Tesla CAM question

[neilgader]

Somebody backed into me the other day and I couldn't find cam footage on the USB stick-only footage before and after while the car was in motion. Does the Model 3 have to be moving for the camera to record? Feeling kinda dumb.

 

[dg24]

No. I want to say that it keeps 10 minutes of "recent" footage, and otherwise you have to hit save before it is overwritten.

How soon after did you check the USB drive? Did you hit save?

 

[jbadger]

From my understanding, the dash cam feature is for driving and Sentry mode records when stationery. Sounds like you did not have Sentry enabled.

 

[dg24]

Check out pages 76 and 145 of the Manual - https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_3_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf

 

[Chisale]

My experience is that it will not save any footage while driving unless you tap the camera icon then it saves the last 10 minutes. It'll save all the Sentry footage (if enabled) until it gets full and then will overwrite the oldest. I'm assuming you were parked? Was Sentry on?

 

[Knightshade]

The manual explains this all pretty well, but here's a summary.

The Dashcam feature, if you have it on, and you have a properly configured USB storage device attached to a front USB port, is always recording. if the car is awake. 100% of the time.

By default it saves 1 minute clips from 4 cameras, in a 60 minute loop, over-writing the older-than-60-minutes footage.

It will move the most recent 10 minutes from that loop to a saved folder if:
You press the camera button on the screen to do so
or
You honk the horn


There's also a sentry mode feature- you can choose to enable this or not (and specify some locations where it does or does not enable).

IF it's enabled, the car doesn't fully go to sleep when you park it and get out.

Meaning Dashcam (NOT sentry) is still recording in that 60 minute loop while parked. Sentry never records anything- at all- that's not one of its functions or features.


However- If Sentry goes into alert mode (which happens if its cameras detect something approaching your car) it will (among other things like flashing the lights) move the last 10 minutes from the 60 minute loop into the Sentry folder.... and not overwrite anything in that folder unless the storage device is running out of space.



It's not entirely clear from the original post- were you parked when this happened?

If so it sounds like either Sentry mode was not on or you didn't check inside the Sentry folder on the storage device.

 

[neilgader]

Thanks for everyone's response. I was in a left turn lane fully stopped my foot off the brake since the car is configured to go into "park" mode. When the light turned green the BMW directly in front of me in the left turn lane reversed into me. I have no idea what he was doing in reverse. And apparently he didn't either! He told me he hadn't been driving his 528i very long and wasn't entirely familiar with it, In any event I didn't hit press the camera button when it happened. I was so shocked that he hit me that I didn't think to.

 

[Knightshade]

Thanks for everyone's response. I was in a left turn lane fully stopped my foot off the brake since the car is configured to go into "park" mode. When the light turned green the BMW directly in front of me in the left turn lane reversed into me. I have no idea what he was doing in reverse. And apparently he didn't either! He told me he hadn't been driving his 528i very long and wasn't entirely familiar with it, In any event I didn't hit press the camera button when it happened. I was so shocked that he hit me that I didn't think to.

Ah yeah that explains it.

In that situation you have basically 2 options to preserve the footage with 2 different time windows-

1) Hit the button (wait at least 1 minute after to insure you're saving off the clip that includes the thing you want the clip of- but no more than ~8-9 minutes)... you could also hit the horn but probably bad form to do that AFTER the incident is over

2) If you miss the above window- Disconnect the USB device if it's been less than 60 minutes since the incident (since that'll preserve the last 60 minutes of footage until the next time you plug it into the car and you can pull it off to a computer or something in the meantime. I actually keep a spare, small, USB key in the car for situations like that (and also once every 2-3 months when I pull the larger key out to delete unneeded footage) so that I've always got storage of some kind attached.

 

[jbadger]

I was in a left turn lane fully stopped my foot off the brake since the car is configured to go into "park" mode.

Ah, your initial message read to me like you were parked.

 

[BikerPeaBody]

Thanks for everyone's response. I was in a left turn lane fully stopped my foot off the brake since the car is configured to go into "park" mode. When the light turned green the BMW directly in front of me in the left turn lane reversed into me. I have no idea what he was doing in reverse. And apparently he didn't either! He told me he hadn't been driving his 528i very long and wasn't entirely familiar with it, In any event I didn't hit press the camera button when it happened. I was so shocked that he hit me that I didn't think to.

I don't think you were in Park unless you were there at the light for about 10-15min, probably was on hold.
But now its clear you were driving. So only way to preserve was to hit the camera button after impact
Either that or pull the usb out
Probably overwritten by now if you drove home

 

[neilgader]

I don't think you were in Park unless you were there at the light for about 10-15min, probably was on hold.
But now its clear you were driving. So only way to preserve was to hit the camera button after impact
Either that or pull the usb out
Probably overwritten by now if you drove home

Yes, unfortunately. I've learned that lesson the hard way. But thanks to all for educating me.

 

[JulienW]

Yes, unfortunately. I've learned that lesson the hard way. But thanks to all for educating me.

At least it looks like the person took responsibility (something you are not supposed to do and let law enforcement decide) and you lucked out. So you really didn't learn the HARD way but more the SOFT way.

 

[The_Observer]

Slightly off topic, but from what i have seen from other members in other posts, doesn't Tesla save recent footages for our cars for the past 24-48 hours or something?

 

[BikerPeaBody]

Slightly off topic, but from what i have seen from other members in other posts, doesn't Tesla save recent footages for our cars for the past 24-48 hours or something?

so they tracking us like Amazon?

 

[Knightshade]

Slightly off topic, but from what i have seen from other members in other posts, doesn't Tesla save recent footages for our cars for the past 24-48 hours or something?

Nope, not generally.

They may have a short clip for up to 72 hours if Sentry goes into the alarm state though (not just alert)

if you agree to allow us to collect video clips, Sentry Mode will send a short recorded video clip linked to your VIN to Tesla for temporary backup (up to 72 hours) when the Alarm state is triggered. We may also use this footage to help enhance detection for Sentry Mode. Please refer to your Owner’s Manual for more information.

I'm not aware of anyone ever actually getting Tesla to provide this footage back to them though I suppose it's possible.

 

[The_Observer]

Nope, not generally.

They may have a short clip for up to 72 hours if Sentry goes into the alarm state though (not just alert)



I'm not aware of anyone ever actually getting Tesla to provide this footage back to them though I suppose it's possible.

How would you go to allow Tesla to save sentry mode clips when the alarm state is triggered?

 

[Knightshade]

How would you go to allow Tesla to save sentry mode clips when the alarm state is triggered?

It's one of the questions you get asked initially in the car.

You can change it anytime, I think it's the “DATA SHARING” setting in Controls > Settings > Safety & Security or something near there.

 

[The_Observer]

It's one of the questions you get asked initially in the car.

You can change it anytime, I think it's the “DATA SHARING” setting in Controls > Settings > Safety & Security or something near there.

Interesting, I was not told about this during my delivery a month ago. Thanks for the info.