Worried Tesla owners are begging Elon Musk to add a feature to their vehicles that would warn off vandals trying to damage their car. The clamoring for help comes amid vandals and arsonists destroying Tesla dealerships and vehicles across the country.
“I really hope Tesla is working on some sort of defensive measures… just something extra to make Tesla owners feel a little bit better about parking in public parking lots,” Tesla owner Sawyer Merritt said Tuesday, according to a report by Fortune. “Honk, flash the lights, do something.”
Merritt’s request came the same day an arson attack was carried out on the Tesla Collision Center in Las Vegas, resulting in numerous Tesla EVs being fully engulfed in flames — an incident authorities are calling a “targeted attack,” which prompted the FBI to join the investigation.
Moreover, Tuesday’s incident in Las Vegas is simply the latest among a string of attacks against Musk’s company, which has been targeted since the SpaceX CEO’s involvement with President Donald Trump and the current administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Within the community, there definitely is fear right now,” John Stringer, Tesla owner and president of Tesla Owners Silicon Valley club, told Fortune.
“Whether you like it or not, Tesla owners are being targeted, we saw it happening with a member in San Jose,” Stringer continued. “It’s just happening all over the place right now.” Stringer was referring to a viral video of a Tesla being vandalized in a Costco parking lot, which led to an arrest for felony vandalism.
Stringer added that Tesla owners “just want to drive a car, they don’t want have to have a political statement on where they stand with Elon, and they’re just worried about just driving.”
In an X post earlier this month, Tesla owner, investor, and influencer Alexandra Merz asked if the company’s engineers had any way of updating the software to include “an alarm to protect from keying the car,” sharing news footage of a Tesla having been keyed by a vandal.
“The car could tell the criminal before they start that they are being filmed and reported to the authorities,” Merz suggested.
“Car could honk at people if you want,” Musk replied at the time.
While all Tesla vehicles come with a feature called Sentry Mode, which can record and save video footage of suspicious behavior in the immediate vicinity of the EV, Merritt noted, “a lot of people don’t know they’re being recorded, so they just key anyways.”
As Breitbart News reported, last week an arsonist doused a Tesla EV with gasoline and set it on fire in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Police said the suspect poured gasoline on a Tesla Model S sedan and lit it on fire before running away.
A few weekends ago, six Cybertrucks were spray painted with profanity and swastikas at a Tesla dealership in Lynnwood, Washington, according to a report by KING 5.
In a separate incident that same weekend, four Tesla Cybertrucks were damaged or destroyed in a fire at a parking lot in Seattle on Sunday night, sparking questions as to whether it was an arson attack aimed at Musk. The incident is still under investigation.
These attacks came after a Tesla Cybertruck was seen fully engulfed in flames in front of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on New Year’s Day, with authorities calling the incident an “active crime scene.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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