We’ve already covered how important it is to equip your car with a dash cam, but even the best offerings on the market only record video from the front and rear of your car—unless you own a Tesla. Using the car’s built-in monitoring system (called Sentry Mode), modern Teslas come equipped ready to record the events that occur around them even while the vehicle is unoccupied. Fortunately for one California man, this meant catching a disgruntled neighbor spraying acid all over his ride.
The owner of this particular Model 3 posted a video to Twitter captured by Sentry Mode showing a neighbor using a spray bottle to douse the car with some sort of liquid.
According to the Tweet, there were disagreements between the vehicle owner and his neighbor over who owns the rights to street parking which ultimately led up to the incident. The owner notes that he was getting ready to move the Model 3 into his driveway when he noticed that the car was wet. Given that the weather was clear that day, he checked the recorded footage and noticed that his neighbor was spraying a substance on his car that was later identified as some sort of caustic liquid which he describes as “acid.”
Fortunately, the Model 3 was able to protect its paint to an extent thanks to the ceramic coating and paint protection film applied to the car. While this may not have completed stopped the acid from compromising the car’s finish, it may have helped lessen it.
The owner reportedly then filed a report with the Anaheim Police Department who recommended that he have the damages assessed before pressing charges.
Sentry Mode has only been around for a short period of time, but has quickly become successful in dishing out retribution for vandals and hit-and-runners who would otherwise slip away unnoticed. When activated, Sentry Mode uses the Tesla’s onboard Autopilot cameras to continuously monitor the car’s surroundings. When an event of interest occurs, like someone leaning on the car or breaking a window, the car saves a clip and sounds an alarm if the threat is severe enough.