glass roof - production change (July 2018)?

[super20g]

I just cannot believe they did this on purpose. It makes no sense to change the process on the rear window and leave the front one the same. It also doesn’t look good.

Agreed. I think they got some 'bad' stock in from their supplier... Someone needs to tweet Elon a picture with the glass fully treated, half treated, and not treated at all and ask him for transparency on what is going on... I think it looks odd with the roof glass treated and not the full back glass as well... I thought the treatment was something that was touted by Elon or marketing prior...

 

[minsup23]

July 2018 build. Took this last night as it was raining on my way from work. So bummed and thought I didn’t see the orange when I washed my car and the reddit user posted something.

 

[RSL2020]

Its particularly concerning that children in car seats will be sitting without IR protection directly in the sun now :-(. Id rather have had them cheap out on the front roof panel honestly. Guess a sunshade is in my future even though that defeats the purpose of a glass roof.

 

[jsrawa]

Its particularly concerning that children in car seats will be sitting without IR protection directly in the sun now :-(. Id rather have had them cheap out on the front roof panel honestly. Guess a sunshade is in my future even though that defeats the purpose of a glass roof.

I agree, this is a safety component and I would expect it on a car in this price range. I think people should tweet Elon to try to get an answer, even if he doesn’t answer maybe it will get his attention.

 

[super20g]

Yea, my mom is sensitive to sun and I've got the kid concern as well... I don't have twitter or i'd tweet him. Someone please take one for the team.

 

[Zaphod]

Curious if the antenna is the same on this new glass? I hated the antenna arrangement on the rear window.

That's not the antenna. That is the heating element for the rear defroster. The antenna is actually under the rear passenger side C-pillar inside cover.

 

[jsrawa]

Yea, my mom is sensitive to sun and I've got the kid concern as well... I don't have twitter or i'd tweet him. Someone please take one for the team.

I tried but as usual no response, maybe if enough people do he will eventually answer someone.

 

[Mazari4life]

Are we SURE this isn't an artifact of the photograph/photographer and the angle/light that it's being taken? (Yes, I realize the "top" portion of the glass still shows that reddish glow...)

No I have seen on my car as well. Took delivery on May 14

 

[EVnut]

July build here and only the front gives that orange wet look. Kinda stinks if the rear doesn’t have the same protection as my kid sits back there everyday.

I get the concern. But of course please note that I'm sure your kids are sometimes *outside* of the car, and they'll be exposed to even more IR when not in the car. In an almost silly extreme case, this is a bit like a smoker being worried about "air pollution" ruining his health. I'm with you though: I want as much UV and IR protection as I can get. And that's easier to do inside the glass than with a film after.

That doesn't make sense. If this "new" colorless method prevents cracking in the rear glass, how would the front glass not benefit from using the same treatment?

Yeah, compelling question. It is at least a smaller piece of glass up front... which must make a difference. But the crazy part is the inconsistency now. THAT makes no sense.

Very interesting. Is there a scientific test for this IR? I Tinted all glass on my car. No rain here so did not see any orange glow.

There are plenty of ways to measure this (IR meter would make the most sense). Just need the tools for the job.

View attachment 330031 View attachment 330030 I have a 8/18 build and missing the IR on the rear section of the glass too , sevice center says they will relace it tomorrow? I posted this on another forum

So to be clear: You pointed out the mis-match from front glass to rear glass, and they agreed that the rear glass (with no orange) was incorrect, and should be replaced with glass that *does* turn orange? Yikes. If this is true, there's going to be a lot of big glass replaced.

 

[ChrisH]

I just cannot believe they did this on purpose. It makes no sense to change the process on the rear window and leave the front one the same. It also doesn’t look good.

Lol it doesn’t really look good unless it is the top and the entire back glass.

 

[Runt8]

If they did change the IR protection method as some have surmised then it's possible that they are going through a stockpile of the top glass windows with the old method and there will be new ones at some point without the orange effect. I'm doubtful that the change was done on accident.

 

[super20g]

Sounds like no one has a newer vin and the treatment on the glass it sounds like? That does sound like a change in direction.

 

[VT_EE]

Sounds like no one has a newer vin and the treatment on the glass it sounds like? That does sound like a change in direction.

