A woman was spooked by Tesla’s Sentry Mode after parking next to one of the electric vehicles. TikTok user Christine Dawn (@christine.dawn) published a video highlighting her unease about being recorded by one of the ride’s many external cameras.

“I just opened the door to my car, and this Tesla next to me is recording me,” she says, pointing out the Tesla’s infotainment display. The screen indicates that Sentry Mode is enabled, showcasing a white screen with a red, circular eye with a black pupil inside of it. She then speculates on the purpose of the car’s cameras being turned on: “to make sure that I don’t hit that car. I did not know they did that.”

At the end of her video, she gives a warning to her viewers: “Look out guys, they’re always watching.” Additionally, in a caption for her clip, she highlights the irony of the dual surveillance taking place in her video. “And then I record it, recording me,” she added.

Commenters Sound Off

Numerous people who had varying opinions on the nature of Tesla’s Sentry Mode shared their two cents in the comments section of her video. “We all know that Teslas record when you were close. It’s why I always give them a finger,” one person penned. Another was stunned by the car’s additional layer of security: “Wtf that’s so creepy.”

While there were more than a few users who were critical of Sentry Mode, one person said they appreciated the functionality. “It’s called Sentry mode and it’s a wonderful feature!”

Does Sentry Mode Turn On Automatically?

Tesla drivers who are interested in keeping Sentry Mode activated on their vehicles must toggle it on manually. As this blogger explained, the electric car manufacturer utilizes the cameras equipped on the vehicle’s exterior in order to record its surroundings. This way, if someone vandalizes or hits your car while you’re parked, you have a greater chance of finding out who is responsible for the damage.

Furthermore, while you’re inside of the vehicle, you can toggle through the different camera feeds in order to get a picture of your surroundings.

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“These features leverage the car’s Autopilot cameras – eight of them covering 360 degrees around the car – to record user-accessible video footages, which can be used in case of accidents or vandalism,” the article explains.

Moreover, the same piece explains that Sentry Mode only uses footage from four of the car’s eight cameras: the front, side fenders, and back. This is to reduce the amount of energy depleted from the Tesla’s battery. Powering Autos explains that anywhere from 1% to 2% of battery is expended per hour of a Tesla being parked when Sentry Mode is toggled on. This amounts to around 1 mile of range per hour. Of course, if your vehicle is hooked up to an electric car charger while parked, the energy expenditure is negligible, so it may behoove you to keep this on.

Benefits of Sentry Mode

Legal experts have praised Tesla’s Sentry Mode for assisting car owners in getting to the bottom of hit and run incidents. The Krasney Law Firm, which specializes in accidents, says that “Sentry Mode significantly improves the identification of hit-and-run drivers.” In fact, the chance that a hit-and-run offender is positively ID’ed shoots up by 30%, according to Krasney’s analytics.

Moreover, the group says that car owners who have dashcams installed in their vehicles are more likely to use them. This improves “incident capture rate” by 68%, according to a post penned by the law group.

But the same post went on to say that drivers must be sure to keep an appropriately formatted flash drive plugged into their cars at all times. This way, after an accident occurs, folks can have the data backed up, which they can then plug into a compatible device to download the footage and share with police and their insurance provider.

Tesla owners have shared footage of their cars being vandalized online, like this Reddit user who posted a clip from their EV’s Sentry Mode. The clip shows a man wearing a sweat suit with his face covered approaching the ride. It appears that the person smashes the Tesla’s back window. Thankfully, the driver reported that nothing of value was taken from their vehicle, as they don’t keep anything worth any money in their car.

Additionally, Tesla added a security update to its Sentry Mode in 2025. The automaker gives drivers the option to have their vehicles blast music at maximum volume if a threat is detected to the vehicle. This serves as a hopeful deterrent to would-be thieves who force their way into a car, gaining the attention of local law enforcement units or pedestrians in the vicinity.

Motor1 has reached out to Tesla and Dawn via email for further comment. We will update this story if either party responds.