Once a Tesla owner activates the vehicle's Sentry Mode, the car goes on standby, ready to use its cameras to record any potential threats as they approach. Considering how much interest — good and bad — Teslas attract, there are likely thousands of Sentry Mode activations every day, and YouTube has already become a repository of compilation videos of people behaving badly. Tesla created the vehicular sentinel to help allay car theft — and a video from Spain proves Sentry Mode doesn't just do that for Teslas.
Motorpasion relates the story (translated) of masked thieves in the town of Benicassim, about an hour north of Valencia on Spain's east coast, showing up in a parking lot at 3:20 a.m. to steal a 964-series Porsche 911. They broke into the Porsche, put it in neutral, and rolled it silently away. But the 911 happened to be parked next to a Model 3, and the EV began recording as soon as the two men started fiddling around. The whole operation got caught in what looks like a ridiculous and disappointing silent film.
Porsche Carrera 2, matricula 2397DBK robado en Benicassim, Castellón, anoche a las 3:20 AM. Va a ser complicado, pero si alguien sabe algo o conoce a alguien en el video o fotos, mis DMs están abiertos.
— Jose Saez-Merino (@josejacas) July 12, 2020
Gracias pic.twitter.com/o3RTDIxlFs
The Tesla owner gave the 911 owner the footage. The 911 owner plastered the video of his blue 911 with gold wheels and cream interior all over social media, and gave the footage to the Civil Guard. Less than 24 hours later, someone in L'Eliana, just outside Valencia, alerted the police to the presence of the 911 nearby. Before a day had passed, the owner had been reunited with his car, apparently in its original condition.
It's not clear if the thieves got wind of the video and dumped the 911, or if the two men had stashed the Porsche while waiting to see if it contained a tracker. The police are still looking for the thieves. Meanwhile, the 911 owner gets his happy ending, which is the most important thing. And we hope he's got a big gift in the works for the Model 3 owner.
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