There was an incident in Alexandria, LA last year:
Tesla Trip To Hell & Back
And there was some sort of uncomfortable encounter in, I want to say, Montana last year, as well as a report of break-ins at the Manteca SC.
Suffice it to say, that while we are a fortunate bunch in more ways than one to have so few reports of nefarious behavior at SCs themselves, there are also the all-too-frequent reports of rear triangle window break-ins at Bay Area parking lots. It's possible the recent takedown of a fairly massive criminal element associated with thousands of laptop and other thefts up thataway may dent that frequency, but time will tell.
In general as a result of the changing realities associated with SCing and for that matter, just parking the chariot, I am reminded of 3 basic tenets that I follow with this and any future Tesla:
1. Awareness of one's surroundings, as one would do with any other vehicle or parking scenario, which includes an awareness of what's visible in the car - which is to say as little as possible.
2. I have a product called C-Bond (I) applied during the window tinting process. The triangle windows are small, so having those re-tinted with this solution is not an expensive proposition. Note that C-Bond I is *not* the bulletproof stuff (C-Bond II) that requires different tint and glass as far as I know. It's just a solution mixed in with the same (what I call) soapy water that's used for window tinting in general. Makes the glass harder to penetrate. If interested, search my previous posts or the forum in general for "C-Bond" as well as for "Extreme Autowerks" for a very illustrative video.
3. I tend to stay with the car during the first visit or two (or every visit) to an SC location that is... less than optimal.
Obligatory disclaimer: I have no association with C-Bond or with Extreme Autowerks other than being a repeat customer of the latter for Photosync tint and for Opticoat Pro (Plus). I find the owner, Bing, and the master detailer, Ryan, to be consummate professionals and I'm fortunate that they are local - they've done hundreds of Teslas. If you are not local, well, here's a perfect excuse to add a day or two to a trip to Disneyland, because they, as well as Reus Audio Systems, are right down the street - which in SoCal terms means within about a half-hour on the freeway if there's no trafffic.
Lastly, I realize that the above is more vehicle security-centric than personal safety-centric. With regard to the latter, an attempted carjacking or attempted mugging or similar can happen to anybody, and should be both thought about and planned for - preparation is key. I've done that preparation, and have various means at my disposal to address those sorts of things. I'm also not entirely comfortable discussing what those choices of means are in a public forum, but one of those means would absolutely be a travel-sized container of spray. Fits well in the door storage area. Avoid and evade if possible, in other words.
This includes, in the more urban areas (let's pick on SoCal), noting that when passing through, one does have multiple choices of which SC to use. One resource I love is the very well-maintained SC Tips and Tricks thread at the Model S forum at
Electric Cars, Solar Panels & Clean Energy Storage | Tesla. After you've mapped your route using
EV Trip Planner or similar, just have a quick look at that thread for all sorts of local and visitor knowledge. To that end, when, for example, trying to get through LA/the OC via the 405, I might recommend using the Redondo Beach SC rather than the Fountain Valley SC if very late at night and concerned, just because the former has hotel security that patrols the parking lot(s) and the latter does not. Or vice versa during mid-weekdays, since the former can get quite busy with those darned aerospace freeloader ^H^H^H (
) long distance commuter types combined with livery and even some travelers.
