How effective has Sentry Mode been?

[MP3Mike]

How does it detect the window break in? Is it using camera or some kind of sensor?

I think it is using the microphones that are in the cabin.

 

[crackers8199]

Or just make it a feature that can be turn on via the app.

i wonder if it's in the API...if so, easy to create something to turn it on/off without waiting for tesla to add it to the app. i'll have to do some digging when i get a chance...my car doesn't have sentry yet though so my hands are tied at the moment.

edit: its not there for my car at the moment, but like i said i haven't gotten the update yet so i can't say for sure that it won't be there once i do...

 

[davedavedave]

Or just make it a feature that can be turn on via the app.

Yep, and with Siri or Ok Google support!

 

[Scrutmonkey]

Was it a false activation or was someone trying to break into your car?

nah, it was me opening the trunk, putting in groceries, then closing the trunk without opening the car to disarm Sentry Mode.

At least we know it works.

 

[pscarroll]

Nobody knows if Sentry is effective or not, it's still in beta test as it is only being sent to beta testers and selected others and not yet released to anyone outside of that group.

 

[SageBrush]

Are there any of you who knows that it helped prevent a break-in?

How would someone know that ?

 

[voip-ninja]

How would someone know that ?

Easy...

1. Someone gets push notification that someone is messing with their car, they show up and find that there is video of someone messing with the car who decided not to attempt the break in after seeing sentry was active.

2. Someone has a window punch to their rear quarter window but the thief abandons the rest of the break in attempt (doesn't get their stuff) because sentry activated and started blasting loud music at them.

 

[Runebane]

Does anyone know if the videos are uploaded to a cloud service or just on the USB stick? Does Tesla retain the video elsewhere is what I really want to know. Seems to me, that the USB stick would be the weakest point in the protection.

 

[voip-ninja]

Does anyone know if the videos are uploaded to a cloud service or just on the USB stick? Does Tesla retain the video elsewhere is what I really want to know. Seems to me, that the USB stick would be the weakest point in the protection.

The video is recorded to local USB storage only, so if a thief knows this they can remove the thumb drive and take the evidence with them.

It would be good if Tesla either cached a few images with the cars broadband connection or pushed them to the user's mobile device as backup insurance.

 

[Runebane]

The video is recorded to local USB storage only, so if a thief knows this they can remove the thumb drive and take the evidence with them.

It would be good if Tesla either cached a few images with the cars broadband connection or pushed them to the user's mobile device as backup insurance.

I like the idea of pushing images to the mobile device. Or even a small video

 

[whatthe2]

The video is recorded to local USB storage only, so if a thief knows this they can remove the thumb drive and take the evidence with them.

It would be good if Tesla either cached a few images with the cars broadband connection or pushed them to the user's mobile device as backup insurance.

Actually, here's what they added:
“Sentry Mode will send recorded footage to Tesla for temporary backup and feature improvement. You can enable or disable this collection any time via the DATA SHARING video clip setting in Controls > Settings > Safety & Security. Please refer to your Owner’s Manual for more information.”

So maybe there's a way to get it still.

 

[kl118]

The video is recorded to local USB storage only, so if a thief knows this they can remove the thumb drive and take the evidence with them.

It would be good if Tesla either cached a few images with the cars broadband connection or pushed them to the user's mobile device as backup insurance.

The release notes say that it can be saved to Tesla's internal servers in the cloud. However, I'm wondering if the images/videos are temporarily saved to internal storage in the car first before being pushed to the USB drive. Otherwise, there might not be enough time for the car to copy the video file from USB drive to the cloud if a thief decides to steal it.

 

[voip-ninja]

Actually, here's what they added:
“Sentry Mode will send recorded footage to Tesla for temporary backup and feature improvement. You can enable or disable this collection any time via the DATA SHARING video clip setting in Controls > Settings > Safety & Security. Please refer to your Owner’s Manual for more information.”

So maybe there's a way to get it still.

Interesting, this sounds like a relatively new development.

More than likely Tesla is using this so they can analyze what is setting off Sentry and tweak things. I agree it would be good if they would offer to cache it for a period of time.

 

[whatthe2]

Interesting, this sounds like a relatively new development.

More than likely Tesla is using this so they can analyze what is setting off Sentry and tweak things. I agree it would be good if they would offer to cache it for a period of time.

Yeah, I think they added it a day or two ago. Hopefully working to add it to a cloud offering at some point.

 

[mhan00]

I know Sentry Mode is probably still slow to roll out, but I just received 2019.5.3 on Saturday (I'm thinking it's because Tesla knows that my car had the quarter window broken into). For those who have or will receive it, how effective has this feature been for you? Are there any of you out there that still had their car broken into with Sentry Mode enabled? Are there any of you who knows that it helped prevent a break-in?

I am skeptical, but hopeful that it will a good deterrent, especially when word gets around about the feature. By the way, after legitimately opening the trunk with Sentry Mode is enabled, the alarm will go off after closing it. I'm not sure if that was the intended behavior, but I submitted a bug report just in case.

It’s way too early to ask if it’s effective. A tiny number of cars have it, and it’s only been a few days. It’s not like every 3 is getting its window broken everyday; even in areas like SF it happens fairly rarely to an individual car - it’s only on an aggregate basis that break ins happen daily. You’d need data from many cars over months, and even then you’d need to compare the frequency of break ins of cars with sentry mode activated and cars that don’t that park in the same areas to see if there is a difference.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

To me it feels like it's still in development, and they don't have a wide release version yet.

I think they purposely released a rough beta to a handful of owners to get feedback, and they've been using that feedback to adjust things.

Probably not a bad approach to take for this kind of thing. Where the owners can try things, and report back.

So the effectiveness is TBD.

 

[Falkirk]

Would be great to have a recording of people dining the car too! I got one already and my friend just got his 2nd in 9 months! He's feeling like people are doing it on purpose now.

 

[brkaus]

There was not a single successful break-in attempt on any Tesla with sentry mode enabled in 2018.

/s.