B-pillar cameras fogging up?

[Battpower]

Evidently not. For MS the service bulletins I saw said to remove patch, but then the 'latest' version part had the patch fitted.

The threads I have followed seem to give weight to the argument that the problem is still unresolved regardless of design.

 

[MarsOrBust]

Well since the 2021 model 3 still has b-pillar fogging I would say yeah the problem is not resolved for sure.
Having a bulletin stating that later models don't have the patch means they stopped at that point
producing them with a patch.

Does not mean they don't have another bulletin that added them again but I have not seen that one.

 

[C-Bus Y]

2021 MY here, my passenger side camera was fogged up today and gave me the error.

 

[jmatero]

Yeah, MY and constant warnings about cams fogged.

 

[Rippin1Gear]

Again... if Tesla owners want Tesla to act and fix this known issue for years YOU need to report the safety issue so this gets taken care of and addressed...
File a Vehicle Safety Complaint | Safercar.gov | NHTSA

 

[thewishmaster]

Noticed the other day at least one of my B pillar cams has some moisture residue on the inside of the glass... explains why that cam keeps getting knocked out, taking NoA with it, when the sun is at the right angle on that side of the car

 

[clyde]

Same issue on my 2021 M3P (Dec.20 build date).
Unfortunately, the problem is not solved once the fog eventually lifts, before it comes back the next humid day (as if lack of FSD due to malfunctioning camera is not bad enough): the condensation does not dry clean but contains dirt which remains. The build-up of contamination eventually will render the camera permanently dead. Service is coming out in a week. I will update this post afterwards.
Anyway I'll report the fogging issue to NHTSA.

 

[Durzel]

I don't understand why there isn't one of those flat heating elements in there. It seems like a perfect place for it?

I'm thinking something along these lines:

Not sure how much power the camera uses, but I presume there would be some way of tapping off it to power something like this?

I had a mobile service guy come out to look at the condensation on one of mine. As it turned out (typically) on the day he arrived it had cleared up, but he removed both of them to check for the presence of the Gore patch (wasn't there, and he didn't add it back). He seemed to think that "no patch" was the latest guidance, but who knows.

Given he pulled the pillar off the car in no time at all I'd say there's definitely potential for a poor seal to exist, particularly with the hole in the back that supposedly is a good thing?

 

[MarsOrBust]

The do make glass that does not fog. That should come from the factory.
They also make anti fogging spray for glass, I wonder if we could do that ourselves?

 

[ilyak]

They also make anti fogging spray for glass, I wonder if we could do that ourselves?

I actually tried applying a little bit of a scuba mask anti-fog compound to the parts of the inner surface of the appliqué glass that I could reach through the opening. I wasn’t very successful and the effect didn’t last.

 

[GBMaryland]

Submitted a report to the NHTSA... seems like a good place to start... give how the Rockville, MD service center blew me off.

In the past, I have tended to see this issue whenever there was significant humidity. Of course, that means the camera fails to work when you actually need it: While it's raining and you're driving down a highway.

 

[MarsOrBust]

just like human vision fails deteriorates in heavy rain.

 

[Gyrolion]

So I wanna inspect my B-pillar camera's for the gore patch, because of a little bit of condensation and Tesla just saying it is designed like this, but I can't seem to get the little plastic trim underneath lose to get to the bolts... How is it connected, i'm to afraid to pull to hard because of possibly breaking it.
Someone got a video of it?

 

[Freudian]

I will chime in to say that I have a June 2021 Model 3 LR AWD and experience 'pillar camera issue' and then found they were fogged up as well. This happens to me every day and sometimes clears up and sometimes doesn't.

I can't see REAL FSD actually every working with issues like this. I have my cameras come up with error messages everytime I drive throughout the trip.

I think they need to bring back radar and use some other technologies that aren't affected as much by fog and rain.

The car gets upset in conditions that my eyes have zero issues driving through. OH NO! facing traffic coming towards me! I'm going to slam on the brakes!!! My goodness. You'd think it was a nervous nelly driving.

 

[Trip McNealy]

2021 MY delivered this October and for the first time my passenger side B-pillar camera was fogged up in this perfect oval shape and gave me the error. By the time I went into the gym and came out an hour-ish later, the fog was gone. We had a bit of a humid spell in NJ this past weekend.

 

[Battpower]

As the owner of a 2019 MS Raven I'd be interested in experience of owners of other Tesla models regarding general humidity control in the passenger space.

I am in the UK and during the summer months I don't have any issues with cabin humidity and fogging, especially if I don't use recerc, crack diagonal windows open and avoid using AC. If I use AC, especially in cooler weather to dehumidify the cabin space, then when I STOP using AC I usually experience periods of fogging and elevated cabin humidity.

Once, the issue was so extreme that when I turned on the demister the windshield completely fogged up very heavily and would not clear for 2 or 3 minutes.

I also have a recent Kona Electric and it seems to have much better humidity control such that when the system detects elevated humidity it automatically runs a purge process. It is night - day difference between fogging and demisting behaviour between the MS and the Kona.

My experience and investigation of b-pilar fogging strongly hints at it being down to elevated cabin humidity combined with low camera window temperature exasperated by minimal heating or airflow over the camera windows.

I haven't seen any progress towards a real solution which imo is a big snag in the way of extended use of those cameras.

What are the experiences of new M3 / heat pump vehicle owners?

 

[Theadonnan]

This happened in both of our cars two days ago, a 21 3 and 21 Y. Curious if mobile tech can improve it or if the bad design is still the same from a few years back. Does this prevent blind spot monitoring from being functional?

 

[Gyrolion]

Well, since the weather is a bit damp here lately I'm having the fogging up a few times when driving.
It happens more when it is complete darkness (so it cannot see anything I guess) when I look in the camera there is a bit of fog.
Also only tends to happen when the sun is shining on the camera unit. Low hanging sun.

Since I have a 2019 model pre 31 march I suspected I still have the gore patches blocking the air ports.

So I managed to remove the camera's and behold, no gore patches, so basicly I have a revision or sometime in the past the previous owner allready removed them.

So basicly it wont get any better then it is now till there is a revision with a heater element or bigger breathing holes.

If anyone wants a tutorial how you can check if your camera still has a gore patch give me a message and I will make a video of some sort, it is a 5 min job to remove and reinstall them.

 

[KenC]

Well, since the weather is a bit damp here lately I'm having the fogging up a few times when driving.
It happens more when it is complete darkness (so it cannot see anything I guess) when I look in the camera there is a bit of fog.
Also only tends to happen when the sun is shining on the camera unit. Low hanging sun.

Since I have a 2019 model pre 31 march I suspected I still have the gore patches blocking the air ports.

So I managed to remove the camera's and behold, no gore patches, so basicly I have a revision or sometime in the past the previous owner allready removed them.

So basicly it wont get any better then it is now till there is a revision with a heater element or bigger breathing holes.

If anyone wants a tutorial how you can check if your camera still has a gore patch give me a message and I will make a video of some sort, it is a 5 min job to remove and reinstall them.

Is it possible to enlarge the breather holes? How about wiring a heater element around the cameras?

 

[Battpower]

Is it possible to enlarge the breather holes? How about wiring a heater element around the cameras?

While increasing the vent size / removing patch might help demisting by increasing airflow, the same increased airflow of warm, damp air could make the issue worse imo.