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Sentry Mode Phone Notification

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Sadly, my Model 3 was broken into yesterday, with the passenger rear quarter glass being broken first, then my rear passenger window.

I had sentry mode activated, the blue button appeared on my phone, and I made sure that it appeared as recording on my touchscreen.

My biggest fault in having sentry mode activated, however, is that I didn't configure my hard drive correctly to be able to store files (formatted as NTFS, not FAT32), so any footage it may have taken wasn't saved at all.

A concern that I have overall though, is that with sentry mode activated, I've received no push notifications on my phone, either alerting me that Sentry Mode was taken out of standby or that the interior of my vehicle had been breached.
 

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Have you contacted Tesla Customer Service to see if they have footage of the break-in?

I think it might upload it over the cellular network when the alarm is activated.

I just sent a request for assistance through my browser, contacting Customer Service on the phone wasn't of much help.
Thank you for that! I didn't think about contacting Tesla to see if they had anything.
 
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Really sorry to see you have joined the break in club. So they took out your rear passenger window as well? What got taken? It's quite a mess to get cleaned up and glass repaired. I hope your paint didn't get scratched and that you don't have additional damage.

Too bad about the formatting. There have been a lot of posts/threads on this and seeing you are a new member probably didn't see them or didn't read your manual (it does specifically say it must be FAT32 and a TeslaCam folder set up).

You will find a lot of posts on the forum from those of us that have been hit already. Personally I just leave my Model 3 back seat down now with the hopes that the scumbags would notice that before breaking the small window. Our Model S was hit with the small window broken and seat flipped down with, of course, nothing in the cargo area. We've left our parcel shelf off our Model S after that incident. If we shop for something we arrange to drive home with it, if something value and small enough we take in with us if we go into a restaurant, or there are times we will just have one of us stay in the car. Pretty sucky way to live and angry that this type of crime has not been a priority or pursed with people being locked up. There's really no real deterrent for stopping this. That's another issue of how this is handled here in California and a hot topic. There have been owners reporting they have been hit several times over the course of the year. BTW the rash of break ins are just Teslas, but they are a popular target probably because the perps thing owners might have something value inside. Where in California did this happen? It's epidemic in the San Francisco Bay area.

I just read in our local newspapers that neighborhoods in our surrounding area have been reporting crews of guys driving around neighborhoods at night (as oppose to the more prevalent shopping center hits) and while one car drives slowly, their "team" goes out to people's driveways and peers in cars and test door handles, sometimes breaking in the cars if something catches their interest.

If your car's set up was to allow data sharing with Tesla, I have read on TMC that a person contacted them after an incident and they were able to send them some photos I think. Can't recall the specifics. Worth a try. You'll need the date and time and since this only happened yesterday they probably still have the info.
 
Really sorry to see you have joined the break in club. So they took out your rear passenger window as well? What got taken? It's quite a mess to get cleaned up and glass repaired. I hope your paint didn't get scratched and that you don't have additional damage.

Too bad about the formatting. There have been a lot of posts/threads on this and seeing you are a new member probably didn't see them or didn't read your manual (it does specifically say it must be FAT32 and a TeslaCam folder set up).

You will find a lot of posts on the forum from those of us that have been hit already. Personally I just leave my Model 3 back seat down now with the hopes that the scumbags would notice that before breaking the small window. Our Model S was hit with the small window broken and seat flipped down with, of course, nothing in the cargo area. We've left our parcel shelf off our Model S after that incident. If we shop for something we arrange to drive home with it, if something value and small enough we take in with us if we go into a restaurant, or there are times we will just have one of us stay in the car. Pretty sucky way to live and angry that this type of crime has not been a priority or pursed with people being locked up. There's really no real deterrent for stopping this. That's another issue of how this is handled here in California and a hot topic. There have been owners reporting they have been hit several times over the course of the year. BTW the rash of break ins are just Teslas, but they are a popular target probably because the perps thing owners might have something value inside. Where in California did this happen? It's epidemic in the San Francisco Bay area.

I just read in our local newspapers that neighborhoods in our surrounding area have been reporting crews of guys driving around neighborhoods at night (as oppose to the more prevalent shopping center hits) and while one car drives slowly, their "team" goes out to people's driveways and peers in cars and test door handles, sometimes breaking in the cars if something catches their interest.

If your car's set up was to allow data sharing with Tesla, I have read on TMC that a person contacted them after an incident and they were able to send them some photos I think. Can't recall the specifics. Worth a try. You'll need the date and time and since this only happened yesterday they probably still have the info.

I had the TeslaCam file setup, however not the right formatting, and to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure how my hard drive would have formatted.

The officer I spoke to had given me the information of how those people have been performing these kinds of thefts, and it really is a terrible way that we need to conduct our daily life. This happened in a shopping center as I was out for dinner, and the audacity of the people to do it in front of a bank as well.

I had my work bag and electronics taken, and my passengers had their bags and purses stolen (all stowed away in the trunk). It just so happened that they were the first things they could grab from putting down my rear seat.

Thank you for the idea to keep my belongings with me, especially of value, and to have the backseat down. I will definitely be doing that in the future, and hoping that Tesla will be able to pull any data or even correct the push notification issue.
 
