do".

So far I've only seen one post where the perp cut himself on the broken window glass and bled on the car.

 

[laudbrian]

Sorry to see this. We got a Google map going in one of the FB groups I'm in called SF Bay Area Tesla Model 3 Owners
To see where this happened so far in the Bay Area here is the MAP and don't forget to add the location of your incident to help others.

I attached the invoice on what I paid and they sent a Tesla Ranger to my house after calling a bunch of Service Centers, Dublin SC worked out in the end but that probably has changed since this is happening so often after they decriminalized this act in California, every 17 minutes: Inside the Wave of 'Smash-and-Grab' Car Robberies Plaguing San Francisco . This is happening not just on Model 3's but from my experience this happened to my friends Nissan SUV and another friends Mini Cooper just in the month of September. Some people are devising up some possible solutions not just leaving the rear seats down (which I have been doing) and tint. I will share once there is a good one thought up. I used clear packing tape to cover the hole until the replacement came. Good luck.....

 

[pbd87]

That sucks, real bummer. I go to Pacific Commons all the time, this sucks to be happening there.

I saw a Model S broken into last week at Pacific Commons, near the In-N-Out. We were coming out of one of the restaurants there as police were pulling up.

I was just lucky I guess, my 2-day old Model 3 was parked 20 feet away and untouched. I never leave anything visible in it, but this checking the trunk mode of break-in can hit anybody.

 

[Eno Deb]

People in SF getting desparate:

Melanie Woodrow on Twitter

 

[Gary]

Just had my rear quarter window broken last night, along with at least 1 other Tesla, at the Cinema Century 16 in Mountain View. Tesla no long does the repairs and referred to a third party specialist who quoted me ~$1,100+ Parking lot security guard said 90% of break-ins were Teslas.

 

[Need]

Just had my rear quarter window broken last night, along with at least 1 other Tesla, at the Cinema Century 16 in Mountain View. Tesla no long does the repairs and referred to a third party specialist who quoted me ~$1,100+ Parking lot security guard said 90% of break-ins were Teslas.

Just like this thread... movie theater up north. Maybe next time, if it is not raining, just open up the rear windows and the put the back seat down so they could take a look and move on.

May want to check with OP from that thread to see where he got his window replaced. He paid less than $500.

Model 3 Rear window broken

 

[Eno Deb]

Hate those scumbags.

BTW, here's an article about smash & grabs in the south bay. Apparently these are organized gangs from Oakland and SF. They prefer shopping centers and parking lots close to a freeway so they can get in and out quickly.

Palo Alto area a hot spot for auto burglars

I now fold down my back seats whenever I park in such an area.

 

[chibi_kurochan]

Just had my rear quarter window broken last night, along with at least 1 other Tesla, at the Cinema Century 16 in Mountain View. Tesla no long does the repairs and referred to a third party specialist who quoted me ~$1,100+ Parking lot security guard said 90% of break-ins were Teslas.

Hi Gary,

pleased to meet you, unfortunately had to be from such unfortunate event.
Same thing for me, drove by to Fremont service center first thing in the morning.
No more body repairs at service center, they are referring me to Tesla Body Repair, just opened in San Jose.
Call the support line and they can transfer you to the Body Repair Team to help schedule the appointment.

Unless you're planning to go though insurance claim, which I'm doing right now with Geico.
Getting Geico looked at by their adjuster and will forward that to Tesla and do the job.

Glass Piece + Interior panel + Interior liner + paint corrections (scratched on quarter panel) almost $1k.

This is the second time it happened to me in the span of 4 months (June 18 then October 9), last time cost $500 for just the Glass and interior piece replacement at Tesla.

So, I know this is a hassle, but the best thing we can do right now is simply keep your rear seat down wherever we park and Never leave anything in the car. I didn't even have anything in the car and still got broken into.

I hope Tesla dash cam will eventually allow to use the side cameras as well, because that will clearly record this.

 

[chibi_kurochan]

Pictures attached.

 

[chibi_kurochan]

Sigh.. just happened to our ☰ in Saratoga Mitsuwa parking lot.
Do i file insurance claim?
Anybody know how much it’ll cost for the 3?

P.S. i don’t even have anything in the car. Argh.. (now I really need to leave the rear seat folded so they don’t need to break my window to see there’s nothing inside)
P.P.S Happened the same day after another friend got his car broken into in SF palace of fine arts in broad daylight.

This was my first break-in.. SIGH!

