Good points, why not just set the speed yourself when merging? Honestly it's no different than other vehicles I've driven where you just had a couple constant seeds you can set, just turn automatic off. Of course the controls are different than a standard car, they're on the screen but easily accessable once you get used to it. I think people want a standard stalk with switches and stuff like in older cars, in this particular car it's different. We all have differences if opinion on how many physical controls there should be. It's not dangerous IMHO, you just have to learn how to use it.
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Touch screen control for wipers is dangerous
- Thread starter Zooner
- Start date
I love just about everything about my TM3.
But really this mad auto wiper and the horrible manual control is just plain dangerous.
I live in a place with a LOT of rain and snow and it just do not work as it should. Far worse than my 2011 Nissan Qashqai.
I hope Tesla takes this seriously.
When coming out of a tunnel in wet snow on a dark night you for sure do not want to drive in blind while pushing the button and saying "increase wiper speed"..
It would be SO easy for Tesla to command 2 fast pushes to start the wipers at stage 2 or 3 or something similar.
But really this mad auto wiper and the horrible manual control is just plain dangerous.
I live in a place with a LOT of rain and snow and it just do not work as it should. Far worse than my 2011 Nissan Qashqai.
I hope Tesla takes this seriously.
When coming out of a tunnel in wet snow on a dark night you for sure do not want to drive in blind while pushing the button and saying "increase wiper speed"..
It would be SO easy for Tesla to command 2 fast pushes to start the wipers at stage 2 or 3 or something similar.
calidreamz808
Member
I say put that little push button on the stalk to work more than its current function. I dislike the screen wiper portion as well, though i'll say the auto wipers work really well for me now. I'm in California and we don't see much rain, but when it does, the system works well for me.
Kognos
Member
Well that's the double standard.
To answer your question - I do set it manually.
This is why it's a double standard - If you ask Elon I shouldn't have to, and that's entirely the point. Teslas are sold as being smart when it isn't, and that's what makes it dangerous. But mechanically I already know how to fix this problem and do, the issue is that this isn't how the car is pitched, sold, advertised. Imagine an elderly person using this car in the condition I described. They're not incapable of fixing the problem, just slower, and that makes it dangerous. But the assumption is that it shouldn't be necessary.
Taking ones eyes off the road in any context is generally bad. And it's multiple button presses. You cannot do it without looking at your screen. Hopefully the road isn't bumpy.
It's a good assist but still not optimal because:
1. It doesn't work all the time yet.
2. It takes a few seconds.
Unless I'm doing it as a preventative step, like when I'm about to go 0-60 and merge with a highway in the rain when I probably know in advance that I should override what should be automatic (and pitched as such), it still will take about 4 seconds if you know exactly what to say in advance and get it right. So in the 5 seconds you are blinded by rain and fighting to merge lanes in traffic and rain you're also speaking to your car which in turn blocks the wiper button, so you better get it right. And that takes a few seconds. Etc.
Its just not safe or intelligent. I stand behind the points that it's better than it was, but needs some real intelligence behind it (faster MPH, faster wipe speed!)
Dan203
Active Member
Push the button on the end of the blinker stalk. That will wipe once and bring up the wiper option on the screen.
Kognos complaints have been satisfactorily answered but he persists in calling Tesla's "dangerous". The auto-wipers work pretty well now and the voice commands are now also available. It's time to retire this thread.
Disagree. The auto-wipers don’t react quickly enough and voice commands don’t always work and take time. He is correct in that it is dangerous. The obvious solution is to allow for multiple presses on the left stick to initiate wiper speed.
I don't agree that they work well now. The AI appears to get stuck at a setting and won't change until you manually force a change. I notice that if I turn on automatic wipers while at a stoplight, as an example, they will start working as designed. Then when I start driving they continue to maintain the same rate as when the car was stopped. I then change to manual mode and then back to automatic while driving and the wipers now go the correct speed.
My preferred work around is to keep the wipers in automatic mode and do a quick, light tap on the stalk to wipe without fluid. That button is so damn touchy. They really should make one long press be fluid with wipe. One quick press = one single wipe, two quick press = lvl 1, three quick press = lvl 2, four quick press = lvl 3. Or something like that.
Additionally, the wipers are dangerous in snowy conditions with splashback on the road. The sensors or AI don't understand winter very well with their stubborn refusal to wipe the windows on automatic. If I don't manually wipe the windshield/windscreen then I end up with a relatively solid sheet of dried salt/mud obscuring my view.
