‘Blinded’ driver’s side pillar cam?

[Ken7]

I was driving today with the sun shining on my left, relatively low in the sky. I shortly got a prompt that blind spot monitoring was impaired due to a ‘blocked or blinded pillar cam’. Once I turned so the sun’s orientation changed, the warning disappeared.

I can’t recall ever seeing that prompt before and can’t imagine the sun had never hit that camera before. Has anyone seen this before?

 

[MrKool]

you in New York I am surprised your pillar cam hasn't fogged over yet. You get a similar error and auto pilot stops working.

 

[Trunk Gap]

I never had that issue with my 2016, my 2019 seems much more sensitive, and I get that error often.

 

[October]

Noticed same problem on my 2019 Raven today. Looked closely at the driver side pillar cam and noticed condensation in front of the camera. Error message noted while driving with sun shining on camera side. Has anyone had this fixed? I never had this problem with my 2018 S.

 

[Ken7]

you in New York I am surprised your pillar cam hasn't fogged over yet. You get a similar error and auto pilot stops working.

Yes, on L.I., but never had the fogging...at least it never triggered a warning.[/QUOTE]

 

[Ken7]

Noticed same problem on my 2019 Raven today. Looked closely at the driver side pillar cam and noticed condensation in front of the camera. Error message noted while driving with sun shining on camera side. Has anyone had this fixed? I never had this problem with my 2018 S.

I suppose if it’s due only to sun glare, there’s no real fix short of equipping the camera with sunglasses. If condensation is a chronic issue, that’s a different story.

 

[365gtb4]

My 2019 Raven X100D has the fogging problem, but my 2017 X90D never fogged. It's probably a manufacturing defect and I'll let the service center fix it.

 

[TicoMcC]

This just happened to me last week. I had never had the problem before on my late 2017 MS100D. I had just installed the 40.2.1 update, so I thought that maybe that might be the problem, but when I stopped and had the chance to check, there was indeed a small spot of condensation, but only right in front of the pillar camera. On both sides. So either the condensation issue is new, or the latest update has placed more emphasis on the the side pillar cameras.

 

[KalJoMoS]

Blinding sun is known issue on (surveillance-)cameras and if Tesla can’t mitigate this on SW side then you need to live with it. Just be more alert during this time, I always pay more attention if low sun is blinding my car while AP is engaged...

 

[jlv1]

I just noticed fogging in my passenger side pillar the other day after getting this warning. It was really annoying as I was starting a 200 mile trip and lost AP for most of the drive.

Is there a thread on the fogging issue? I only found this recent one for 3s:
B-pillar cameras fogging up?

 

[MrKool]

took my car in for the fog and was told the pillar cameras are not enclosed in a sealed box so the fogging is normal just like normal windows it will go away in a little bit which sounds like BS but that is what my SC told me. They should install a small heated fan in the pillar or redirect some AC air flow to clear the fog

 

[Gaz_]

Its not just American sun, had that coming home with the winter sun in the morning the other day, had to stop and charge on the way home and the glass there was spotless, just very bright sun. Maybe its a new feature in the software release to notice it?

 

[Ken7]

Its not just American sun, had that coming home with the winter sun in the morning the other day, had to stop and charge on the way home and the glass there was spotless, just very bright sun. Maybe its a new feature in the software release to notice it?

That's what I'm guessing Gaz. It seems as if they've upped the sensitivity that triggers the warning.

 

[rpo]

I had it happen last night in the rain. I punched it, and the message went away instantly. I am guessing water drops had not moved since I was only going 20 MPH since I started driving.

 

[Mirlen]

It's better than it was. Before TACC would disable entirely on my morning and evening commutes since I drive east in the morning and west in the evening. The worst possible times. Now at least SOMETIMES TACC stays on since it seems to allow failure of some cameras while still allowing TACC. Still frustrating to have it not work during so much of my commute.

 

[Tesomega]

I noticed this during my morning drive today. I believe this was due to Sun shinning at an angle that makes it worse..and noticed this on both of my pillar cameras. Did not notice any condensation and the error message went away as soon as the angle of the cars towards the Sun changed...

 

[peej]

I started getting these warnings after a recent software update either 2019.40.2.1 or 2019.36.2.2 Whichever camera is facing the sun at a low angle in the sky (ie in winter!) gives the warning which clears after a wall or trees block the sun for a moment. seems to be a threshold or timer in the software that has changed rather than condensation or dirt on the cameras -though obviously that can happen, too