Auto Cabin Temperature Control Safety - Do you use it?

[Zeit93]

I noticed my battery seemed to be draining quicker than normal the other day, not massively just I'd get back to my car and maybe 1-2% had gone after several hours


I also noticed my car wasn't stiflingly hot inside which made me realise this feature was enabled

Do you use this feature and is it dangerous not to use it on hot days?

I turned it off to save on the battery but noticed today my car was 53 degrees on the inside

What are your thoughts?

 

[Buzzliteyear]

I don't think mine is doing anything.
Not sure what the temperature it has to reach before it kicks in and what temperature it shuts off at.
I have seen mine getting to 43 and occasionally falling to 37, but that could be due to clouds. Work where there are no windows, so it's completely guess work for me.

 

[DM206433]

Nope, turned it off. If I lived in Texas and my car was sat in the sun all day, that'd be a different matter.

 

[Liquidv]

^This

 

[Limey]

Yes.

It only comes on when the cabin gets above 40c and 2% for 8 hours in the sun is fine by me.

 

[Thomas7]

I noticed my battery seemed to be draining quicker than normal the other day, not massively just I'd get back to my car and maybe 1-2% had gone after several hours


I also noticed my car wasn't stiflingly hot inside which made me realise this feature was enabled

Do you use this feature and is it dangerous not to use it on hot days?

I turned it off to save on the battery but noticed today my car was 53 degrees on the inside

What are your thoughts?

Personally I do use it. Temperature in Canada here is pretty steady where I am. There isn't a whole lot of time within the day when it gets really really hot or really really cold. But when the app do tell me that the "Cabin is too hot" and it turn on the AC to cool it I usually don't stop it because of that. I just let the car do it's thing. But I can see that if you are seeing a drain and you need to juice to go somewhere later than I say stop it? or stop it half way before it reach the desire cabin temperature.

 

[Adopado]

I use an inside windscreen shield if I'm parked in direct sun but I don't use the cabin heat protection. There's nothing inside that can't take high temperatures but I feel better about the metal casing of the screen being prevented from getting so hot you can barely touch it! UV damage to plastics is probably more likely to cause issues over time than the actual heat in my opinion, and the shield prevents much of that. (I also use Aerospace 303 Protectant on the seats and plastics.)

 

[Durzel]

I use it, even when I'm not driving (you have to open the door in the morning to reset the 12 hour timer if you're not going to drive it).

To be honest, it probably doesn't need it. I think we would probably have heard about it by now if Model 3s in much hotter climates (e.g. Texas, California, etc) were failing. I also accept that before the advent of apps I had no idea how hot the inside of my cars were, so didn't think about it. That being said, earlier S/X cars had screens that delaminated and went yellow due to overheating, so it is a concern.

I bought my Model 3 outright, so I'm keen to try and preserve it as well I can. I don't really like the idea of the interior getting so hot, I don't know if it's going to cause any premature aging of the materials.

Ultimately to that end I don't really care if it loses 1-2% a day keeping the interior below 40C, even if it isn't strictly needed. My car spends almost all of the time sat on the drive next to the charger, so its easily replenished (and often plugged in).

 

[Zeit93]

I guess in the UK the days were it actually gets hot enough are few and far between, I only noticed it a month after having the car lol

 

[M3noob]

I guess in the UK the days were it actually gets hot enough are few and far between, I only noticed it a month after having the car lol

The car is a virtual greenhouse. Parking under trees is an unsatisfactory solution: tree sap and bird poo. At the Najeti Hotel Chateau Tilque where they have Destination Chargers "sheltered" by trees makes me reconsider the value of free Kws

 

[mick4545]

I vent the windows every morning when no rain is forecast and is sunny.

 

[DM206433]

I vent the windows every morning when no rain is forecast and is sunny.

That's a good shout actually, I might start doing that.

 

[Bantam]

I started vented the windows but soon stopped the practice when I discovered that insects were getting trapped in the car, which started setting off the over sensitive alarm (neighbours were not too happy )

 

[Durzel]

I started vented the windows but soon stopped the practice when I discovered that insects were getting trapped in the car, which started setting off the over sensitive alarm (neighbours were not too happy )

Yeah that's why I haven't done it myself.

 

[mikeyg_ev]

I use it because it costs me next to nothing and the car won't be super hot inside when I go to use it.
I also have a theory that high temperatures in the car causes the plastic to release volatile compounds which settle on the windows and make them smeary. I can't think of any other explanation for the layer of grease that accumulates inside the windscreen in summer.
Other than that I doubt the temperature does much damage to the car. One theory for the feature is that pets or children accidentally left in the car will survive a lot longer at 40 degrees than they will at 50 or 60.

 

[Zeit93]

I'm gonna leave it on with the no a/c option for less power use, car has been below 40 all day with that