Rain sensing wipers too tolerant of rain

[akirtes]

My Model 3 rain sensing wipers are too tolerant when it comes to deciding when to start wiping and for how rapidly to wipe. By the time the start, visibility through the windshield is way beyond acceptable (or safe) and when they do start, they start at a speed that is insufficient to address the amount of rain pouring.

Is there a way to step up the sensitivity and wiping speed up one level from where it is now?

 

[Needsdecaf]

No. Do a search, very widely discussed topic. Hopefully it improves next software update.

 

[ronm2948]

I find that it works reasonably well for large drops, but barely works at all for misty rain. It also has a lot of trouble at night (sometimes turning on when it is not raining, and other times missing rain completely). If they are using their neural nets for the wipers, hopefully continued training will improve them.

 

[Superspectral]

Tesla got cute and tried to save a few bucks by analyzing the image from the front cameras to detect rain. Any other car would have used a total internal reflection sensor-which detects beads of water fantastic. Tesla’s neural net detection has gotten better. The auto wipers mostly only go on when wet. They used to go on when I just pulled into my garage. Future updates will probably improve it.

 

[sjg98]

If they gave us a mild/regular/aggressive mode on the wiper like they did on the acceleration & lane changes it would probably quell the concerns

 

[VT_EE]

I thought Musk said the new rain sensing neural net was coming out before Christmas. Did that not happen?

 

[golfpilot]

I was working terrible. Worked great today though

 

[Nirenk]

I received the 50.x update couple of days back. I observed noticably better auto wiper performance today in the rains starting from misty drizzle.

 

[T34ME]

I have a December build, delivered on 12/21. I had the opportunity to observe the auto-sensing wipers for the first time today, this is SoCal after all! It was a light mist. The wipers came on automatically in intermittent mode. Worked perfectly! No chatter, no skipping, completely silent (unlike those on my Prius). Turned off automatically when the mist stopped. Completely satisfied. This car is truly amazing (permanent model 3 grin)

 

[x t2m x]

...and for when manual settings are preferred, as slider instead of presets would be great.

 

[sjg98]

Being able to change the wiper manual settings w/o touching the screen would be another great option.
Tapping the left stalk triggers a manual wipe and pops up the wiper settings on the screen.
If during the few seconds the modal wiper popup is showing you could control it with one of the steer wheel scroll buttons that would be perfect.
Similar to the way the volume wheel controls the alert/nav volume if you scroll during an alert/nav sound.
Sort of making it a contextual scroll.

 

[smatthew]

Just remember, it may seem like too much water on the windshield for you, but AutoPilot is happy and ready to work. This car was designed around AutoPilot.

 

[Needsdecaf]

Just remember, it may seem like too much water on the windshield for you, but AutoPilot is happy and ready to work. This car was designed around AutoPilot.

Disagree with this, sorry. The car still has a steering wheel and pedals and there are many times when autopilot is inappropriate, especially in inclement weather.

Not to mention Autopilot isn’t standard.

Auto wipers just aren’t very good.

 

[richyrich]

I have a December build, delivered on 12/21. I had the opportunity to observe the auto-sensing wipers for the first time today, this is SoCal after all! It was a light mist. The wipers came on automatically in intermittent mode. Worked perfectly! No chatter, no skipping, completely silent (unlike those on my Prius). Turned off automatically when the mist stopped. Completely satisfied. This car is truly amazing (permanent model 3 grin)

Glad tu love your car, congrats.

It’s no surprise to anyone that the wipers work perfectly in Cali. That’s kinda the problem, the ONLY seem to work well there....

 

[ecarfan]

It’s no surprise to anyone that the wipers work perfectly in Cali. That’s kinda the problem, the ONLY seem to work well there....

Believe it or not, California is a big state with widely varying climate zones. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we get a fair amount of rain and the Auto wiper setting doesn’t work particularly well in my experience. This weekend drove about 100 miles in heavy rain, light rain, and inbetween; not impressed. I expect it will improve over time, but for now I don’t use Auto much.

 

[Toysla]

Now that the Bay Area has had a recent & decent amount of rain activity these past 72 hours, I will say that the auto wipe comes on a tad slow, practically dangerously too slow. I'm hoping for Elon to offer a "slide" bar or better yet, right button steering scroll" option to allow us a customized intermittent wipe option. For example, left stalk button press (to initiate manual wipe), right scroll button increase / decrease speed option, as wipespeed scale appears on Model 3 console display.
That safety feature would make plenty of Model 3 drivers more comfortable being able to easily to control windshield wipe speeds, instead of trying to hit the wiper button on the screen of preset speeds.
, while driving

 

[GigaGrunt]

One trick to overcome this personal preference...use RainX washer fluid. Every once in awhile, hit the windshield with some fluid. Then when it does rain, the water beads up and runs off the windshield. Before I hit 50 miles on my 3, I used a fluid evacuator and emptied the windshield reservoir and filled with RainX fluid.

 

[sjg98]

I believe the manual specifically advises against RainX, there's some threads elsewhere debating it

 

[GigaGrunt]

I believe the manual specifically advises against RainX, there's some threads elsewhere debating it

Not the RainX application itself, but RainX windshield washer fluid. Been using it for months, zero issues.

 

[richyrich]

I believe the manual specifically advises against RainX, there's some threads elsewhere debating it

Ugh yeah I hate the stuff. I avoid the "Premium" program on the touchless washes here because they spray the car with that stuff - can't stand the smears and crap on the glass after a while.