M3: Left door pillar camera frequently "blinded" according to screen, left-side viz seems dodgy

[KieferSkunk]

Just wondering if anyone else is having this issue. Pretty much every since I got my 2019 M3 LR, the car has frequently displayed a notice that the left door pillar camera is blocked or blinded, and that I should clean it or wait for it to become unblocked. This happens in all weather and lighting conditions, and seems mostly random.

To be clear, I assume this is the camera actually on the door pillar, recessed behind glass. I frequently clean that glass, and I can see the camera lens clearly (though obviously I can't see what it sees). I do not see the same error on the right pillar camera.

I also noticed that the on-screen road/traffic visualization seems pretty good at showing vehicles in front of me and to the right, but vehicles on the left often don't appear at all or tend to flicker. I do not have the FSD upgrade.

I mentioned this to my service center while getting accident damage repaired, and they told me the camera housing isn't sealed, but instead balances pressure with the cabin. I can only assume that if that's true, the housing is also subject to whatever moisture is in the cabin, which I'd think would make it likely to fog up in cold weather.

Any advice, since I'm not sure I can trust my local service center?

 

[KieferSkunk]

I posted this before doing a thorough search of the forum last night. I see others have been having this issue as well and that there are some possible workarounds. I do wonder why Tesla thinks this is normal, though - you'd think anything that would prevent a primary feature of the car from working would be of great importance to them.

 

[Kal Guo]

How do you activate the door pillar camera? I think mines not working and want to check?

 

[legendsk]

No problem with cameras until software update 2011.20.18 Starting then my left pillar camera is "blocked or blinded" but only driving south in the morning and north in the afternoon. Set up service appointment. Service responded that sure enough it is being blinded by the sun. Their solution is to schedule my drives to north in the morning and south in the afternoon, or wait for a cloudy day. Since the cameras weren't reporting a problem to them, there wasn't anything they could do, so they closed the appointment. Problem solved as far as they were concerned.

In a not really related note, (about cameras). I had a long wait in line at Burger King and the "Safety Score" scored me as "unsafe following" 60% of the time of the trip. Tesla insurance went up $5 per month. It's an insurance problem, not a service problem, so I called Tesla insurance and finally reached a real person. She suggested I leave more room between the car and the car in front of me. Explained that yesterday I did it again, but this time left over a car length between the car in front of me and mine. (As much as I could without getting honked and road raged at and now my insurance is up $13 per month.) She asked if I was in autopilot in the line????? Are you kidding me? No, in a car that randomly whips the steering wheel and lunges to apparently escape a crash with some non-existent object it thinks it sees? But she solved the problem for me. Suggested I find some other place to eat. Now all I have to do is find a place north of me where I can go eat in the morning and come back in the afternoon, and not use the drive up window.

And then . . . . . . . . They sent me a survey to tell them how much I appreciated their wonderful customer service. That was fun enough to pretty well make up for the other issues.