Auto Wipers are awful

[Tiger]

Another strange quirk is that if you leave wipers on previous night when parking, the wipers will still be on in the morning and resume wiping when you start. Yes I know this is how they work traditionally when it is the stalk, but c'moon if it is electronic/digital it could reset after a long park.

 

[browellm]

Took my son to football today and the wipers were having a totally normal one. Bright sunshine, hardly a cloud in the sky and the auto-wipers merrily wiping away intermittently.

Nearly drove into the kerb trying to turn them off, then decided to try voice control. Took two efforts for it to recognise "wipers off".

Utter garbage.

 

[Pagemakers]

You need to say “wipers arrrrrf”

 

[Peter 224]

Mine seem to be triggered by shadows on the screen, in the same way that a C Class Mercedes was about 10 years ago. They are OK, but could be better.
Our 2017 Mercedes has wipers that respond well and proportionally. As has been said, there should be a twist control on the indicator stalk to allow wiper speed adjustment, just as the C Class Mercedes has... It is about the only niggle I have, and I can live with it.

 

[Peter 224]

The wipers have definitely improved over the last 12 months but they are still crap. It’s an example of Tesla trying to reinvent the wheel and failing abysmally.

Agree 100%.

 

[G4WFT]

It's really weird this. How can people's experience with the same car vary so much? I've had my Model 3 Performance since last September and have never once had an issue with the wipers. Admittedly, because of lockdown, I haven't driven it that my much, but I have driven it in varying intensities of rain and, obviously, in the dry. Never a problem. Very strange.

 

[Somex]

You get used to it. Sometimes they work beautifully, other times they are awful. A case of a Tesla fixing a problem that didn't exist and balsing it up in the process. Service appointment won't fix it imho.

AFAS I am concerned, No you don’t get used to it.
It frustrates the f*** out of me.
What makes you think it’s ok to “get used” to something that doesn’t work properly (or at least, how you want, thought ,or expected it to work)
IMHO things do not work as I expect or for that matter as I am used to them working on other cars I’ve owned. (Just like adaptive cruise doesn’t work like “everybody else” does it )
If Tesla want to go with a different system to “mainstream” manufacturers IE cameras versus sensors) then at least ensure the system is effective. Not working part of the time but not working all of the time.
This obsession with cameras instead of sensors (like the “rest of the world”) is just stubborn
Sorry if this is not what you want to hear, but I came from a VW where all this worked reliably, no phantom braking, no sudden deceleration, no wiping a dry screen, no headlights on when it’s midday and blazing sunshine, no sub zero air on blast when it’s 30 degrees ambient, in short, no problems… it just worked, period!
I feel my Tesla works reliably when there is a Z in the day of the week, not when there is a Y in the day of the week
Oh, and it only costs the best part of 50k for the dubious privilege of something that doesn’t work, (most of the time) never mind all of the time, thank F*** I haven’t paid for FSD “capability ” … that’s a good word isn’t it, capable but not just yet or a M3P that only performs to spec if the Tesla planets are aligned.
And one is expected to part with ones hard earned dosh and take ones trousers down as if it’s what’s expected ney, demanded! , by lord Tesla
If you’ve read this far, congratulations, well done and apologies for the rant.

 

[Somex]

The wipers have definitely improved over the last 12 months but they are still crap. It’s an example of Tesla trying to reinvent the wheel and failing abysmally.

If I had owned my car for the last 12 months I could objectively comment, I haven’t so I can only pass an option based on the time I have owned my car.
On that basis, my opinion is the same as yours….. the wipers are indeed crap as crap can be

 

[jpm777]

All I can say is other than only a couple of times where it has dry wiped the screen, my car auto wipers have been fine for at least the last 6 months. No issues. Slow enough in drizzle and a good speed in torrential rain.

 

[AndrewGR]

I’ve had my M3 18 months and feel the wipers have improved to the point that they are as good as I can expect. Many different levels of rain in recent weeks and the wipers have been absolutely fine. Admittedly I haven’t had any rain when driving at night which, judging from comments here, seems to be when people feel they are at their worst.

 

[M3noob]

It's really weird this. How can people's experience with the same car vary so much? I've had my Model 3 Performance since last September and have never once had an issue with the wipers. Admittedly, because of lockdown, I haven't driven it that my much, but I have driven it in varying intensities of rain and, obviously, in the dry. Never a problem. Very strange.

