That's great, I'm very glad you got it resolved. As I said in my earlier posts, I think there are quite a few cars in the fleet with this problem, to a greater or lesser degree.
But I also said that Tesla must be well aware of it, so I wasn't too happy to read the next part:
IMO Tesla needs to take this very seriously and do the following things, some can be accomplished now and some for the future:
- Elevate the issue above the level it already has which is some kind of service bulletin note.
- Include it in training materials and flag it using whatever other internal communication methods would be appropriate.
- It really doesn't matter if the percentage of seriously affected vehicles is low - the problem is very serious in those vehicles, completely distorting the primary camera view with low sun or bright nighttime lights.
- Assign a team member to work the problem by finding and or creating a set of training clips that teach the AI to self diagnose this problem. The kind of smearing glare that it creates is not hard to teach. Then the car can notify the driver and notify the factory that cleaning service is required.
- Create a service tool that every service center should have, to validate the cleanliness of windshield and lenses for the front cameras. I'm thinking a kind of box with a pattern of bright LEDs and perhaps a printed pattern also inside. The box is designed to mate against the upper windshield, and a standard test software routine runs to validate cleanliness, calibration and basic video quality. If it doesn't pass, it requires a cleaning or camera service/replacement.
- As I said before, redesign the camera housing so that it's easily removable for owner DIY cleaning or service-tech cleaning. A simple squeeze clip arrangement instead of the present situation that requires proper tools and technique just to get a cover off, then unplug connectors and Dismount the mirror and loosen some screws to jiggle the cover off, it's way too hard to maintain the cleanliness right now, and obviously the materials used are prone to outgassing and hazy film deposits.
Everyone should note that some users here report vastly inferior results with the same software that others are quite happy with. I proceed that a fair number of the complaints come from owners of relatively older cars. Of course some of this is down to expectations, personality and so on, but I believe some of it maybe due to hazy/glary front cameras, condensation on pillar cameras, light leaks in repeater cameras and inevitable accumulated gunk on rear cameras.
It's a shame when mundane issues like these get in the way of (what I consider) a remarkable software and data infrastructure effort by Tesla. I hope they consider these suggestions that could improve performance, safety and owner satisfaction.