Sentry advice

[ajmorr.is]

It appears that someone has bumped into my car at the rear, which has put a crease in the lower part of the tailgate. Oddly there are no marks on the bumper or lower valance that I can see. I’d make a guess that this has happened when I’ve been parked, probably on a street with cars in front and behind mainly because I generally park nose in in car parks and the crease is dead straight and right in the middle of the tailgate (my wife even questioned if it was a design feature). It’s slightly odd that it’s the tailgate only, which on a Model Y is quite high, although obviously there are always bigger vehicles.

I only noticed it today after getting home from being out all day and I don’t think it happened while parked today as the dust/grime hasn’t been rubbed off, so it must have happened on a previous trip.

What is the best way of trying to review the Sentry footage to see if I can either work out when it happened, and then see if I can work out who/what did it.

I have so far taken the USB drive out and dumped the contents onto a hard drive. The review I did of the saved Sentry footage in car didn’t reveal anything, but it’s not exactly the best interface.

 

[TechnoWatch]

You may have fallen foul of a change to the default for sentry mode (around December 2022)… the camera based detection it now off by default, in order to save battery drain, so is only triggered when the alarm would be set off.

Had no footage when someone drove into our parked car… luckily had witnesses.

Now found and enabled the “camera based detection” option, so we are getting sentry events again when people get close.

 

[TechnoWatch]

Any clips would be in an obvious folder on the usb, so almost certainly you have nothing recorded

 

[ajmorr.is]

My Camera Based Detection is definitely turned on. The car was new in March 2023 and I specifically turned it on, and I checked just a couple of weeks ago actually that it was still on when visiting relatives where I didn't need to have Sentry on draining the battery. I get plenty of Sentry notifications after returning to my car after being parked up for a while.

 

[pgkevet]

If memory serves there used to be a downloadable app someone had written to view on a PC.
Also Puretesla have some tutorial on the subject.
Google is probably your friend.

 

[MrBadger]

Try this. I use to use it for viewing TeslaCam footage before Tesla added in car viewing capabilities. Not perfect but 100x better than viewing clips alone.

Caveat- either Tesla changed the codec at some point or I started using newer Edge (chromium based browser) that was incompatible with the codec so started showing blank clips. I think thread might explain. Otherwise look at safari or Firefox.

Web App for Viewing TeslaCam Videos

I created a web application for viewing my TeslaCam dashboard and Sentry video clips that I would like to share and get feedback. Works on Mac or Windows using Chrome or IE browsers. TeslaCam Viewer The app uses your local file system and browser - so nothing to install or upload. Click...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[ajmorr.is]

Last night I reviewed every saved sentry clip on my USB drive which was tagged as Rear and couldn’t see anything abnormal. If Sentry has failed to record what is clearly quite a fair bump then what’s the point

 

[zoomer0056]

Last night I reviewed every saved sentry clip on my USB drive which was tagged as Rear and couldn’t see anything abnormal. If Sentry has failed to record what is clearly quite a fair bump then what’s the point

Post a picture of the damage.

 

[kelvin 660]

Why don't you park the car with sentry enabled, wait a while and then hit the damaged area with your hand or something heavier, and see if sentry records the event.
That will prove if it's really working...

 

[ajmorr.is]

Post a picture of the damage.

 

[ajmorr.is]

Why don't you park the car with sentry enabled, wait a while and then hit the damaged area with your hand or something heavier, and see if sentry records the event.
That will prove if it's really working...

I’m almost certain that Sentry is camera based, so will (should) only trigger if a person or object is deemed by the system to be in close proximity. If another vehicle has bumped into mine (which is obviously what has happened here) then it should have been deemed close enough to trigger a recording. I get plenty of notifications and have numerous clips on the USB for people & vehicles but not one for this.

 

[MrBadger]

That might not be ‘accident’ damage.

If the tailgate is closing/has closed too tightly (also possibly due to closing on an obstruction) then it is possible that it is causing stress on the tailgate. If the position of the crease aligns with any seams etc on other side of tailgate or on main body, then I would be giving the cause a second thought.

 

[ajmorr.is]

That might not be ‘accident’ damage.

If the tailgate is closing/has closed too tightly (also possibly due to closing on an obstruction) then it is possible that it is causing stress on the tailgate. If the position of the crease aligns with any seams etc on other side of tailgate or on main body, then I would be giving the cause a second thought.

Interesting thoughts, but the crease doesn't align with any seams on the other side of the panel and there are no marks on the upper lip of the bumper to indicate that the tailgate has come into contact. I'm almost sure that I can see a line in the dust exactly where the dent is but it's hard to take a photograph of this.

Regardless, there is nothing on the Sentry footage and so I might as well get on with trying to find someone local to fix it, hopefully by PDR.

 

[init6]

Could someone have reversed into something, hence no sentry?

 

[zoomer0056]

It's definitely a crease, but almost indiscernable. Enough of a love tap to leave a mark. Camera based sentry would have recorded if it was set.

 

[ajmorr.is]

Could someone have reversed into something, hence no sentry?

I’m the only driver. Not saying that I’m a perfect jockey, but I haven’t reversed into anything, I’d certainly notice on the camera as the dent is almost directly below it.

It's definitely a crease, but almost indiscernable. Enough of a love tap to leave a mark. Camera based sentry would have recorded if it was set.

Camera based sentry is definitely turned on.

 

[zoomer0056]

I’m the only driver. Not saying that I’m a perfect jockey, but I haven’t reversed into anything, I’d certainly notice on the camera as the dent is almost directly below it.


Camera based sentry is definitely turned on.

Maybe a service is needed to fix sentry. Can't hurt to schedule one.

 

[kelvin 660]

Why don't you park the car with sentry enabled, wait a while and then hit the damaged area with your hand or something heavier, and see if sentry records the event.
That will prove if it's really working...

Actually I just tried this. Walked up behind my car and hit the car on the boot lid, number plate and bumper with my hand. No sentry event was recorded!
A few minutes later, a person was caught by the near side camera as she walked pass the car, that caused a sentry event....
It seems the rear camera isn't very sensitive...

 

[init6]

Actually I just tried this. Walked up behind my car and hit the car on the boot lid, number plate and bumper with my hand. No sentry event was recorded!
A few minutes later, a person was caught by the near side camera as she walked pass the car, that caused a sentry event....
It seems the rear camera isn't very sensitive...

Did you have your phone/key with you at the time?

 

[zoomer0056]

It seems the rear camera isn't very sensitive...

I was thinking that, service appointment can't hurt for rear camera. I am sure you looked at it, its clean and not obstructed and looks ok in the cabin on the screen.