Not sure why there are SCs replacing the rear windows if this is a legit change.

 

[Park2670]

Not sure why there are SCs replacing the rear windows if this is a legit change.

As somebody else said, this will probably be like the alcantara headliner. They will say it was supposed to be this way and was always planned. Sad.

 

[Linkeds2]

I just cannot believe they did this on purpose. It makes no sense to change the process on the rear window and leave the front one the same. It also doesn’t look good.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they purposely removed the UV tint if they found a different way to apply it. This is tesla we’re talking about as well, the company that changed to more comfortable seats in a model 3 during a random month. And changed from nvidia based hardware to faster intel hardware without any model year change. They follow their own schedule.

This also seems to be too widespread of occurrence to be a missed batch of windshields. The supplier would’ve caught such a big oversight. Which leads me to believe the change was intentional.

It also leads me to believe the other poster who’s glass is getting replacement may be doing so because the SC isn’t aware of the change. I’d put money on the replacement glass he gets not having the orange glow either

 

[MP3Mike]

It also leads me to believe the other poster who’s glass is getting replacement may be doing so because the SC isn’t aware of the change. I’d put money on the replacement glass he gets not having the orange glow either

I agree that the SC probably doesn't know that a change was made. I disagree about the replacement having the old coating. The SC said that they had the glass in stock, so it is likely stock from before the change was made.

 

[animorph]

Is it IR or UV? IR would not be a safety issue.
Do we have any measurements yet? Can we say for sure there is more IR or UV coming through the window? Is it simply a different treatment, not a missing treatment?

I might kind of miss the red look, especially since it's still on the roof.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I've thought long and hard about this so I went to the Westmont Il service center about 2 hours ago. As luck would have it.....There were 2 earlier model 3's there as well as mine.

Blue Model 3 - Full back Red colored glass in the rain.
White P3D+ ( mine ) - No Red look at all on the rear.
Black P3D demo driver car - Half Red colored glass in the rain.


Below is a pic of My car and the Blue one to the right.

I was vehemently presenting my case that I was missing some kind of UV coating or something. The service manager and I went back to the Tesla Parts computer and he looked up what rear window belonged on the back of my car. After searching and searching we found it. xx-A2 is the part number that showed up on the left (drivers side) of the rear window right above the C-pillar. Then we went back to my car and found the number and sure enough I have a xx-A2 window. I then went to the blue model 3 next to me and it was also xx-a2.

I was thinking.....what's going on here? Then after further research on the Tesla Service Computer we found that there are 4 different manufacturers of that rear window. The company that made my P3D+ window film that is sandwiched between to the 2 pieces of glass that comprise of the rear window is 3M. We were only able to look that up via the VIN.
Tesla had some kind of uv light meter and I was able to compare the uv light from my rear window and the blue cars rear window and the light meter showed the exact same numbers. We then took the light meter to a Model S CPO 2013 Model S rear window and the numbers of the meter were doubled ( more uv coming through). Interesting.
So.....the Customer service manager suggested to me that if I ever have to replace the rear glass in my Model 3 to remind the Tesla Service Center to replace the glass with the glass assigned to my VIN because the rear window part number is the same across all Model 3's.

Then the Customer manager asked me an ALL IMPORTANT QUESTION....that I could only answer after seeing all 3 cars together.

I have a White on White P3D+ FSD Model 3. He asked..."Out of all three versions of the rear window....with your white seats and all...….Which window would you have ordered?".

Without hesitation I responded "The one I have".

I said this because even when the rain stops( on the full red window as well as the half red window) ….the red of the red window blocks out the ability to see the color of the interior. I want to be able to see my white seats from the rear. Its beautiful.

Case closed for me.

 

[Linkeds2]

I agree that the SC probably doesn't know that a change was made. I disagree about the replacement having the old coating. The SC said that they had the glass in stock, so it is likely stock from before the change was made.

That could be a possibility

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

4 pages of speculation and people jumping to conclusions. Perhaps someone who is concerned that their passengers/kids/dogs are going to burn up without UV coating on the glass can take their car to a glass shop and have it tested for UV protection?

EDIT: Garlan Garner delivers! Great info!