Auto Wipers are awful

[Peter 224]

Auto Wipers... 6 months on:

1. They don't like a low sun and overhead branches so there is alternating bright and shadow. But neither did the auto wipers on the Merc. The Mercedes service people were able to turn down the sensitivity: why can't Tesla?
2. The Tesla system seems to demand a VERY clean screen, this is a pain as the washers are not that effective. Clever design, but not enough water!! I much prefer the Mercedes "fan jets". I've thought of fitting them, but it means drilling holes in the bonnet, not advisable on a car on a PEP!!
Overall no better or worse than the auto wipers on previous cars.

I tried voice command: it works, sometimes!

 

[plisken]

I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee that had a windscreen replaced and I was a bit worried it wouldn’t be the same afterwards (genuine windscreen btw), anyway after it was replaced it took a couple of days to return to normal.

i might be wrong here but I got the impression it learned on the go, as in if there were more manual interventions required, it would increase its sensitivity and also found the opposite to be true. It had a manual sensitivity adjustment too which was quite nice. Come to think about it, there was a lot that was quite nice about that car

I think the biggest problem for me will be having to use the screen to manually change wiper settings.

 

[browellm]

I did actually log the service request today. We all know what the outcome will be, but hey ho.

 

[Adopado]

I think the biggest problem for me will be having to use the screen to manually change wiper settings.

When you push the wipe button on the stalk the wipers control screen pops up near the edge closest to the driver so they are actually some of the easiest controls to access on the move ... if you have to. Obviously full control from the stalk would be preferable but it's a decent second best! When driving during the day I only rarely find that I have to resort to manual control.

 

[dinonugget]

Blame Tesla's stubbornness over not wanting to pay Bosch what must be something like $10 a pop at the scale they'd be purchasing them, instead trying to approximate what this very refined and proven system does with AI and cameras, and failing miserably.

The car uses ultrasonic sensors for parking (although I've heard they might be removed at some point - God help us), so it's not like they are averse to using third-party stuff where its more cost effective, and it works.

The only way it makes sense in my head is if someone challenged Elon on Twitter, telling him that it would not be possible to replicate what a rain sensor does, and he decided it had to be done sensor-less no matter the cost, and here we are - with a system that uses however many CPU cycles and man hours in programming time to work about 40% as well as a $10 part does.

The way Tesla has been raising prices, they should include/improve all the missing/inferior features and just pass the cost onto the customers. Given how many of us bought FSD and still line up to buy the car despite the price increases, it’s safe to say that they have plenty of margin left in how much Customers can absorb before they would even notice.

 

[Durzel]

Got a Peugeot e-2008 GT on a subscription (Onto) at the moment, in addition to my M3P. It has auto wipers and auto lights & high beam (what doesn’t nowadays?).

I’ve driven it in a variety of conditions - low sun, late evening, light off and on rain, etc. in all scenarios it’s just taken care of things with zero interventions necessary, the way it should be. Even the high beam has worked flawlessly.

Drove my Model 3 in to work in the morning a couple of days ago, in similar rain conditions, and whilst it wasn’t completely useless I did have to manually intervene a couple of times when it wasn’t responding effectively.

You really notice how much you are being failed by an autonomous system on a car that sells itself on that functionality, after you’ve tried another car that costs a fraction of the price, where it just works.

 

[MrBadger]

I might be wrong here but I got the impression it learned on the go, as in if there were more manual interventions required, it would increase its sensitivity and also found the opposite to be true. It had a manual sensitivity adjustment too which was quite nice. Come to think about it, there was a lot that was quite nice about that car

As I understand from when Tesla first implemented ‘deep rain’ that it is the fleet as a whole that learns from Croydon sourced manual interventions rather than an individual car. At present, from lack of anything saying otherwise, that this applies to other features of the car too, specially fleet speed and some driving behaviour. Tesla appear not have a way of car learning an individual driver preferences - other than those manually (or auto) saved in the drivers profile. I hope that will one day change as everyone has their own preferences to many functions that Tesla currently make a ‘global’ decision on.

 

[MrBadger]

Nothing much improved between 2021.4.15.12 (when below video was recorded) and 2021.36.5.5 - some really poor conditions on a couple of recent long motorway drives over last few days and spray from other vehicles, especially when passing, is inadequately cleared. On many occasions I had to constantly do manual 'flick wipes' or if in a stream of traffic, set wipers to manual mode.

Well autopilot had a surprisingly good view of things. I've put a 30 second clip below of which during the first 19 seconds or so, had I not been manually intervening or driving on Autopilot I would have been driving highly compromised of forward vision. The video does very little justice of how limited my forward visibility was unless I manually intervened. It was not until the final 1/3rd of the clip that the auto wipers were operating at an interval that I was able to let auto wipers perform on their own. All of the wipes in the first 2/3rds were manually initiated - button on end of stalk. Maybe the wipers were being particularly slow as I was on AP? I would still kind of like to see where I was going and having to monitor.

In this clip, it was not raining. The poor road conditions are due to vehicle spray from a prior cloud burst that I had just driven through. Ironically, the wipers coped admirably with the cloud burst, just not the aftermath. Even though NoA was apparently unavailable due to poor weather, the auto lane change at the end was performed flawlessly so I guess only the lane change predictions were restricted.

Finally, whilst editing the video from a couple of adjacent TeslaCam clips, I noticed that the gap between clips seems to be significantly reduced - to the point that at end of the videos first caption it transitions to the next TeslaCam clip, yet it shows only as a small glitch rather than several seconds of missed footage.

