Epidemic of Model 3 small window break-ins

[chillaban]

Interesting fact. Status of a criminal offense has never changed my behavior. Seems like a PhD dissertation topic.

Well I'm glad that I don't have to worry about you flying over from Boston and breaking into my car. Nor do I sit around pondering if I should smash and grab things from other peoples' cars just because I know there's effectively zero risk I'd get caught or suffer any significant consequences if caught.

But even without a PhD dissertation I would imagine that's not how people who break into cars think. It absolutely is true out here though that the local police departments will not bother to take any investigative action on vehicle break-ins or vandalism in the SF Bay Area.

Once I had security footage from a local school showing someone keying my previous car in SF. The detective was nice enough to return a phone call, but simply said because this is a misdemeanor and a non-violent one at that, unless I can provide the name and address of the person in the video, they will not be taking any investigative action at all. And even then they could not promise they'd follow up on it.

 

[SMAlset]

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.

Sorry @chibi_kurochan. Just read your post. I originated this thread when this happened to our MS. We didn't file a claim and took it to the Sunnyvale SC the next day and had it fixed there. We also didn't have anything in the car. We leave our parcel shelf out of the car and don't leave anything in the car. I know it's not just Teslas though and in fact with so many of these crossover type vehicles and hatchbacks out there I suspect the numbers will just climb. I'm on the waiting list for a M3 and even though it has a trunk, the access point is similar to the MS through the back seat I assume. Did you take any photos you could share? What did it end up costing you?

 

[chillaban]

FWIW, filing a comprehensive claim for break-ins or vandalism while the car is unattended is extremely extremely unlikely to affect your rates. At least in the context of California where these break-ins are happening.

And @SMAIset's advice is excellent. It's a really good idea to just take off the parcel shelf. The rear window break-ins are motivated by checking for something valuable underneath the parcel shelf. If you just leave the trunk contents in plain sight, it's more likely they'll see you don't have anything valuable rather than checking themselves

 

[chibi_kurochan]

Sorry @chibi_kurochan. Just read your post. I originated this thread when this happened to our MS. We didn't file a claim and took it to the Sunnyvale SC the next day and had it fixed there. We also didn't have anything in the car. We leave our parcel shelf out of the car and don't leave anything in the car. I know it's not just Teslas though and in fact with so many of these crossover type vehicles and hatchbacks out there I suspect the numbers will just climb. I'm on the waiting list for a M3 and even though it has a trunk, the access point is similar to the MS through the back seat I assume. Did you take any photos you could share? What did it end up costing you?

I parked under the lights in front of shops and still.
The car is still in SC, took it in right away the next morning. They kindly took me in despite not having an appointment and pleasantly surprised or not so surprise (if they expect this to happen a lot) have 2 replacement parts available in stock. Hopefully get it back tomorrow and I’ll know the final cost. Their estimate was around $500 ($150 in parts + insane California labor rate)

 

[mspohr]

Its not just "This"

Thieves are breaking that specific window to pull down the seat and check whats in the trunk. It's not about leaving things in the back seat.

My S was broken into in SF a few months ago. They just broke the right rear window, nothing stolen. About $600 to repair. Insurance covered it (less deductible).

 

[SMAlset]

Thanks for the photos @chibi_kurochan. Almost looks like they used a glass cutter on it. This is all so really sad and frustrating. I think on our MS we paid something over $1200 at the SC. And they took us in right away too which we really appreciated. The parts aren't so bad but yeah the labor really adds up. In all fairness the entire chrome rim on the MS has to be taken off, the glass and gaskets replaced in that area, and then the chrome gets added back on and sealed. Takes them a few days for things to cure so it really isn't as simple or easy as replacing a broken house window pane for example. They did a great job on our replacement and you'd never know it was broken, so at least we were happy about that.

I'm curious how much of the chrome frame needs to be removed and replaced on the Model 3. Similar window area to the MS but I think the trim is different there. Back when we went to the owners event in Seaside during Monterey car week last year, I brought this issue of cost of replacement of the small rear window to John McNeil and Franz who were there. We had just had our car vandalized recently at that point. Not sure what they can do to prevent Teslas being among those cars targeted for this type of vandalism, but we talked about locking rear seats or small window design possibilities hoping more thought would go into design changes that could at least keep the cost of replacing the glass there down. The repair cost does seem disproportionate to the area of glass needing to be replaced.

Let us know how you make out. And really look closely for small pieces of glass when you get your car back. Don't want any left in seat cracks that can end up cutting your seat material.