BTW I did get a notification a while back when we parked my Model 3 in a parking garage and were having dinner nearby at a restaurant. Husband went to check on car, it turned out to be set off by loud sound from passing car, but my horn was honking, lights flashing and music inside my car.

Alarm notification - 1 (1).jpg

While you might have notifications set on your Tesla app, have you checked your phone's Notification settings for the Tesla app. Here's mine on my iPhone. In fact after reviewing, I just set my banner notification to Persistent and to Show Always (phone locked or unlocked).

notification setting on phone - 1.jpg

Your phone may also have a selection of when to show notifications (ie. locked phone or not). If you are on a call or on your phone, this might affect whether notifications are shown I think. And of course if the phone is not visible to you (pocket or purse) and/or the volume is down, you might not be aware of an alarm notification coming your way. The notifications are sent when an Alarm state occurs, not an alert (or you'd be getting one every time a person walks by your car when on Sentry).
 
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I had the TeslaCam file setup, however not the right formatting, and to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure how my hard drive would have formatted.

The officer I spoke to had given me the information of how those people have been performing these kinds of thefts, and it really is a terrible way that we need to conduct our daily life. This happened in a shopping center as I was out for dinner, and the audacity of the people to do it in front of a bank as well.

I had my work bag and electronics taken, and my passengers had their bags and purses stolen (all stowed away in the trunk). It just so happened that they were the first things they could grab from putting down my rear seat.

Thank you for the idea to keep my belongings with me, especially of value, and to have the backseat down. I will definitely be doing that in the future, and hoping that Tesla will be able to pull any data or even correct the push notification issue.


We were in a restaurant parking lot when our MS got hit. I wonder if the bank would have video in your case?

Also be aware that sometimes these guys sit in cars or slowly drive around the parking lots/garages watching what people are doing. By chance did everyone go to the trunk and put their belongings in before heading to the restaurant? You could try storing your stuff out of site from where you are going to be parking and maybe consider using either the frunk or the lower trunk portion (which if the seat is left up and gets turned down they wouldn't see anything in the upper trunk area). Just a thought but women should always take in their purses and backpacks with equipment probably can go alot of places with you as well. No car is theft proof though.

As for your hard drive formatting your usb device, by any chance were you using a windows machine? I'm on a Mac so have the option for FAT32 on it when formatting. I understand from users here that windows machines will not format FAT32 and that in order to do so you need to use a third party app to do it. I know people have mentioned different apps that they have used, and it does solve their problem with formatting.
 
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I had the TeslaCam file setup, however not the right formatting, and to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure how my hard drive would have formatted.

The officer I spoke to had given me the information of how those people have been performing these kinds of thefts, and it really is a terrible way that we need to conduct our daily life. This happened in a shopping center as I was out for dinner, and the audacity of the people to do it in front of a bank as well.

I had my work bag and electronics taken, and my passengers had their bags and purses stolen (all stowed away in the trunk). It just so happened that they were the first things they could grab from putting down my rear seat.

Thank you for the idea to keep my belongings with me, especially of value, and to have the backseat down. I will definitely be doing that in the future, and hoping that Tesla will be able to pull any data or even correct the push notification issue.
Damn so you have nothing in sight and they still broke into your car?!! That's messed up. I guess I'll have to lower my back seats in sketchy areas...
 
Damn so you have nothing in sight and they still broke into your car?!! That's messed up. I guess I'll have to lower my back seats in sketchy areas...

Doesn't have to be "sketchy" areas as evidenced by the location descriptions many people shared. And as evidenced in news reports, it's not just our Teslas being targeted although reading of accounts on here it may seem like it.

Something people should also be aware of: Teams in a car have also been driving around nice neighborhoods at night, letting out their members who run up to people's cars in their driveways, perps look in, try door handles and sometimes break in if they think it might be worth it. Seen a number of videos of this happening. You'll find news stories of this happening more and more often including showing images or videos from peoples Rings/dashcams/home security systems. This NBC Bay Area news story tells about what happened to one of their workers (with video):

Possible Thieves Target Car With Morgan Hill Woman Inside

Another similar story different town: Suspicious Vehicle Seen Pacing Possible Thieves: Gilroy Police

Since OP mentioned Milpitas, this only from March: Car break-ins are on the rise in Milpitas after 145 reported in first 2 months of the year, Fremont and Milpitas Police Warn Drivers After Car Break-Ins

Santa Clara, early this month news story: Santa Clara Police Call Car Break-Ins an Epidemic: Report
And I'm sorry but spending tax dollars as discussed in the footage to inform people not to leave things out in their cars and put up signs in parking lots (seen those go up all over) isn't going to solve the problem. Heck we can do that here for free -- warning owners and suggesting things to do.

Pretty much every city in the Bay area is experiencing these crimes.

I don't know if these criminals have moved more from the shopping center break ins to the cover of darkness in quiet residental neighborhoods or not but be aware even when you park your car at home outside.
 
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I’ve had the sentry alarm triggered and send me notifications previously but I’m wondering if the functionality no longer works on the current firmware version as it’s been several weeks and usually I’d get about 1-2 a month just from loud trucks or vibrations in the parking garage.