Watch out thieves – Tesla brings its Sentry Mode to Model S and Model X

After launching the feature for Model 3, Tesla is now bringing its Sentry Mode security feature to Model S and Model X.

The feature is meant to ‘protect against break-ins and theft’ following a series of break-ins in the US that appeared to be targeting Tesla vehicles.

Tesla explains how the feature works:

“If a minimal threat is detected, such as someone leaning on a car, Sentry Mode switches to an “Alert” state and displays a message on the touchscreen warning that its cameras are recording. If a more severe threat is detected, such as someone breaking a window, Sentry Mode switches to an “Alarm” state, which activates the car alarm, increases the brightness of the center display, and plays music at maximum volume from the car’s audio system.”

At first, it was only rolled out to Model 3 vehicles, but now some Model S and Model X owners are reporting receiving the feature through an over-the-air software upgrade.

Here’s the threatening HAL9000-inspired red dot of Sentry Mode visible on the vertical screen of a Model X for the first time (via u/frank_datank_ on Reddit):

As usual, keep in mind that Tesla’s software update rollout is gradual and it can take a while before it reaches the entire fleet.

In this case, Tesla says that it’s for Model S and Model X vehicles built after August 2017.

Electrek’s Take

While it’s not for all Tesla vehicles, it is for most of them at this point, which should hopefully make thieves think twice about targetting Tesla vehicles due to the alarm, notification system, and recording increasing the risk of them getting caught.

Model 3 vehicles were especially targeted at first and we have been hearing a lot less about them.

It could be coincidental or the launch of Sentry Mode might have something to do with it.

Let us know what you think in the comment section below and please reach out if you have any interesting experience with Sentry Mode.