Vandalized twice - Bigotry is alive and well on San Francisco Peninsula

[Kermit]

Hate to make such a negative post, but frankly I need to vent. My Model S has been vandalized twice now. My tire was slashed in Mountain View, just off El Camino and Castro, and on St. Patrick's day, the whole driver side of the car was keyed on Lytton Ave. in Palo Alto, right next to the B of A.
...
Has anyone else had a problem?

No, but I had a marriage proposal today in Mountain View. I was in a parking lot and a woman looked over and said, "I just love your car! Don't you love your car? I want to marry you!"

I thanked her for the compliment but I had to turn down her offer due to a previous commitment.

 

[wk057]

You can buy the power magic pro with the blackvue dash cams. I use this in my car and it works great for the dual camera system. You have to do a little work and attach it to both constant power and switched power from your fuse box, but not hard at all.
BlackVue - Full HD 1080p Dash Cameras with GPS

I used the power magic box. There are two fuses in the fuse panel on the right in the frunk under the maintenance panel that were perfect for tapping. (Forget which off hand, but, some simple volt meter tests would find them.) One was constant 12V, the other is only live when the car is on. (The power magic needs both otherwise it assumes the car is "running" and would never shut down if the battery got low.) I've read elsewhere that there are constant 12V sources inside the car at other points that would be closer, but, I like using the fuse box personally.

For the rear camera, the front camera powers it via the RF cable it uses. I ran that cable along the passenger side in the headliner, to the back, into the rubber boot that connects the existing wiring to the hatchback (kind of a pain but not too bad), then routed it under the trim pieces on the hatchback to the top of the glass and mounted it there. Virtually no visible wiring in the finished product.

 

[Owner]

I have been driving Teslas for five years now in and around the same neck of the woods with zero problems. I think you unfortunately had some bad and unusual circumstances.

 

[mknox]

OT, but can you please let me know how you found 12 Volt power to run the rear facing camera? I have the front dash cam installed, but haven't found a simple way to power a rear facing one.

Earlier cars have an unused, un-switched 12v source right under the microphone grille. It was intended to be used with the MIA lighted vanity mirrors. I believe Tesla discontinued that harness when they decided to forgo the mirror lights. Worth popping off the grille and seeing if it's there.

 

[tga]

No, but I had a marriage proposal today in Mountain View. I was in a parking lot and a woman looked over and said, "I just love your car! Don't you love your car? I want to marry you!"

I thanked her for the compliment but I had to turn down her offer due to a previous commitment.

The same thing happened to me years ago in my Boxster, with my wife in the car. I pointed at my wife as we drove off. She teased me about it for months.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

All the mean people in the Bay Area must shop at The Berkeley Bowl.

 

[ThortsMD]

It's not just the Bay area. The hatch liftgate on my S was keyed last summer in a quiet park east of Seattle. Thank goodness for the self-healing XPEL. I'm probably the only one who could find it now. Strangely, I didn't get angry either. I thought it was an odd reaction at the time. Glad to see I'm not the only one who's had it.

 

[HHHH]

That sucks man sorry to hear that. A thief vandalized my S while at the equivalent of church, stole my wife iPhone, the rock he used made it necessary to have the door and surrounding areas painted and blended. Took like 10 days to get it sorted.

 

[Kauai]

Wow surprised and sorry you got keyed! I am also in Los Altos and regularly park on the street in most communities on the peninsula and SF. I hadn't realized that I have been fortunate and/or lucky to avoid intentional damage. I am not sure I would be able to handle it with as much equanimity as you have...

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Any chance a BofA security camera or traffic camera might have captured the perpetrator in the act?

 

[JPP]

I used the power magic box. There are two fuses in the fuse panel on the right in the frunk under the maintenance panel that were perfect for tapping. (Forget which off hand, but, some simple volt meter tests would find them.) One was constant 12V, the other is only live when the car is on. (The power magic needs both otherwise it assumes the car is "running" and would never shut down if the battery got low.) I've read elsewhere that there are constant 12V sources inside the car at other points that would be closer, but, I like using the fuse box personally.