BTW did any of the shops there have a security camera pointed in your car's direction. If so might be helpful to the police if they can see a license plate that the perp/s were in. No doubt they were looking for laptops or tablets left inside.

 

[mekberg]

I'm curious how much of the chrome frame needs to be removed and replaced on the Model 3.

I damaged the chrome trim on the passenger's side above the front door. Runs from the mirror to mid-way above the rear door. Part cost was $40 and Mobile Service took ~10 minutes to swap it out. There were a few screws under the seal.

 

[run-the-joules]

People who do this should be ground up and used as fertilizer to grow food and feed people who aren't worthless.

 

[Mishakim]

So reading this makes me curious, as this happened to me years ago here in Boston (Cambridge, actually), when I drove a Beretta. Now that I have child seats in the back, are the people doing this smart enough to know what a pain it will be to get that out of the way to put the seat down, and move on to the next car? If so, it gives me another reason to make the older child stick with the high-back instead of the low booster.

 

[voip-ninja]

So reading this makes me curious, as this happened to me years ago here in Boston (Cambridge, actually), when I drove a Beretta. Now that I have child seats in the back, are the people doing this smart enough to know what a pain it will be to get that out of the way to put the seat down, and move on to the next car? If so, it gives me another reason to make the older child stick with the high-back instead of the low booster.

Hmm.... if I smash this window will it be hard to get the seat down to see what is in the back of the car?

Or am I just a worthless crack head who doesn't know what day of the week it is and is just hoping that this rich yuppie left something I can pawn for drugs in the back of the car and I really am not going to think this thing through?

I'm pretty sure I know which it is.

 

[chibi_kurochan]

Thanks for the photos @chibi_kurochan. Almost looks like they used a glass cutter on it. This is all so really sad and frustrating. I think on our MS we paid something over $1200 at the SC. And they took us in right away too which we really appreciated. The parts aren't so bad but yeah the labor really adds up. In all fairness the entire chrome rim on the MS has to be taken off, the glass and gaskets replaced in that area, and then the chrome gets added back on and sealed. Takes them a few days for things to cure so it really isn't as simple or easy as replacing a broken house window pane for example. They did a great job on our replacement and you'd never know it was broken, so at least we were happy about that.

I'm curious how much of the chrome frame needs to be removed and replaced on the Model 3. Similar window area to the MS but I think the trim is different there. Back when we went to the owners event in Seaside during Monterey car week last year, I brought this issue of cost of replacement of the small rear window to John McNeil and Franz who were there. We had just had our car vandalized recently at that point. Not sure what they can do to prevent Teslas being among those cars targeted for this type of vandalism, but we talked about locking rear seats or small window design possibilities hoping more thought would go into design changes that could at least keep the cost of replacing the glass there down. The repair cost does seem disproportionate to the area of glass needing to be replaced.

Let us know how you make out. And really look closely for small pieces of glass when you get your car back. Don't want any left in seat cracks that can end up cutting your seat material.

BTW did any of the shops there have a security camera pointed in your car's direction. If so might be helpful to the police if they can see a license plate that the perp/s were in. No doubt they were looking for laptops or tablets left inside.

Another pleasant surprise, SC completed the car one day ahead of the promised date! $425 in parts and labor.

Thanks for the heads up, they did miss some fine glass pieces, I just had to vacuum it again.

 

[mhan00]

So reading this makes me curious, as this happened to me years ago here in Boston (Cambridge, actually), when I drove a Beretta. Now that I have child seats in the back, are the people doing this smart enough to know what a pain it will be to get that out of the way to put the seat down, and move on to the next car? If so, it gives me another reason to make the older child stick with the high-back instead of the low booster.

Lmao. That’s a great point. I don’t have kids and I’m suddenly tempted to buy a child seat or two to stick in my back seat to deter people from breaking the window to check the trunk when I drive up to San Francisco in a couple months (or borrow one from a friend who’s kid has outgrown the seat). From what I hear, this crap has been happening to all higher end vehicles in the San Francisco area and that the thieves consider it a “courtesy” move to break that small rear window since it’s the cheapest to repair and it’s a quick way to check the trunk for valuable cargo. A lot of people are now just flipping their rear seats down themselves and leaving the trunk covers off so the thieves can see there’s nothing in the car to steal without breaking the window.

 

[SMAlset]

Another pleasant surprise, SC completed the car one day ahead of the promised date! $425 in parts and labor.

Thanks for the heads up, they did miss some fine glass pieces, I just had to vacuum it again.

