Rear tail light seal issue?

[Fiveseven108]

Hello is this normal ? Both my tail lights have this after the rain here in california.

 

[Gyrolion]

Normal, happens when there is a temperature swing and it rains. Taillights will be clear again after parking for a while.
If you get big droplets and it does not clear.. then it is time for a replacement.

 

[heavyD]

Pretty normal for me when I wash my car in the winter.

 

[diverbelow72]

It is normal.

Even my old 2016 Prius 2 and the 2018 Chevy Bolt I had had that issue.

 

[Tomw8073]

Hello is this normal ? Both my tail lights have this after the rain here in california.

Same here on a 2023 Model 3 LR, Glad it's not an issue, it does clear up pretty fast, was cold out when I washed it.

 

[Sean73t]

I've had 3 replaced and 4th one this Thursday. It's not normal for a quality product but this is tesla lol. I consider it a "quirk."

 

[stopcrazypp]

I've had 3 replaced and 4th one this Thursday. It's not normal for a quality product but this is tesla lol. I consider it a "quirk."

Temporary condensation in light housings (commonly after a car wash) is consider normal for most cars because almost none of them are fully sealed, given they need to allow air exchange to deal with pressure changes as the light heats up during operation (they have gore patches that are supposed to act like one way seals against moisture, but it still may allow condensation in high humidity situations).

As evidence it is considered normal (even for "quality" brands), it's quite trivial to find examples from various luxury brands:
Condensation In Rear Light After Washing Car | Porsche Forum from Porsche Club GB
Condensation in the lights
Condensation within tail lights
Moisture in my tail Lights, any ideas on how to dry it out please? - AudiWorld Forums
Moisture in tail lights from car wash - ClubLexus - Lexus Forum Discussion

It is considered a defect however if the condensation never goes away or if there is actual water in the housing (like huge drops or a pool of it). For those, usually the issue are small holes in the plastic weld. Here is a video with a deep dive (shows the gore patch and also the microscopic holes in the plastic weld) :

 

[heavyD]

I've had 3 replaced and 4th one this Thursday. It's not normal for a quality product but this is tesla lol. I consider it a "quirk."

It's nice that your local service center is replacing these but since they are not sealed I'm not clear on what outcome you are expecting by continuing to get them replaced? I've not had this issue on previous cars as it seems this is a Tesla thing like auto wipers that don't work.

 

[rtanov]

I've had one replaced under warranty in 2018, which eventually started fogging again. I fixed one following the nice youtube video above, and now it is the only one that stays clear - all 3 others are fogging up. Will rather fix them than replace - it seems to be a manufacturing quality issue, so chances are that the new ones would have the same problem.

 

[PartyBoy]

Have had my car for a year and a half. One fogged three months ago and didn’t clear over the course of a month.

Had it replaced at home with mobile service under warranty all coordinated within the app.

 

[eman2021]

Have had my car for a year and a half. One fogged three months ago and didn’t clear over the course of a month.

Had it replaced at home with mobile service under warranty all coordinated within the app.

This is pretty much matches my experience. Had one tail light replaced about a month ago with mobile service.

 

[helobubba]

Also had a tail light replaced under warranty about a month ago. SC said condensation should clear up within two days or one hour of driving but in my case it had been three days and three hours of driving so mobile service replaced it.

 

[RGOLD]

Have the same issue in my '23M3RWD. Tesla refused to do anything claiming is normal...

 

[RGOLD]

I've had one replaced under warranty in 2018, which eventually started fogging again. I fixed one following the nice youtube video above, and now it is the only one that stays clear - all 3 others are fogging up. Will rather fix them than replace - it seems to be a manufacturing quality issue, so chances are that the new ones would have the same problem.

Did you remove the gore sticker to let the moisture out? I'm thinking to do it myself since Tesla refuses to fix this issue.

 

[rtanov]

Did you remove the gore sticker to let the moisture out? I'm thinking to do it myself since Tesla refuses to fix this issue.

No, it is supposed to be one-way - letting moisture out but not in. I carefully peeled it and then reattached it back.

 

[Sean73t]

It's nice that your local service center is replacing these but since they are not sealed I'm not clear on what outcome you are expecting by continuing to get them replaced? I've not had this issue on previous cars as it seems this is a Tesla thing like auto wipers that don't work.

Because I can and I prefer my lights not to look like a fish tank? I'll keep doing it as long as tesla keeps paying for it my auto wipers work great maybe you should have tesla look into it for you.

 

[RGOLD]

The service center in my area will not replace them unless they see water accumulation at the bottom. I had a discussion with the service center manager and he explained that even the new ones will get condensated due to the (poor) design. I have attached the Tesla response after they cancelled my appointment.

 

[stopcrazypp]

The service center in my area will not replace them unless they see water accumulation at the bottom. I had a discussion with the service center manager and he explained that even the new ones will get condensated due to the (poor) design. I have attached the Tesla response after they cancelled my appointment.

See my other post up thread. Condensation is expected in most taillights and not considered a defect. It's only considered a problem if it can't clear out or if it is so bad that you see drops of water or lots of liquid.