For the rear camera, the front camera powers it via the RF cable it uses. I ran that cable along the passenger side in the headliner, to the back, into the rubber boot that connects the existing wiring to the hatchback (kind of a pain but not too bad), then routed it under the trim pieces on the hatchback to the top of the glass and mounted it there. Virtually no visible wiring in the finished product.

You don't need or want the Power Magic box. You don't need to worry about running down the 12V battery as it will be handled by the DC-to-DC in the S. Just find an always hot 12V (under headliner/grille in older builds, behind glovebox or maybe passenger kick panel). I have mine hot wired to the 12V in my headliner (with the in line fuse on the Blackvbue power cable). Please take some time to peruse:

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...50-fron-rear)-constant-power-source-from-dash

 

[wk057]

You don't need or want the Power Magic box. You don't need to worry about running down the 12V battery as it will be handled by the DC-to-DC in the S. Just find an always hot 12V (under headliner/grille in older builds, behind glovebox or maybe passenger kick panel). I have mine hot wired to the 12V in my headliner (with the in line fuse on the Blackvbue power cable). Please take some time to peruse:

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...50-fron-rear)-constant-power-source-from-dash

I thought about this, and decided to use the power magic box anyway. It can't hurt anything. If the DC-DC does its job, then no worries. If there was ever any issue then the last thing I want is my little dash cam setup to be blamed for draining the 12V battery...

 

[JPP]

I thought about this, and decided to use the power magic box anyway. It can't hurt anything. If the DC-DC does its job, then no worries. If there was ever any issue then the last thing I want is my little dash cam setup to be blamed for draining the 12V battery...

...I guess if you are leaving your car parked for days at a time....

 

[NikolatheGreat]

Any chance a BofA security camera or traffic camera might have captured the perpetrator in the act?

I talked to the Bank Manager, who was very nice, but they don't have a camera on Lytton. He also checked with the building owner and followed up with me the next day, but no go there too. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Bearman]

Sorry to hear some person vandalized your car
I would have been furious, If i ever saw this happen to anyone elses car I would make a citizen's arrest.

 

[strider]

Echoes of this?

 

[Chris Naps]

Hate to make such a negative post, but frankly I need to vent. My Model S has been vandalized twice now. My tire was slashed in Mountain View, just off El Camino and Castro, and on St. Patrick's day, the whole driver side of the car was keyed on Lytton Ave. in Palo Alto, right next to the B of A.

I didn't do a thing to anyone. Just parked my car in normal spaces, with plenty of room around it, and when I returned, some bitter person had taken their grief out on me.

It really didn't make me angry, just sad that people will do such things to strangers for reasons emanating from their own minds.

Has anyone else had a problem?



BTW, if anyone needs body work, there is only one place to go around here: Chilton Autobody in San Carlos. Phenomenal service. Absolutely exemplary.

I don't think it was you personally..... I think it was the car itself that mad the people angry.

 

[Kipernicus]

Very scary and surprising, given the area. I thought that given the number of Model S running around that they are practically commonplace now and less of a target. And there are many higher value cars like Ferrari, Bentley, Maserati, Jag, upper-model BMW, MB, etc. They're everywhere! Maybe not as symbolic right now as a Tesla unfortunately.

 

[Gizmotoy]

I've heard that over the last few weeks someone has been going around mountain view and Sunnyvale around el Camino slashing tires on anything... A grind had their highlander hit... So I don't think it has anything to do with Tesla.

At least for the Mountain View incident, I think this is probably the case. I live in the general area and leave for work very early, and have seen a number of cars parked on the street in the past few weeks with flat tires. Way more than can be explained by natural occurrences. All kinds of cars, not just expensive ones. Someone decided it's fun to slash tires.

The Palo Alto one is surprising. I would have thought the hometown car would be quite safe there, provided it's not involved in some 'creative' parking. The area around the BoA on Lytton is a nice area. Jerks are everywhere, I suppose.

 

[brianman]

Echoes of this?

Sickening. Thanks for sharing though, strider.