Tesla vandals are a particularly obtuse brand of criminals, because these cars are packed with cameras that are on almost around the clock. The media attention around this should, on its own, discourage any type of criminal activity either around or inside a Tesla, but it wasn’t the case here.
A reddit user by the name kingbabyy says her boyfriend had his Tesla Model S totaled on a midnight joyride at the luxury La Cantera Resort in San Antonio, Texas. The culprit was the parking valet who reckoned he might as well have some fun with the car before parking it, and put it in Cheetah Stance Launch Mode.
The result was predictable: unprepared or unable to handle the car, the valet crashed it. While he didn’t ram into another car, since the parking lot was nearly empty, he lost control of the vehicle and went over a curb, a small ditch and then a small concrete wall / divider. All in all, the Tesla was totaled, kingbabyy says, and videos and photos of both the crash and its aftermath seem to confirm it.
Cheetah Stance allows a Model S to go as fast as 70 mph (112 kph) from a complete standstill in under three seconds. It couples with lowered suspension in the front for better aerodynamics, which ultimately led to the writing off of this vehicle as it went over that curb and wall.
Model S also has something called Valet Mode, which limits the speed of the vehicle precisely to prevent situations like this one. On this particular occasion, the owner forgot to activate it, his girlfriend says.
According to her, valet services and security informed him of the accident right after it happened. Given the damage the car took, it would have been impossibly to act like nothing was wrong – there were parts coming off at a single touch and that was probably just the tip of the iceberg.
An investigation is now underway. The valet has been fired, presumably.
Back to the topic of Tesla monitoring, there’s footage of the crash from both the front and the lateral camera. You’d think someone who knew about Cheetah Mode on a Tesla would also know about camera surveillance.
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