 

[Raechris]

Not being a thief, what is the point of this vandalism? How do they open the car to get the treasure out if they do find something? Seems to me too many people expect something for nothing in this socialistic society. Sorry for all the victims’ experience on this thread. Basic civility and respect seem to be vanishing.

 

[Vines]

Not being a thief, what is the point of this vandalism? How do they open the car to get the treasure out if they do find something? Seems to me too many people expect something for nothing in this socialistic society. Sorry for all the victims’ experience on this thread. Basic civility and respect seem to be vanishing.

They fold down the rear seat and look into the trunk from that small window. If there is anything worth taking they then break into the trunk either by prying, or by breaking another window.

 

[chibi_kurochan]

Not being a thief, what is the point of this vandalism? How do they open the car to get the treasure out if they do find something? Seems to me too many people expect something for nothing in this socialistic society. Sorry for all the victims’ experience on this thread. Basic civility and respect seem to be vanishing.

Thank you for the concerns!
It’s mostly major inconvenience for me. We have insurance that will cover most of the cost. I might even reduce my comprehensive deductible to $0 at this point.

@Raechris you are correct, what we need is basic civility and respect. It’s all should be standard moral codes. Probably anger/fate fueled by such high disparity between lower and upper class. Everyone driving >$60k+ Teslas when rent is outrageous and income is stagnant unless you’re in tech or .

I used to own 1998 Civic, so I know what it’s like to be a popular hit target. Now, Tesla’s are getting as popular as Civics/S2K/Integras for vandalism target. All my previous cars before the Tesla has always been Honda’s.

 

[run-the-joules]

I wouldn’t go as far as your statements, i try to sympathize/empathize. It’s mostly major inconvenience for me. We have insurance that will cover most of the cost. I might even reduce my comprehensive deductible to $0 at this point.

If they were stealing food, I'd sympathize. But they're damaging property and stealing valuables from people who work for a living, and making insurance more expensive for all of us. I won't even take my car into the city of SF anymore because of this situation, and when I go to the south bay I end up parking near banks, police stations and so forth and taking an Uber to wherever I need to go.

These people are scum, and they are winning.

 

[chibi_kurochan]

If they were stealing food, I'd sympathize. But they're damaging property and stealing valuables from people who work for a living, and making insurance more expensive for all of us. I won't even take my car into the city of SF anymore because of this situation, and when I go to the south bay I end up parking near banks, police stations and so forth and taking an Uber to wherever I need to go.

These people are scum, and they are winning.

Not only Tesla it seems, see this Lexus RX with broken glass as well. I can only assume it’s the same cause.

I guess at this point it’s simply an organized crime where cops won’t do anything about.

 

[run-the-joules]

Not only Tesla it seems, see this Lexus RX with broken glass as well. I can only assume it’s the same cause.

I guess at this point it’s simply an organized crime where cops won’t do anything about.

It's endemic, everyone is a target. Teslas are just an easier target because the owners tend to be reasonably wealthy, and there's no alarm that'll go off when they break the glass because for some insanely bloody stupid reason, there's no glass breakage or interior motion sensor.

 

[Eno Deb]

It's endemic, everyone is a target. Teslas are just an easier target because the owners tend to be reasonably wealthy, and there's no alarm that'll go off when they break the glass because for some insanely bloody stupid reason, there's no glass breakage or interior motion sensor.

These guys don't care about alarms. You can find plenty of videos on Youtube where they smash windows in broad daylight and grab what's inside while the alarm is blaring. Nobody cares if a car alarm goes off because of the many false positives.

I think a better way to prevent this would be if the back seats had either an electronic release (like the glove box) or a mechanical release inside the trunk instead of the cabin. The current solution not only invites thieves, but also makes the valet mode almost worthless.

 

[run-the-joules]

These guys don't care about alarms. You can find plenty of videos on Youtube where they smash windows in broad daylight and grab what's inside while the alarm is blaring. Nobody cares if a car alarm goes off because of the many false positives.

I think a better way to prevent this would be if the back seats had either an electronic release (like the glove box) or a mechanical release inside the trunk instead of the cabin. The current solution not only invites thieves, but also makes the valet mode almost worthless.

This is the first car I've owned with folding seats that can't be locked in place via one method or another. Granted the S & X are clear access anyway but this was a very very well-documented problem by the time the 3 was announced.

That said, we should be putting the blame on legislators for making it a crime that isn't pursued or even really punished.