Rain Sensing wipers

[bikeandsail]

Over time, since they started working, my rain sensing wipers have worked sometimes and not others. Sometimes pretty well sometimes terrible. My current software is 2018.39.6. On my previous car, Lexus RX 400h they worked well the entire 235,000 miles I owned the car. They are now not working at all on my 2017 Model X.

It is time for Tesla to give up on trying to get "cameras" to do what every other car company does with dedicated sensors. IE Install a dedicated rain sensor on all new cars.

I suspect every time Tesla updates the software that it screws up the code for the wipers and they are wasting huge amounts of engineering talent ($) to have to get them to work again all to save about $10 per car.

 

[SR22pilot]

Yesterday, mine started off not working well but by a half mile we’re doing a great job. Last nig, however, they had trouble with mist. They wouldn’t wipe even though the windshield was getting covered in a heavy mist.

 

[Derek Kessler]

It's not about saving money. The whole thought process was that the car has to be about to tell when the Autopilot cameras are occluded. Could they have accomplished that in conjunction with a traditional IR sensor? Absolutely. Probably should have. But they went with the "we'll do it the yard way because we'll have to do it that way eventually anyway" route instead.

 

[Christine69420]

Upgraded from a Merc and the wiper logic is the only thing I'm missing.

 

[eml2]

Since it is using a camera (i.e. visible light) to determine the "wetness" on the windshield, it probably works well during daytime but not so at night.

 

[ek993]

Since it is using a camera (i.e. visible light) to determine the "wetness" on the windshield, it probably works well during daytime but not so at night.

The rain sensing function is honestly abysmal, along with the wipers themselves which do an incredibly poor job of clearing water.

 

[Derek Kessler]

Since it is using a camera (i.e. visible light) to determine the "wetness" on the windshield, it probably works well during daytime but not so at night.

This is accurate. If there are streetlights or headlights to illuminate the water on the windshield it'll fire the wipers, but otherwise if it can see the lines and other cars it won't bother. It can be a bit unnerving.

 

[chdavis]

Mine are horrible as well. If it’s regular rain fall with good lighting they’re barely marginal. If it’s mist or inconsistent rain, they’re useless. Quite a shame.

 

[Screwbal]

Mine are horrible as well. If it’s regular rain fall with good lighting they’re barely marginal. If it’s mist or inconsistent rain, they’re useless. Quite a shame.

Make sure to keep giving feedback. My $.02 is that the software sensor trigger is maybe the same as the S and 3 however with the large windscreen on the X and the longer slope it means the driver has more surface area and softer angle to look through. This means the driver sees much more water but the camera doesn't and that is why the X is so bad. IMO the windshield to camera visibility area ratio is so off the X should trigger when the camera sees a single drop or something very close to that.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Seems to be a work in process.

Car originally came with no automatic wipers.
Then they magically appeared with an OTA update.
Then they got quite a bit better.
Then they got a little better still.

I have a fall back. When they do not work up to my expectations I take control and manipulate them by myself with the stalk...no biggie.

(and yes I know that some cheapie cars have auto wipers standard, and that in some other cars you need to purchase an expensive package to get them.

I trust they will continue to get better over time.

Mean while I really enjoy my Tesla, marginal automatic wipers and all.

 

[mknox]

Seems to be a work in process.

Since 2012! My original Model S (with dedicated sensor) was abysmal and so is my new X with the camera based system. Not sure why Tesla can't get this right.