 

[MovingSouth]

The auto wipers are poor (in our M3 anyway). If two of us are in the car in changeable weather, the passenger is in charge of the wipers! I choose to get in our ZOE in drizzly weather!

However, there's a simple software change that would help somewhat. If I open other windows (such as audio, the trips, or the tyre pressure pane) they stay open until closed. I'd like the wipers pane to stay open after I touch the wipers button, until I close it, in just the same way. Standard computer programming, in that if the last thing I did was change the wiper speed, it's likely that I'll want to do it again shortly.

The behaviour on pressing the button on the left stalk could remain the same, with the pane closing after a short time.

Is anyone maintaining a UK customer request list that this can be added to? If auto can't be fixed then let's have the buttons available.

 

[Mr_Dave]

Have to say that since 2021.36.5.5 and the “cold weather improvements” the wipers have been significantly better. The operating speed/rain volume is much better judged. Before this, the slightest amount of rain would send my wipers to max speed every time. Now the wiper speed is far more appropriate to the amount of rain.

 

[Durzel]

[moderator comment - part of post removed along with follow up comments], and I think it’s more likely to be a confluence of conditions that make the auto wipers happen to work better on one particular journey, rather than an actual marked, consistent change in their behaviour.

I’m trying to be optimistic but at the end of the day it’s still cameras trying to guess what rain looks like, rather than a sensor that is proven technology.

 

[MrBadger]

However, there's a simple software change that would help somewhat.

You soon learn that Tesla don't do simple when they can hit the social media headlines with a half implemented solution that others had pretty much perfected years ago.

 

[Artiste]

Have to say that since 2021.36.5.5 and the “cold weather improvements” the wipers have been significantly better. The operating speed/rain volume is much better judged. Before this, the slightest amount of rain would send my wipers to max speed every time. Now the wiper speed is far more appropriate to the amount of rain.

After a lot of driving in rain recently, including two hours in torrential rain this morning, I can say my experience is exactly the opposite of yours. The wipers can be too slow in heavy rain, and especially in motorway spray, and they can start frantically wiping away on a dry screen. Yes, there has been some improvement in the more than two years I’ve had my M3 but no improvement at all from the last several software updates. The wipers are still crap, and I would still describe them as not fit for purpose.

 

[MovingSouth]

You soon learn that Tesla don't do simple ...

That's been obvious for a long time, even as an observer. However, one complaint has been addressed - I can swap from %SOC to range just by touching the number, instead of diving into the menus! (There is space on the display for both at the same time, but never mind.)

Despite the lack of response from Tesla, I do like the car so much that I'd like to keep community pressure on Tesla as much as possible. There are numerous user interface problems that could be resolved easily. I'd rather live in hope than despair.

 

[browellm]

I did actually log the service request today. We all know what the outcome will be, but hey ho.

Just to close this off, after logging the service appointment I got a call from the service manager (at Birmingham). Basically the output was tea & sympathy, which is what I was expecting. They remotely checked my cameras for me and all was working correctly. He understood my rationale for logging it and I said I knew there was nothing they could directly do to resolve it.

He did suggest wiping the AP calibration and running a fresh one. I suspect this is an emotional crutch as much as anything. I did try it but it didn't have any material effect on the crapness of my auto wipers.

 

[MrBadger]

The wipers can be too slow in heavy rain, and especially in motorway spray, and they can start frantically wiping away on a dry screen.

When the wipers started frantically wiping a dry screen, but were putting off the event in awful spray yesterday, my mind was suddenly blown when I realised the ground braking solution that Tesla have taken to prevent microscopic particles of windscreen wiper rubber from accumulating in one location. Instead of shedding the particles of rubber in an intense weather event, they defer some the shedding until another drive by wiping a dry screen when it is unlikely that the particles will directly enter a watercourse. Tada, no build up of micro rubbers being washed away into the water courses by heavy rain. Absolute genius. What will they think of next? A laser to shoot the water droplets on the windscreen and evaporate the rain?

 

[Medved_77]

What will they think of next? A laser to shoot the water droplets on the windscreen and evaporate the rain?

Erm.....

Tesla files patent for laser wipers

FRICKIN' LASER BEAMS!

drivetribe.com

 

[Peter 224]

Wipers... my experience.

Tesla auto wipers are not perfect, but then that isn't much different from many others. What is annoying is that there isn't a stalk that I can use to control them.
BUT... I don't know if this is s recent change, or I've never before realised it, but simply be pressing the wash button the wipers come on and a menu box appears on the screen showing the settings for auto wiping.
Above the setting scale is a wiper button and touching that turns everything off.
If you want to turn auto wipers on again simply press the stalk button and they return to the Auto setting.

Pointlessly complex, but at least it works.

 

[MovingSouth]

Wipers... my experience.

Tesla auto wipers are not perfect, but then that isn't much different from many others. What is annoying is that there isn't a stalk that I can use to control them.
BUT... I don't know if this is s recent change, or I've never before realised it, but simply be pressing the wash button the wipers come on and a menu box appears on the screen showing the settings for auto wiping.
Above the setting scale is a wiper button and touching that turns everything off.
If you want to turn auto wipers on again simply press the stalk button and they return to the Auto setting.

Pointlessly complex, but at least it works.

The box also appears if you press the wipers icon at the bottom of the screen. But, as I outlined above, the box would be far more helpful if it didn't disappear just as you have indicated there is a need to use the buttons on it.

 

[Peter 224]

The box also appears if you press the wipers icon at the bottom of the screen. But, as I outlined above, the box would be far more helpful if it didn't disappear just as you have indicated there is a need to use the buttons on it.

Agreed.
A traditional stalk would be better.