They don’t care about alarms. They do these break ins in broad daylight in front of people, too.
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M3 Break-in
- Thread starter ggumz
- Start date
They don’t care about alarms. They do these break ins in broad daylight in front of people, too.
RayK
Active Member
They have been conditioned to believe that Tesla Model 3s have no defense against breaking the windows. Putting up some visual aids might stop some of them. Anything to reduce the chances of getting hit.
I vote for some skilled marksmen to set up and deploy instant punishment.
RayK
Active Member
I'm not sure that would be legal, assuming you're talking about bullets, but an automatic paintball gun would be nice.
And I still think putting razor blades on the seat latches would be appropriate.
If they want to do illegal things to people, they shouldn’t be surprised when people do illegal things back *shrug*
Razor blades coated with curare, perhaps.
Do you ever wonder why MOST smash-and-grabs are done entirely through the window, even when once a window is broken, opening the door would make everything safer and easier? I have to imagine that it is to avoid setting off the alarm.
We regularly hear on these threads that "alarms make no difference." And yet in a huge proportion of these incidents, the thieves ensure that the alarm is not set off. Why not just pry the trunk? Open the door? Seems to me that the glass is broken, and the resulting opening used in order to avoid the alarm.
Prying the trunk takes more time.
Opening the door takes more time.
Watch videos of how fast these pieces of garbage are. They might be scum sucking wastes of sperm and eggs, but they’re quick little vermin the way they do it.
C141medic
Active Member
True. Time is their enemy. Imagine trying to open a door and it’s locked. You just wasted a few seconds when you could’ve just broken the side window and have taken whatever was in the trunk by that time. The more time they spend with your car the increased chances of getting caught.
I've not made my comments without study... including watching more videos than I care to admit. I know how fast they are. In many cases they'd be faster to punch the door glass, and open the door. I'm not saying that they're the smartest bunch, but when they punch two windows (when the quarter window reveals the need for a larger opening), and then they wriggle into the door window to access the trunk instead of opening the door, they are not doing that for speed nor convenience. Maybe habit? Sure seems to me like much is done to avoid the alarm. If speed is the issue, the door glass would be the first one to punch. But they generally punch the quarter window first.
I could be wrong. Either way I’m glad you’re at least thinking about preventing the break in, rather than just protecting the trunk contents.
All that any of us can do is make best guesses based on logic, trying to think like a criminal, and study the most typical MO's. And I agree with you that *thinking* all the way through this is important. Far too often we see people post the ONE WAY to best protect the car. But it turns out that I've seen about 50 (Yes, I have them listed) "this is what you need to do" or "this is what you're doing wrong" from online experts who claim to know how to solve this. And of course about half of the ideas conflict directly with the other half. The one that impresses me the most: Don't put anything in the trunk, and leave the seats down. :sigh:
I'm almost embarrassed to admit how much time I've been thinking about and studying this problem since my break-in exactly two weeks ago. It took a week to have the glass replaced, and another week to replace the tint. I'm now back to where I was... at least on the surface. UNDER the surface, I've done quite a lot in that time.
First order of business for me was definitely to protect the trunk contents. I can give up a window, but I can't give up my gear. My trunk is now FAR more secure than what comes from the factory. My seatbacks are impossible to fold down from the cabin, and a pried trunk lock will not open the lid. All of my solutions are hidden and would require so much time and effort to defeat, I can't believe that I'll lose any cargo now. I'm quite happy with all that, and now I'm turning my attention to preventing the glass smash in the first place. As things stand now, they won't have even a small clue that trying to get into the trunk will be wasted effort.
I really DO think that alarm avoidance is at least in the back of their minds. Maybe it isn't a huge deal for them, but man. There are VERY few instances where they actually set off the alarm. I've seen many instances where opening the door absolutely would make the most sense for the theft.... and yet they avoid doing that at almost all costs. I'd personally like my alarm to sound when glass is broken, or motion inside the car is detected.
I think about this to the point of losing sleep. I'm approaching it more as a challenging project than being angry at thieves. This is not unsolvable. It is just going to take thought, time, effort and money. And continuous refinement. I'm at half way to my goal.
I'm at the point now where *I* can't break my quarter glass with a center punch. I'm not willing to take a hammer to it just yet though... And I haven't fully treated the back window glass. And unfortunately, I can't even practically apply this treatment to the front door glass cue to clarity concerns. But I'm making incremental improvements that are going to make a difference.
True, there's no way to look out of it from the driver seat. It is just there for aesthetics, really.
I look at that point of entry in two different ways:
1. Because it is the most common and easy point of entry, protect it at all costs, and maybe they won't try to break in at all. At least they won't break THAT glass!
2. If that entry point is unavailable, maybe they immediately go for the larger rear window glass. That's a bigger problem to drive home without... more glass littered in the car, and more expensive to fix, etc.
So, one of my thoughts is to make that rear quarter glass all but impenetrable, but appearing stock. They THINK they can enter there. They TRY to enter there. But they can't. And after spending time and getting nowhere they give up instead of immediately moving to the door glass. So some part of me wants to keep them entertained, thinking they can get into the rear quarter glass. If a solid plate over that quarter glass could solve this problem, I'd immediately have one water-jetted in stainless, or lay it up with carbon fiber.
FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
More information from Electrek... Tesla vehicles targeted in series of break-ins, owners try to find solutions
Take a look at the link posted above... It mentions a new aftermarket solution for locking the rear seats
Two other Model 3 owners have come up with a device to lock the rear seats and clearly indicate to the thieves that they wouldn’t be able to access the trunk:
Take a look at the link posted above... It mentions a new aftermarket solution for locking the rear seats
Last month, Tesla started offering and installing a new Enhanced Anti-Theft system that would help prevent those break-ins, but it’s currently only available for Model S and Model X. Many of the reported incidents involve the Model 3. Like any other cars, it’s not recommended to leave any valuable item inside, but the problem is so rampant that many people are getting their windows broken even though they have nothing in the car. Thieves are just breaking the windows to lower the seat and see if there’s anything in the trunk. Two other Model 3 owners have come up with a device to lock the rear seats and clearly indicate to the thieves that they wouldn’t be able to access the trunk:
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Leeclanual
Member
Looks like the drop lock is a filler piece that slides into the existing handle and needs a special tool to remove it... sounds like a simple quick fix. $25 seems a bit steep for what you get... but I’ll give it a shot and report back.
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FlatSix911
Porsche 918 Hybrid
Agreed... I think this would cost about $0.50 to produce with a 3D printer. Anyone game?
roblab
Active Member
And more than punishment, they stop the breaking in... forever if the marksman is accurate. This is where the 100 kWh battery might come in handy, with its 350 volts. Jack that up just a bit and you might get a two-foot spark!!
Maybe just a sign declaring "High Voltage" with a cattle prod near the window. Or the "Not a Flamethrower".
I might buy it to hope they invest in continuous improvement. I have something similar w/ an actual key on my pickup tailgate.Agreed... I think this would cost about $0.50 to produce with a 3D printer. Anyone game?