Perhaps it is an issue of whether you get nice fat raindrops in Florida versus a slow misty mud-salt buildup in Colorado?!? The wiper issue is the only real issue I have with my car...and I love my car. I just hope folks from Tesla reads this forum/thread and continue refining the wiper behavior.
Kognos
Member
...... Now please actually read the thread. This is not a thread on how to initiate 1 (one) manual wipe or how to get to the menu. It's about the overall efficacy of the wiper system and the reliance / safety of that.
Nothing has been satisfactorily answered, except the obvious how-to-use answers which do not satisfy situational concerns. A wiper system is entirely situational, so one can't just assume it works for you, it therefore works for all:
When sitting still at a stop light, the wiper is at slow speed, working fairly well. Accelerate to 60mph rapidly and the system will still be operating at slow speed. Yes I can manically press the button, but at that point I can't see.
Lets be clear here - there are reasons why we have phone use laws while driving: Distractions cost lives. If anyone is going to tell me that while accelerating to 60 and unable to see, I need to tactically press two buttons on the screen (or press the left stalk then quickly press 1-5 on the wiper menu) then I'm going to tell you that this isn't a fair use of a system that is still touted as something that should be automagic.
And if you really want to compare distractions, this is a case where not only is the system requiring my eyes to pull from the road, I have to do it because I can't see! Good job, Tesla.
The voice control was a step in the right direction, but that just costs seconds when you need to do it. When you need to have wipers faster, the voice commands still are slow and sometimes still non functional.
I've been on the highway - at highway speeds obviously - with kids in the car, surrounded on both sides of my car by two 18-wheelers and traffic in front and behind in a downpour, or at least something close to it. Ground splash from traffic is awful, vision is horrid -- so bad that autopilot is complaining at me, bad, because it can't see lane lines. And the "intelligent" system was operating somewhere between a 1 and a 2. Really.
This is a fair bet. I've lived in fat-rain cities (Dallas TX) where there's no such thing as a light rain. Ok, for the most part. But here in the pacific northwest, it's a light rain a lot of the time. System just doesn't work well with this.
To all, the answer to this isn't to keep pressing the one-wipe button, or to use voice, or to turn automatic wipers off entirely and go manual. It is for Tesla to improve the system. Automatic needs to work reliably or a faster way to speed up wiper blades NEEDS to be in place. Many suggestions have been made, like double tapping the left stalk button should raise speeds. My personal answer is that the auto-wipers are entirely off and I just set the wipers myself and retest at every new patch.
Even with the voice commands in place, it's a reactionary move to compensate for Tesla's inadequate system. I/we don't need more safety nets to compensate us for things that should work in the first place.
I tell my friends who are interested in the car that the wiper systems are my only grievance: "It is completely automatic with an amazing neural net system! You just have to turn the automatic system off and then set it manually using your voice if you want to see while driving in the pacific northwest." Totally embarrassing.
Dan203
Active Member
I read the first post and was simply offering a solution that makes it a bit easier that perhaps the OP wasn't aware of. (I didn't realize how to use that button when I first got my car)
I agree the current system isn't the best design, but given the physical buttons available in the car I'm not sure there is another solution. Other than maybe a double tap on the button, but that could lead to accidental activation which could also be dangerous if the user panicked and started fiddling with the screen to turn them off.
It's obvious the car was designed with the thinking that most people would just leave them on Auto all the time. The selections on the screen are probably only there to comply with some sort of regulation.
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
This is all true. Was most frustrating this morning here in St. Louis. I wanted to take a video of it but deemed that too dangerous. I would let it go just to test how long it would go without wiping (also dangerous I understand). It was a wintery mix, but mostly moisture being kicked off the road by other cars. There were times when the entire windshield was completely covered with almost 0 visibility out of it and it was not wiping. Totally unacceptable. The fact that none of this has been addressed is kind of mind boggling.
Dan203
Active Member
That's what I do too.
I didn't know there were voice commands for the wipers. That's good to know.
Gotta say I disagree with the dangerous comments. I have lived fairly recently in Dallas, New York and California (Bay Area and Tahoe) so have lived through all conditions. The auto wipers were marginal before, but dangerous not for me. I can change the speeds without looking - also the stalk button does 4 things - touch lightly - one swipe, push once all the way in - spray and handful of wipes, press in light and hold - keep wiping, push in all the way and hold - keep wiping and spraying. Now the auto wipers have improved massively (still not perfect) and I have used across all sorts of precipitation - some forms of snow the worst performance but actually not bad.
