Juniors Avi Kunins and Harlan Wise were cruising through Northgate, pumping music in their car when chaos struck. On Feb. 22, a Tesla Model 3 erupted into flames, its sleek frame consumed by fire, turning the quiet night into a dramatic spectacle. The car was later confirmed to be “intentionally set” according to the Seattle Police Department.
“It was charred to dirt,” Kunins said. “It was something that we’ve never seen before.”
Kunin’s encounter is just one of the multiple vandalizations involving Tesla in the past year. The pushback comes
from Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk’s recent association with President Donald Trump.
According to the Lynnwood Police Department, on March 11, six Teslas were vandalized with swastikas and various inappropriate symbols.
Junior Gavin Angeloff is no stranger to car defacement, after his Tesla’s tires were slashed and the body was etched with the word “Nazi.”
“I don’t want my Tesla to be the target,” Angeloff said. “I just didn’t expect for someone to make my family’s property a part of some other person’s agenda.”
In a poll of 92 upper school students, 35.9% said that they currently own a Tesla. An anonymous UPrep student who had their Tesla vandalized wishes that people would think a little more about their actions.
“I totally understand where people are coming from because I cannot excuse any of Elon [Musk’s] actions,” the student said. “It kind of makes me feel conflicted driving the cars because my family didn’t buy them in crazy support of him.”
Sophomore Beckett Vernon drives a Tesla and frequently passes protesters on his way home from school. Vernon
feels his Tesla should not dictate how people perceive him on the road.
“I haven’t done anything to offend this person, but because I’m unwilling to get rid of my car, this person hates me,” Vernon said.
While some acts of protesting can turn violent, others practice civil disobedience peacefully. On a bridge above Montlake Boulevard Northeast, near the University of Washington, sisters Dawn Lum and Robin Perez spend Monday to Friday peacefully protesting against Elon Musk and the Trump Administration.
“They are no longer obeying their oath to The Constitution,” Perez said. “I’m not willing to give up, and I’m not willing to be silent.”
Lum hopes to see more citizens join the movement on the bridge.
I don’t want us to get to the place where we accept what’s going on as normal,” Lum said. “We do need to make change here, and it’s going to take a large group of people to effect that change.”
Another form of protest can be found on Matt Hiller’s Etsy and Amazon shop, MadPufferStickers. Hiller’s anti-Elon stickers provide an avenue for Tesla owners to show their disdain for the CEO’s actions.
“People desperately needed a way to distance themselves from him until they can sell the car,” Hiller said. “And my sticker was the perfect way to voice their opinion and absolve themselves of any perceived approval of Elon on the road.”
The right to peacefully protest is something that junior Marin Gant strongly believes in, especially if it is a protest against Elon Musk. “I don’t think that money should be able to buy you a position in our federal government,” Gant said. “If you think something is wrong with your society, then you should be able to do something about that.”
Whether you state that you support Musk or not on your vehicle, ninth grader Noah Keppler hopes that everyone will remember that there are people behind the cars they protest.
“A Tesla is a piece of metal and some batteries that gets seen from one place to another,” Keppler said. “I don’t think it should have a mass reflection on who you are as a person.”
