Attempted Carjacking with no usb - where is the video?

[Beachybumm]

I just had an attempted carjacking done on me. Unfortunately, I had just pulled the usb because I got into an accident and needed to download the video. My understanding is there is internal memory. I honked during the carjacking to ensure I got it recorded. When I click on the dashcam icon, it says “Dashcam unavailable check usb drive.” When I go to controls, next to “mirrors,” the dashcam button is greyed out and says “unavailable.”

I see no viewer at all. I need this footage to make sure this guy gets caught.

I have a 2018 M3 LR.

Any help?

 

[jjrandorin]

You would have to do a data request through Tesla to see if anything was uploaded. There is no internal memory that we have access to, to get anything like that. If there is no USB drive in the USB port, there is nothing for you to get, see, do, etc, other than request your data from Tesla and see if anything is there.

Obtain a Copy of the Data Associated With Your Tesla Account | Tesla Support

Obtain a copy of the vehicle data associated with your Tesla Account.

www.tesla.com

The Data Associated With Your Tesla Account
You can request a copy of the data associated with your Tesla Account. This information may include:

• Order details
• Account information
• Customer support activity
• Service history from your ownership period
• Vehicle usage information
• Safety event camera recordings (if applicable)
• Infotainment system settings information
• Mobile app usage information
• Supercharging history

 

[Beachybumm]

It says on that site that the dashcam and sentry data is processed internally on the car and says “N/A” on Tesla servers. I am certain I previously read that the car keeps the last 10 minutes in internal memory and that can be viewed in the car. But my Tesla clearly isn’t doing that.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Jeez, you sure had a hellova week!

Some footage is apparently saved onboard, as evidenced by greentheonly's crash clips, but only the last few seconds before a crash. It's just a small buffer that stops filling after a crash is detected.

The umteen minute dashcam buffer is on the USB dive and honk-triggering it just splits off part of that buffer into a named file. Everything is done on the USB drive other than the initial buffering described above.

 

[Beachybumm]

Ugh, I’m so stupid. I put the usb in my pocket to plug it back into my car but forgot.

Tesla should really just create a built in hard drive for this, at least as a backup.

 

[PianoAl]

Sometimes I use the dashcam to record my surfing, namely the last 30 minutes before I return to the car (check this, starting at 1:45

).

When I do that, I have a spare USB drive in the center console, and swap them out.

TLDR: always have a spare USB drive in the car. Swap instead of removing.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Ugh, I’m so stupid. I put the usb in my pocket to plug it back into my car but forgot.

Tesla should really just create a built in hard drive for this, at least as a backup.

Always have a spare USB drive in your car, as another mentioned. I personally got a card reader and high endurance microSD card for regular use and keep the included Tesla drive in the glovebox as a spare.

Note the Tesla drive appears to be a rebranded version of this Samsung Bar drive if you want an inexpensive no brainer option.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-BAR-Plus-128GB-MUF-128BE3/dp/B07BPK3XWW/ref=asc_df_B07BPK3XWW/

I just plug the Tesla drive back in whenever I take the card reader out, so that the port is always populated with something.

It's too easy to forget if you take it out, as you found out.