I'm glad to hear at least for Model 3 that the price to replace is down from what we paid for our MS like a year ago. Maybe better design for repairing. Maybe our bringing this up to Franz helped make the change. Still not acceptable that it was necessary and nothing like getting clobbered twice--broken glass and repair bill.

Personally I'd still like to see something like the key lock that I had on my old Honda Accord LX. It had a back seat that folded forward as one unit. If a lock could be applied to the seat latch area, I'd rather have something like that I'd have to unlock with a key than creating an easy breakin point for thieves. Of course Tesla's moving away from physical keys but I still wouldn't mind carrying one.

 

[Zaphod]

Thanks for the photos @chibi_kurochan. Almost looks like they used a glass cutter on it. This is all so really sad and frustrating. I think on our MS we paid something over $1200 at the SC. And they took us in right away too which we really appreciated. The parts aren't so bad but yeah the labor really adds up. In all fairness the entire chrome rim on the MS has to be taken off, the glass and gaskets replaced in that area, and then the chrome gets added back on and sealed. Takes them a few days for things to cure so it really isn't as simple or easy as replacing a broken house window pane for example. They did a great job on our replacement and you'd never know it was broken, so at least we were happy about that.

I'm curious how much of the chrome frame needs to be removed and replaced on the Model 3. Similar window area to the MS but I think the trim is different there. Back when we went to the owners event in Seaside during Monterey car week last year, I brought this issue of cost of replacement of the small rear window to John McNeil and Franz who were there. We had just had our car vandalized recently at that point. Not sure what they can do to prevent Teslas being among those cars targeted for this type of vandalism, but we talked about locking rear seats or small window design possibilities hoping more thought would go into design changes that could at least keep the cost of replacing the glass there down. The repair cost does seem disproportionate to the area of glass needing to be replaced.

Let us know how you make out. And really look closely for small pieces of glass when you get your car back. Don't want any left in seat cracks that can end up cutting your seat material.

BTW did any of the shops there have a security camera pointed in your car's direction. If so might be helpful to the police if they can see a license plate that the perp/s were in. No doubt they were looking for laptops or tablets left inside.

If you look at the second picture of the red car, you will see a line in the trim right at the rear door window edge. That is because the trim and window are complete assembly. The whole upper trim ahead of that seam shouldn't have any need to be replaced. Tesla did this not only for ease of manufacturing but ease of replacement.

Oh, and this is why we can't have nice things and some people are arseholes...

 

[ℬête Noire]

Note that the bit about the frunk is incorrect. You can't open it if the 12V battery in the car is still active. The override only works if the 12V battery is dead.

Has this been changed by Tesla in the last couple months? Because it as discovered earlier this year that, though the manual stated that, it was not the case. You don't even need 12V source, a standard household 9V battery applied to the wires in the tow hook port is enough to trigger the actuator to open the frunk.

EDIT: Here's the thread: Video: Standard 9V Battery vs Model 3 Frunk

 

[BluestarE3]

So reading this makes me curious, as this happened to me years ago here in Boston (Cambridge, actually), when I drove a Beretta. Now that I have child seats in the back, are the people doing this smart enough to know what a pain it will be to get that out of the way to put the seat down, and move on to the next car? If so, it gives me another reason to make the older child stick with the high-back instead of the low booster.

Hmm... I may have to move my granddaughter's child seat from my wife's minivan to my Model 3 when I get the car.

 

[rsunny2012]

Hello,

today i went to a movie theater and after coming from movie theater, i see that my rear window glass has been broken and back seat has been folded down. i am not sure whether someone trying to break in the car or it just broken on its own. Please see the below pictures and kindly suggest me the next steps

PS: i have already emailed the pictures to tesla service center

 

[Skione65]

Definitely looks like a “smash and grab”. Highly doubtful it broke on its own especially if the rear seat on that side is folded down. Tell tale sign. There’s been a history of this happening on the 3 in some areas. It’s an attempt by the thief to break that rear triangle window for easy access to the seat latch to then fold down and see if there is anything of value in the trunk. Then warrants a more thorough break in for the valuables (if any) I believe.
Hopefully you’re able to get it repaired in a timely manner by Service. I don’t know how readily they have these quarter windows in stock. Best of Luck.

Ski

 

[rsunny2012]

Will this come under warranty or I should go through my insurance ?

 

[Phrixotrichus]

Will this come under warranty or I should go through my insurance ?

definitely insurance. This looks like a theft attempt.