In its current state for me they are better than my wipers on a Sonata I owned and about the same as my Mercedes E320CDI.
In its current state for me they are better than my wipers on a Sonata I owned and about the same as my Mercedes E320CDI.
Dan203
Active Member
They seem to be better than the auto wipers on my BMW. Those were weird. Sometimes they wouldn't wipe enough, sometimes they would go way too fast. But whenever the speed changed it would always do 3-4 wipes at that speed. So if it suddenly sped up it would do it for at least 3-4 wipes before it slowed back down. That could create that horrible squeak when you run the wipers on a dry windshield.
The Tesla may not be quite as fast as I would like in all situations, like a light mist, but I just push the button when that happens.
The Tesla may not be quite as fast as I would like in all situations, like a light mist, but I just push the button when that happens.
Looking over all of these wiper posts (and others), it seems to me that there are real differences from one car to another concerning how well the auto wipers work.
There are many people who seem think think there is no problem. I believe them. Their auto wipers probably work fine.
There are also significant amount of people who think the auto wipe is so bad that it's dangerous. I have no trouble believing them because my car is like that. Software updates have helped a bit, but it's still a crapshoot.
I wonder if some small difference in mounting the sensor/camera that controls auto wipers is to blame.
A stalk control would have prevented this issue for sure.
There are many people who seem think think there is no problem. I believe them. Their auto wipers probably work fine.
There are also significant amount of people who think the auto wipe is so bad that it's dangerous. I have no trouble believing them because my car is like that. Software updates have helped a bit, but it's still a crapshoot.
I wonder if some small difference in mounting the sensor/camera that controls auto wipers is to blame.
A stalk control would have prevented this issue for sure.
Auto wipers might work well for some people, for example in pure, clean rain situations. They don't work as well in snow and dirty slushy roads. Sometimes the camera stays dirty and they either do nothing or wipe ultra fast.
In dangerous situations I keep the little button pressed as long as I need the wipers on instead of touching the screen to change them.
As others said, something on the left stalk like other cars would have been nice. I understand the clean design idea but there are a couple cases where it goes too far
In dangerous situations I keep the little button pressed as long as I need the wipers on instead of touching the screen to change them.
As others said, something on the left stalk like other cars would have been nice. I understand the clean design idea but there are a couple cases where it goes too far
wipers on auto works pretty well, but there are still plenty of edge cases where it barely works at all.
I still disagree that the wiper system is dangerous. It's inconvenient at best for those who don't think they should have to resort to a stalk button press. But when it's raining heavily, or a giant load of stuff gets splashed on your windhshield, the button is there to quickly restore visibility. And as safe drivers, we have full control over our speed - if visibility is poor, we can go slower to increase our reaction time to sudden events.
Objectively, if the wiper system were truly dangerous, we'd be seeing many ACTUAL accidents being reported (especially on these forums) due to poor visibility instead of people just calling the system dangerous.
Fiddling with the screen can be dangerous for sure. But I've been around during the "waiting for first production for 2 years" days, and back then we had people claiming that the lack of physical buttons was very dangerous. It wasn't just the wipers. the HVAC vent controls, mirrors, and even the glovebox were cited to be too dangerous. 2 solid years of Model 3 and there just isn't a flurry of accidents due to the lack of binnacle or HUD or buttons.
I still disagree that the wiper system is dangerous. It's inconvenient at best for those who don't think they should have to resort to a stalk button press. But when it's raining heavily, or a giant load of stuff gets splashed on your windhshield, the button is there to quickly restore visibility. And as safe drivers, we have full control over our speed - if visibility is poor, we can go slower to increase our reaction time to sudden events.
Objectively, if the wiper system were truly dangerous, we'd be seeing many ACTUAL accidents being reported (especially on these forums) due to poor visibility instead of people just calling the system dangerous.
Fiddling with the screen can be dangerous for sure. But I've been around during the "waiting for first production for 2 years" days, and back then we had people claiming that the lack of physical buttons was very dangerous. It wasn't just the wipers. the HVAC vent controls, mirrors, and even the glovebox were cited to be too dangerous. 2 solid years of Model 3 and there just isn't a flurry of accidents due to the lack of binnacle or HUD or buttons.