I've got 14K on my LR AWD. The wipers used to be bad but are much better over the last month. Go figger

 

[Pagemakers]

AFAS I am concerned, No you don’t get used to it.
It frustrates the f*** out of me.
What makes you think it’s ok to “get used” to something that doesn’t work properly (or at least, how you want, thought ,or expected it to work)
IMHO things do not work as I expect or for that matter as I am used to them working on other cars I’ve owned. (Just like adaptive cruise doesn’t work like “everybody else” does it )
If Tesla want to go with a different system to “mainstream” manufacturers IE cameras versus sensors) then at least ensure the system is effective. Not working part of the time but not working all of the time.
This obsession with cameras instead of sensors (like the “rest of the world”) is just stubborn
Sorry if this is not what you want to hear, but I came from a VW where all this worked reliably, no phantom braking, no sudden deceleration, no wiping a dry screen, no headlights on when it’s midday and blazing sunshine, no sub zero air on blast when it’s 30 degrees ambient, in short, no problems… it just worked, period!
I feel my Tesla works reliably when there is a Z in the day of the week, not when there is a Y in the day of the week
Oh, and it only costs the best part of 50k for the dubious privilege of something that doesn’t work, (most of the time) never mind all of the time, thank F*** I haven’t paid for FSD “capability ” … that’s a good word isn’t it, capable but not just yet or a M3P that only performs to spec if the Tesla planets are aligned.
And one is expected to part with ones hard earned dosh and take ones trousers down as if it’s what’s expected ney, demanded! , by lord Tesla
If you’ve read this far, congratulations, well done and apologies for the rant.

While I love my 3P, I agree with every word written.

 

[MrBadger]

Hopefully they fix the latest version (as in limited 2021.4.15.x line) before it goes general release as my experience was that they were totally blind to road spray in no rain conditions. Others on that line also commented similar experience. Someone commented that the behaviour may have been optimised for autopilot vision use - its certainly not a pleasant experience for the occupants. I ended up constantly pressing the stalk - those were the sort of driving conditions where you don't want to be taking your eyes off the road, even if its limited visibility and car 'driving itself' - as for voice command, meh, I wouldn't even devote any mental capacity trying to see if it was understanding me.

 

[Yachtsman]

Agree 100%.

I've owned BMW's and Audi's costing 50kish since 1985 and the auto wipers were no better than my 2020 model 3 tesla.
I've no idea what you guys have been driving for the past 30 years but I don't believe you've had better behaved wipers.

 

[browellm]

I've owned BMW's and Audi's costing 50kish since 1985 and the auto wipers were no better than my 2020 model 3 tesla.
I've no idea what you guys have been driving for the past 30 years but I don't believe you've had better behaved wipers.

Believe what you like. The auto wipers on my 8yo 330 behave immaculately.

You had wipers going on a dry sunny day did you? That you couldn't turn off and on via a simple stalk control. pmsl.

 

[Yachtsman]

Believe what you like. The auto wipers on my 8yo 330 behave immaculately.

You had wipers going on a dry sunny day did you? That you couldn't turn off and on via a simple stalk control. pmsl.

Yes I had the stalk control obviously & cant recall them operating on dry sunny days, however they would would go berserk on full pelt for no reason or not start until either heavy rain or manually triggered.
I find the tesla wipers no better or worse than the quoted marques. None have been perfect but I don't go on complaining about them either.

 

[browellm]

but I don't go on complaining about them either.

Should you have need to, I doubt a Tesla forum would make a great deal of sense.

 

[Adopado]

I’ve had my M3 18 months and feel the wipers have improved to the point that they are as good as I can expect. Many different levels of rain in recent weeks and the wipers have been absolutely fine. Admittedly I haven’t had any rain when driving at night which, judging from comments here, seems to be when people feel they are at their worst.

Yes, I also have no wiper problems nowadays. I can’t recall any incidents of “dry screen wiping”. I must admit to being baffled by this variation.

 

[4pies]

First time poster- I’ve had my M3 LR+ for about 2 months now, ended up googling about the wipers not working properly and ending up here.

I was about to do a service request now I’m sort of glad to see I’m not then only one having issues. Although rather not have it at all

The car is lovely in all material respects, but why do my wipers go mad on every sunny day when it’s nice and dry? On overcast days it seems to be ok.

alongside the phantom breaking (my only other issue, albeit it seems to have improved recently) it doesn’t give me confidence this car could drive itself TBH.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Auto wipers, auto headlights, phantom braking, I'm not sure which is worse, the fact people get these problems or the fact it seems so variable between owners, some saying they never get the issue, others saying the features are unusable. Even allowing for a bit of exaggeration at both ends of the spectrum there seems to be very different user experiences. The one thing you want, especially if self driving is to be a thing, is consistency and arguably the lack of consistency is as big an issue as the issues themselves