Eye strain in Y, horrible glare front windshield at night?

[Tcobshea]

So I was really excited for my Y performance. My pick up date was the 1st or September. But I cancelled my order!

It’s strange to say it was hard to actually cancel it too! I have wanted a Tesla since they first hit the market. So a few weeks ago I made the jump and said screw it’s sight unseen, zero test drive, let order this model Y!


Fast forward three weeks after ordering. My wife said “ go down south and test drive one!”

I found out they had a test drive/ service center where I am located.

So I went and did a test driven. First impressions right out the gate, “why do my eyes feel strained?”

Looking out the windshield it felt like I put on someone’s stigmatism prescription.

I don’t wear glasses and have never looked out a windshield and felt like strain.

so I thought maybe it was just the weirdness of the EV. But my settings were as follows:
regen braking on lowest, and drive mode chill.

I told my sales guy something was up with the car but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I didn’t realize something was either wrong with the windshield or I was going crazy.
I have never in my life driven a new car or old car that gave me a headache. This one did. Within 5 mins of driving it ruined my day for hours.

Sales guy offered for me to take it over night. And that’s when it all showed. Holy crap! This windshield was blasting lights all over the place. My wife kept saying “I can’t even read signs!” Because the reflections were so horrible.

Had anyone ever had this issue?


I was too afraid to take a chance with 70k dollars to get a crappy windshield and cross my fingers Tesla would fix it afterwards. Because maybe they wouldn’t see or have the same experience I was!


I’m still bummed! Tesla was the car I wanted and I hope in the near future I will be driving a Tesla!


Sorry for the long rant/story!

If anyone has had these issues I would love to hear from you!

 

[Bikeman]

What a bummer. Sorry. I haven't test driven a Y, but I'll now keep this in mind to watch out for. You are not alone. I read somewhere, and sorry I can't remember where, but someone else mentioned eye strain from the front windshield of a 3 or a Y a while back.

 

[MY-Y]

My windshield had some paint overspray on it when I got my car. I removed it with a clay bar. Maybe that was your issue?

I've seen it multiple times before - each time I sprayed paint too close to my cars.

 

[Watts_Up]

I noticed that the inside of the windshield was greasy, like if there was some fog and using the defroster didn't do anything.

So after a couple of weeks, I decided to spent sometime to clean the inside of my windshield, something that I never did before.

And then the windshield became clear like crystal, I even touched my windshield with my hand to be sure that there was a glass.

@Tcobshea, may be that was part of the problem that your experienced?

 

[J1mbo]

My 3 has distortions in the windscreen glass. Sounds like that's what you could see. Luckily for me, the distortions are over on the passenger side, and only noticable when turning.

FWIW, my 2017 MS had minor glass defects, but 2014 Model S was perfect. Prior to that I had a Merc and an Audi which both had the same issue. The Audi was particularly bad, as the rear window was also affected. Was like looking through a frozen waterfall, if that makes sense.

If you do get a Y and it is as bad as the test drive I am pretty sure you would be able to get the windscreen replaced.

 

[glide]

I had a similar problem with my S. Ghosting and refractions all over my field of view. It was terrible to drive at night.

Tesla did nothing to fix it. I supposed I could have smashed it with a rock and had it replaced but I opted to sell the car for a number of other reasons as well.

 

[Zoomit]

The ghosting I see in my Model 3 is my single most disappointing thing about the car. It's really bad and am surprised it doesn't get more attention on forums like this. I'm taller so I do look through the flatter part of the windshield, so that is a contributing factor. I see two of every bright light at night, one above the other. It hasn't ever given me eye strain or a headache though.

 

[Dennisis]

So why wouldn't you look at this like any other issue? If the car you went to accept had it, which is highly unlikely as this is the first time I've seen it mentioned, you could just refuse it. Or make a note of it and have the windshield replaced.

And for others who had it why would you just NOT get the windshield replaced if it bugged you? Seriously it's a piece of glass - I'd never just live with it if it bugged me so much. I mean windshields get replaced all the time, not complicated, and there's no way it's a systemic issue or there would be rants and videos all over the place...

 

[75Shappyt]

try cleaning the inside of the windshield, my MS had little glair did a good cleaning, gone

 

[ftmaybe]

Wow.. that's interesting. Never heard of / experienced it on a car in my life, and I have never noticed anything weird about the glass on my wife's model 3 .. night or otherwise. I also test drove a Model Y last week for about 45 mins and didn't see any distortions.

Another item to put on a delivery checklist I guess..

 

[iamnid]

The ghosting I see in my Model 3 is my single most disappointing thing about the car. It's really bad and am surprised it doesn't get more attention on forums like this. I'm taller so I do look through the flatter part of the windshield, so that is a contributing factor. I see two of every bright light at night, one above the other. It hasn't ever given me eye strain or a headache though.

This! Same on our Model 3, see double for every tail light at night. I thought my vision was failing me until I hopped into our other car and it went away. I only ever notice it at night and it doesn't give me a headache so it isn't a deal breaker

 

[VikH]

Is anyone tracking the windshield part#s? Hopefully they revise the windshield to remove the ghosting issue. They did this for Model X.

 

[NY_Rob]

... had a Merc and an Audi which both had the same issue.

Had the same issue with my 2012 Plug-in Prius.. it was really tiring to drive at night.

 

[qdeathstar]

I have not had this issue with my y. Maybe the windshield was dirty/oil residue or maybe a manufacturer defect on the finish of the windshield..

 

[Tcobshea]

I have not had this issue with my y. Maybe the windshield was dirty/oil residue or maybe a manufacturer defect on the finish of the windshield..

for sure a manufacture defect in the windshield. I wish Tesla would care about their quality. I buy a new vehicle almost every 1-2 years and have never had that issue except with a cheap windshield replacement years ago.

 

[Tcobshea]

Had the same issue with my 2012 Plug-in Prius.. it was really tiring to drive at night.

Someone tried to say it was the angle of the windshield but my current car is a Prius and the windshield is extremely angled.

 

[Tcobshea]

Is anyone tracking the windshield part#s? Hopefully they revise the windshield to remove the ghosting issue. They did this for Model X.

Funny you say that about the X because everyone at Tesla has never heard about any windshield issues.

 

[Tcobshea]

This! Same on our Model 3, see double for every tail light at night. I thought my vision was failing me until I hopped into our other car and it went away. I only ever notice it at night and it doesn't give me a headache so it isn't a deal breaker

My wife said she couldn’t even look at signs because they were completely blurred out from the light glare/ halo

 

[VikH]

Funny you say that about the X because everyone at Tesla has never heard about any windshield issues.

Classic Tesla blow off move.

 

[75Shappyt]

I'm sure it's a easy fix, just drop it off at SC, let them see it, I had a Audi, windshield was like that, just real bad, took over a month to replace it, but still was able to drive the car, since you buy a car so often just drive it a year, get a new car.