Body camera footage has captured the moment sheriff’s deputies rescued an elderly woman who had been trapped for more than an hour inside a Tesla operating in “pet safe mode,” after its air conditioning failed to function. The incident took place shortly after 5.15pm in Kitsap County, Washington State, just west of Seattle, after multiple 911 callers reported seeing the woman in apparent distress inside the locked vehicle.
Deputies from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office arrived to find the car’s doors locked from the inside, with the woman unable to open them herself. Officers later determined the Tesla had been left in “pet safe mode,” a feature designed to keep air conditioning running while the doors remain locked, intended to prevent pets from escaping a parked vehicle. In this instance, however, the air conditioning had not been working, leaving the woman trapped inside a rapidly heating car.
A language barrier complicates the rescue
Communication proved difficult once deputies reached the vehicle, as the woman spoke only Spanish. In the bodycam footage, she can be seen waving her hand in front of her face, apparently trying to indicate that she was hot. When a deputy asked, “Are you okay?”, she gestured to show she did not understand, and when he asked whether she had a phone, gesturing towards his own device, she shook her finger to indicate she had none. Unable to communicate verbally, the deputy turned to an online translation tool, typing out phrases on his phone and holding the screen against the window so the woman could read them.
Through this exchange, officers established that the woman had been inside the vehicle for at least an hour while her granddaughter had gone into a nearby building to conduct business. “One hour,” one deputy said after leaning towards the window to communicate with her, before turning to his colleague and adding: “That’s a long-a** time – one hour.”
Locating the granddaughter
Deputies began searching nearby businesses in an effort to track down the woman’s granddaughter, locating her within around 15 minutes of arriving at the scene, according to timestamps on the body camera footage. One deputy can be heard approaching a woman seated on a bench in a courtyard, asking: “Do you have a white Tesla?” before continuing, “Yes? Is it parked right over here? Okay, is that your grandmother in there? I need you to come with me right now.” The deputy then escorted the granddaughter back to the vehicle, where she was able to unlock the doors, finally allowing her grandmother to climb out and cool down.
Cabin temperature reached around 100°F
Responding officers estimated that the temperature inside the car had reached approximately 100°F (38°C) by the time the woman was freed, despite outside temperatures being considerably lower, with the Weather Channel recording a high of 86°F in the area that day. According to the National Weather Service, “the temperature inside a vehicle can rise 20 degrees in as little as 10 minutes, and 50 degrees in an hour – even when outside air temperatures are in the 70s.”
Case referred to Adult Protective Services
The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office has referred the incident to Adult Protective Services for further review, to determine whether any additional action is necessary.
Questions raised over Tesla’s Pet Mode feature
Tesla’s Pet Mode is designed to maintain a safe cabin temperature while displaying a message on the vehicle’s screen to reassure passers-by that any occupants inside are safe. The feature, however, is intended specifically for pets rather than people. Tesla’s owner manuals advise that owners should remain close to the vehicle while Pet Mode is active and monitor the cabin’s temperature remotely through the Tesla mobile app. The incident has renewed questions over how reliable climate-control features in parked electric vehicles really are, particularly in situations where an occupant is unable to exit the vehicle unassisted.
