michidragon
Member
I guess the windshield ghosting of headlights/tail lights is a cosmetic defect as well.
It's gonna be interesting to hear what the "fix" is for the yellow boarder that they are planning to release in a few months.
I've heard so many "official" statements on what the fix is going to be from Tesla that I don't have any faith that they're doing anything but buying time and feeding us a line.
The first thing I heard was "firmware", which as on its face ridiculous even though a bunch of people seemed to buy it. Basis on my disbelief is that, of course, you can't alter materials with firmware. I think this was just people "knowing enough to be dangerous", and being wowed by past firmware updates that changed things (Such as performance) that normally couldn't be changed on an average car. But in short, "firmware to fix the pixels" isn't going to do it because the issue isn't "pixels". Later it was said that what this firmware would do would allow the service center to 'paint' a blue gradient border around the screen to counteract the yellow gradient. Problem is, the yellow is reflective, and the issue isn't just one with transmissivity - it's most visible in sun. Finally on the 'firmware' angle someone here was told that 2019.16.2 would fix it magically over the course of a month, 'repairing the cells', whatever that means. (It means nothing, firmware can't fix adhesive / sealant gel.)
My service center then told me about the "UV light frame" which was in vogue as a theory for about two whole weeks. Service techs say that they saw pictures of the thing, a big "frame with fans" that would blast UV light at the screen and either, based on varying theories, undo the yellowing (which makes no sense, as the sun is a hell of a lot more powerful as far as UV goes, than some dinky LEDs) - or according to some, just yellow the rest of the screen to match the border. (A big thumbs up on this one, Tesla!) - Either way, nobody seems to see how this would compete with the sun (Which isn't causing the yellowing, by the way, as tinted/garaged new cars in cold/overcast environments showed the problem too - including mine, over a winter period where we saw almost no sun.)
Then someone was told that there was going to be a 'liquid they applied to the screen'. I don't really even want to get into the physics of applying magic lotion to glass to get to a layer beneath said glass. Not even sure who thunk this one up.
Another person was told that the fix would be contact tape applied around the edges of the display. To reduce the display size and cover up the yellow. Perhaps as the yellowing increased you could take your car in and get thicker borders applied. By the time your warranty is up, you end up with a 6 inch screen. I suggested (without any cynicism at all, right) that replacing the existing bezel with a really big fat one may be a better option.
Today we heard from someone who said that the solution would be "thermal". Here we go back into the issue of it being heat or cold causing this to happen. Happened in my 5 month old car during the Colorado winter (December delivery) where temperatures never got above 40'F. It's not heat. Conversely, many folks in the sunny paradise of California (i.e., the only place Teslas actually exist) where it never gets below 72'F and sunny (even at midnight on Christmas) have had the yellowing border occur. So it's not cold.
So this brings us to what is probably the only logical rationale as to what's causing the adhesive/gel (not pixels) to discolor: Oxidization. A bad seal around the border of the screen causing the material to oxidize. The effect seems to start in one corner and creep slowly around the border of the screen, and grow. So, a manufacturing defect. If it was light, it'd not happen in areas shadowed by the bezel. If it was heat, it'd likely happen uniformly; but again, this occurs in cold environments. (Unless the edge lights for the backlight are causing the excessive heat, which has been suggested.)
So perhaps the new screen versions are simply … sealed better around the edges. But none of these proposed non-replacement solutions seem to hold up to scrutiny, and they change week by week. There's been no definitive, stable, reliable line on what the approach is even going to be. I don't think Tesla even knows yet. I think they're still brainstorming, and throwing things to the (screen?) to see what sticks.
In the end, I strongly believe the only fix for this will be a replacement.
Which is why I went ahead and paid for it -- because, see, I have issues -- and which I absolutely do not suggest anyone does. Now we get to wait and see if Tesla fed me a line about the paid replacement being the non-yellowing revision. It had a different part number; not only a different Tesla part number, but a different manufacturer part number. Each day when I get in the car, you can bet I examine the border. So not sure if it was quite the mental therapy I needed.
I know a lot of this information was redundant but I figured summing it up in one post, "the journey so far", probably was warranted.
