dandigangi
Member
Got some heavy rain yesterday in Chicago/burbs. My wipers were going absolutely bat sh*t. Had to turn them off multiple times because they wouldn't chill. 22 M3P on v2021.35.102.2.
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MASTER THREAD: Auto Wiper functionality, complaints, praise, etc.
- Thread starter RC2785
- Start date
pdx_m3s
Active Member
Yeah, but wish Tesla would enable double tap on the left stalk button = wipers on.
All I can say is auto wipers, AI-driven or not, will never work as Tesla envisions, because not only are humans all different, our differences change throughout the day!
Tesla's auto wipers cannot (and will never) know and be able to accommodate:
- that someone's eyes are more sensitive to particular shades of certain colors
- that light from that neon sign which is dimmer than the streetlight nonethless is more blinding for the turn ahead because of the angle and location
- light from sunset vs sunrise is different depending on the direction and angle
- our eyes change shape and clarity of vision with our blood pressure
- people's night vision varies widely
- hills and valleys are a thing and affect the angles of light coming in
- speed and cleanliness of the glass make a difference in how the drops spread, wipers can be more annoying/distracting than the water!
...etc etc etc
Every rain-sensing wiper that has ever worked well for me had a tunable sensitivity, and I would still adjust it at least several times during the course of any rainy drive.
Give me something with an adjustment knob I can change by feel and keep my eyes on the road, Tesla's wipers can just **** right off!
Tesla's auto wipers cannot (and will never) know and be able to accommodate:
- that someone's eyes are more sensitive to particular shades of certain colors
- that light from that neon sign which is dimmer than the streetlight nonethless is more blinding for the turn ahead because of the angle and location
- light from sunset vs sunrise is different depending on the direction and angle
- our eyes change shape and clarity of vision with our blood pressure
- people's night vision varies widely
- hills and valleys are a thing and affect the angles of light coming in
- speed and cleanliness of the glass make a difference in how the drops spread, wipers can be more annoying/distracting than the water!
...etc etc etc
Every rain-sensing wiper that has ever worked well for me had a tunable sensitivity, and I would still adjust it at least several times during the course of any rainy drive.
Give me something with an adjustment knob I can change by feel and keep my eyes on the road, Tesla's wipers can just **** right off!
finman100
Member
when raining hard i certainly don't want wipers to slow down. I'm confused by the speed up comment.
in order to keep the windshield clear during hard rains, what are the options that do the best job...swipe faster, ie, more often, since more rain is blocking my view!
in order to keep the windshield clear during hard rains, what are the options that do the best job...swipe faster, ie, more often, since more rain is blocking my view!
It really does not clean any better beyond the optimum speed. Have you ever noticed that? In order to clean better when harder, the speed needs to be really high, almost like a propeller, which the rubber wiper blade cannot achieve. In the end, it swipes faster than the optimum speed, and does nothing but increase the anxiety levels of the driver and passengers of the vehicle. Have you noticed that too?
This is pretty individual and climate-specific. E.g. like @enemji I generally hate the fast mode too because I find the wiper flying around in front of me more distracting than the few extra drops it catches normally, but I have used it before in truly torrential downpours (e.g. inches of rain per hour) where the clearing action only lasted for literally a few cm behind the sweep so as per @finman100 it can be necessary! So, should it be available as an option? Sure, but it's not something I want triggering automatically, ever.
If somebody made a device with knobs and buttons to be able to control wiper sensitivity, or even just sweep frequency and, while I'm wishing, the ability to turn the headlights off briefly, (this is a common way to communicate "go ahead" or "your lights are off at night" here), I would pay $hundreds! 
(C'mon Tesla hackers, there's a market for this!
(C'mon Tesla hackers, there's a market for this! 
I don’t think auto wipers on any car I’ve owned have been that good tbf. The M3 is no better no worse than the BMW, Mercedes, VW, Toyota, Mazda, Audi or Mitsubishi I’ve owned nor any of the myriad hire cars I’ve driven. For me they’re all far too sensitive to start and downright annoying when they try rip themselves apart by going max speed to often. Pre auto wipers I’ve never used max speed wipers in my life
I don’t find they clear rain any better personally just skate over the top in a lot of cases.
I don’t find they clear rain any better personally just skate over the top in a lot of cases.
jabloomf1230
Minister of Silly Walks
I have to agree. Even with reliance on moisture sensor technology, auto wipers generally ignore a fine mist and have problems adjusting to rapidly changing rain and road spray rates. That's true for my present BMW 5 series and previous BMWs and Toyotas. It's definitely not just a Tesla issue.I don’t think auto wipers on any car I’ve owned have been that good tbf. The M3 is no better no worse than the BMW, Mercedes, VW, Toyota, Mazda, Audi or Mitsubishi I’ve owned nor any of the myriad hire cars I’ve driven. For me they’re all far too sensitive to start and downright annoying when they try rip themselves apart by going max speed to often. Pre auto wipers I’ve never used max speed wipers in my life
pdx_m3s
Active Member
Our current Mini Countryman (BMW) and my old X5 were far better than my Model 3.
There’s many a time in all the cars I have driven I’ve sat there thinking when the hell are the bloody wipers going to start with fine mist lol. Then perversely they start, swipe once, then hell fire breaks loose and you’d think they were trying to clear a bloody waterfall…..when there’s just a few drops on the screen that I wouldn’t have bothered about
finman100
Member
pdx_m3s
Active Member
My BMW, Mercedes, Lexus etc never had these problems with rainDon’t get me wrong, my BMW had similar issues as have every car with autowipe I’ve ever driven. Just it was easier to intervene manually lol. (I do miss the HID headlight’s on that car though)
No idea what the weather or rain is like in Texas tbf. In UK we have very light rain a lot of the time, especially dring in the foothills of the Pennines, like you’re driving through cloud..we also have fog which is low clouds essentially. That is quite challenging for auto wipers, not necessarily wet enough for full wipers nor slow enough for single intermittent ones. We also get a lot of road spray after rainfall due to shitty drainage on motorways, no car manufacturers (that I have driven) have come up with a decent solution to this. BMW, Merc, VW, Ford, GM, Toyota, Hyundai, Land Rover, Volvo to name but the main cars I’ve driven. The wipers either go too fast for the amount of water so smear the screen or too slow and don’t clear it. Manual overide takes place a lot over here in my experience
