My Model 3 suffered a really weird episode of vandalism today. I had it parked on the street, no Sentry Mode (I never use it, but this may change that!). When I returned to the car, the right (passenger) side mirror glass had been stolen. It was neatly disconnected from the electric connectors.
I'm at a loss to explain why someone would do that. I doubt it's that valuable as a resale part. If the intent was vandalism, it would have been easier and more damaging just to, e.g., key the car. My best guess is that someone did it simply because they knew they could...almost like a mean prank.
In any case, I've scheduled my first service appointment to get the mirror replaced. I'm hoping they'll just charge me for the mirror glass (which is listed as a separate part in the part catalog), and not replace the whole mirror assembly, which is completely undamaged as far as I can tell. If I could find just the mirror glass for sale, I'd guess I could do the repair (really, more of an "installation") pretty easily myself.
This is my first experience with Tesla service, so I'm a little fuzzy on how this is going to work. I'll report back on my experience...
To play devil's advocate, perhaps it was a 'fellow' Model 3 owner or renter who needed the replacement part and felt entitled enough to source from your car vs waiting for an SC order to drop ship?
Having a damaged mirror assembly to play with would make quick work in figuring out exactly how to remove an undamaged insert for the transplant.
There are some horror stories out there of it taking a long time for replacement parts to get shipped to the SC.
In New York State, it's legal to drive without a passenger-side mirror. What do people think the odds are that either:
a) They'll replace the missing mirror pretty quickly (less than a week)
or
b) They'll let us take the car back while they wait for the replacement part to arrive at the SC
or
c) They'll give us a loaner car (this one seems least likely since it's not a warranty issue, but Tesla can be quirky)
We're a 1-car family, so if one of those three things isn't true I guess we'll have an expensive rental. And we have our first long road-trip planned in less than a month, so we really need some solution by then.
Maybe I'll call the SC tomorrow to scope things out (our appointment is for Friday).
I doubt they will want to keep the car while they wait for a part to ship, assuming it isn’t readily available. If they have the car for the day to replace the part, they would provide a loaner. If the part needs to be ordered, they will have you come back in to have it installed when it comes in.
I doubt they will want to keep the car while they wait for a part to ship, assuming it isn't readily available. If they have the car for the day to replace the part, they would provide a loaner. If the part needs to be ordered, they will have you come back in to have it installed when it comes in.
That is the weirdest "vandalism" I have ever heard tell... Sentry mode may be your new best friend.
If it was an M3 owner looking for a replacement glass, then they would likely also be smart enough to wander past to see if sentry mode activated. Thieves will likely clue into this as well. I wonder if not using sentry mode is going to become a disadvantage to M3 owners who don't use it.
From skimming it seems that as these mirrors get packed with more tech and hence become more expensive, they become a desirable theft target. My guess is your thief thought he was getting something better than he did, AFAIK there are no cameras or other interesting tech in the Model 3 mirror.
That's more or less table ante these days. They don't have cameras or blind spot indicators or turn signals or puddle/welcome lights that are present in some vehicles' mirrors. (Yes I know the model 3 has puddle lights, but they are in the door).
Given what others have said about the scarcity of parts available through the SC, my guess is an excess of demand has created a market for this easily stolen model 3 part, even if they are inexpensive relative to the more tech-laden mirrors referenced in the article.
Worst case scenario......and you would have to make it look as least tacky as possible.....would be to apply mirror tape to cover the mirror hole and serve as a temporary mirror for as long as need be.....at least that way you could use the car as normal until the the piece arrives and is replaced.....just a thought and last ditch attempt for a temporary fix.......
Thanks. It's legal in New York to drive with no passenger side mirror, and my solution for safety for now is just to drive with the backup camera on, which gives me decent awareness of what's back there, so I think I'm OK until it's replaced.
The mirror glass has been back-ordered for nearly two weeks, and we do have a road trip coming up, so I'm ready to seriously consider temporary fixes. I'd like something completely reversible, so that when the part does come in I haven't messed things up in the interim.
Suggestions for the best solution? I'm thinking maybe mirror tape on a piece of cardstock, and then find a reversible way of sticking the card stock to the plastic.
When my right hand mirror was damaged, it took over a month to get a replacement. You may want to check eBay and see if they have your mirror for sale or not.
Sorry about that. Some people... have no respect for other people’s properties.
I was going to buy a used one but side mirror seems delicate and I didn’t want to damage it while installing it. So I went with a new one from SC. Price wasn’t bad and I think they didn’t charge for installation.
Same neighborhood, but different block. I intentionally chose a block with a whole lot of foot-traffic, as well as police patrols. These thieves must be incredibly brazen. I'm betting they kind of back up to the car like they're casually leaning against it.
Betting? But don't I have Sentry Mode videos?
Well, I did have Sentry Mode on. And it did note a bunch of events (no alarms). But it didn't record anything except for a few seconds of the final event (which was me coming up to the car). I'll scour the Sentry Mode threads to figure out the problem, but it's certainly disappointing. I'd at least like to have seen how it was done.
In the mean time, my passenger side mirror glass still isn't in at the service center. There's now both passenger side and driver side glass available on eBay. Just in case it's tricky to install or there's some problem with the seller, I'll only order the driver's side one for now and see how that goes.
And my road trip up to Montreal will be conducted with little blind spot stick on mirrors on both sides.
what about wreckers? there have been a few posts here about write-off cars, and there is a model three in my local craigslist being parted out at a wrecker in town.
no sketchiness and apparently the mirrors are a quick and easy removal process.
The replacement driver's side glass arrived from eBay. It is indeed from a New York City address, so the odds of it's being a stolen glass are pretty high.
But it was a snap to install. There was a larger jack that I attached, and then two smaller single-wire jacks that looked identical. Since they looked identical and had no distinguishing markings, I assumed it didn't matter which was which--hopefully that's the case! I then stuck the one long tab on the mirror in to what seemed to be the appropriate hole and everything seems good!
Tesla mobile service also finally texted, although I haven't called them back yet, because I also just got a big crack in the moon-roof from where a big-rig kicked up a pebble, and I want my insurance company to resolve that claim first so I can talk to Tesla mobile service about both at the same time.
This is nuts. I guess we need to ask Tesla to trigger the alarm when the mirror/housing is moved while the vehicle is locked, before this type of theft becomes more rampant.
Sigh, what a pain. replacement mirror glass <- I did not look enough to see what folks like these charge but somehow it feels better than paying the original thief?
Edit: cost seems ok but that particular vendor doesn't have Tesla glass yet..
Last week my wife was driving on the highway when a piece of 2x2 or something similar fell off a truck and bounced off the passenger-side mirror. The impact popped the glass off its mounting, and it was dangling from two wires, one soldered at the top and the other at the bottom of the glass. Her passenger rolled down the window and grabbed the mirror to stop it from banging into the car. When she got home, I reconnected the two identical connectors and popped the mirror back on. I'm wondering... why did ours have the soldered wires and no connector? This is a June 2018 Model 3.
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