[UK] 2023.44

[Drew57]

From a Bimmer forum:

Rain sensing wipers have been around for years but somehow BMW hasn't figured it out in 2021? This is what driving at 25 mph in persistent rain looks like with the highest setting on automatic. If you are lucky the wipers activate every 20 - 30 seconds.

This is a 2021 x5 and i'd give up hand gestures, led interior lights etc for basic functionality at this point. This isn't just frustrating, it is dangerous.

I'm really hoping other people with X5s on the forum can tell me this isn't normal but having done some searches I am concerned that it is.
Attached:

Yes, a couple of weeks ago we went to Harrogate in my Brother-In-Law's X5 and he was constantly activating the wipers manually as they were hopeless, even with heavy rain. The iDrive nav also tracked us in Wales, then the Irish Sea and for the last two days, various random parts of Scotland. We rebooted the system several times to try & correct this or enable Apple CarPlay but without success.

 

[init6]

Ditto 530e. Up until a few weeks ago my Tesla wipers were miles better than the beemer.

 

[Dilly]

Must be down to global warming. Wrong sort of rain on the windscreen….

 

[browellm]

From a Bimmer forum:

Rain sensing wipers have been around for years but somehow BMW hasn't figured it out in 2021? This is what driving at 25 mph in persistent rain looks like with the highest setting on automatic. If you are lucky the wipers activate every 20 - 30 seconds.

This is a 2021 x5 and i'd give up hand gestures, led interior lights etc for basic functionality at this point. This isn't just frustrating, it is dangerous.

I'm really hoping other people with X5s on the forum can tell me this isn't normal but having done some searches I am concerned that it is.
Attached:

The thought of you sleuthing around a BMW forum for hours on end, looking for an anecdote, has fair warmed the cockles of my heart.

 

[MrBadger]

We had a BMW and VW over the 20 years or so prior to getting our Model 3 and I can think of one occasion where we had a wiper issue that was not dialed out by a minor adjustment of the wiper sensitivity toggle which considering 2 drivers shared those cars each with different tolerance of wiper sensitivity would be expected.

That particular scenario was entering a tunnel with bright sun behind us and a full load in the rear (touring/estate) so interior rear mirror sensor did not pick up the bright sun from behind - apparently it is used to prevent false positives hence why auto wipers and dimming rear view mirror were bundled together.

Not bad for 20 years motoring when within 20 seconds of motorway driving in spray in Model 3 you are reaching for manual wipe override or changing mode of wiper.

Shame that some manufacturers may also have regressed this functionality when they previously had pretty much perfect performance >20 years ago.

 

[init6]

You could have a point. My first BMW's wipers were much better than my last.

 

[spdpsba]

Not bad for 20 years motoring when within 20 seconds of motorway driving in spray in Model 3 you are reaching for manual wipe override or changing mode of wiper.

I didn’t with my model 3 or the new Y.
My point was and is there is certain level of unidentifiable expectation when it comes to a £45000-50000 car. And that goes with any function if it isn’t achieving (even to a mild degree) a perfect 10. The same that goes with our children.

I can see why people criticise Tesla auto wipers given that a 15 year old £15000 car does the same or little more. The same applies to lots of different functions. I wouldn’t mind the seat positioning of Model Y if I had spent the same money as my Smart. But now even a small angle makes me bit annoyed. The BMW forum quote was just an example of people’s expectations and their frustrations and most cars above certain value aren’t immune to it.

 

[MrBadger]

Anyone know what this icon is? Spotted on a drive on TACC - was appearing for a few seconds then disappeared for a bit, then back.

It didn’t seem to be triggered by any events.

 

[Pagemakers]

Appears when your vehicle's GPS location is actively being accessed in the Tesla mobile app by the owner, an added driver, or a third party app you're using. To disable, navigate to Safety > Allow Mobile Access on the touchscreen.

 

[MrBadger]

I guess it was TeslaFi then.

 

[Adopado]

I guess it was TeslaFi then.

Yes, I see it most of the time (Tessie app).

 

[Simavon]

Driving on the M74 in variable conditions, auto wipers useless. So I'm constantly having to adjust the speed up and down, and then getting nagged about not paying sufficient attention while doing so. Great job illustrating the fundamental problem with the lack of physical controls (and the awful camera-based auto wipers implementation).

 

[MB11]

Driving on the M74 in variable conditions, auto wipers useless. So I'm constantly having to adjust the speed up and down, and then getting nagged about not paying sufficient attention while doing so. Great job illustrating the fundamental problem with the lack of physical controls (and the awful camera-based auto wipers implementation).

Similar experience last night on the M6. I’ve now succumbed and covered the interior camera and the nags have massively reduced. Prior to this TACC AS was unusable in the dark, nagging ever few minutes and not recognising even violent tugging on the steering, to the point of disengaging. After covering the camera I only had 2 nags in 100 miles.
On another point, last night the hesitation was back with a vengeance in the narrow lanes, refusing to pass most cars in the inside lane. Looking at the graphic vs. the road, I suspect it struggles when there’s a joint in the tarmac near the white line. If the car you’re passing is on the join it thinks it’s drifting into your lane, despite being at least a foot away from the actual white line. I have just has the windscreen replaced by autglass (looks a decent job) but I also wonder if the cal has changed? It works fine in a normal lane though!

 

[ajmorr.is]

Driving on the M74 in variable conditions, auto wipers useless. So I'm constantly having to adjust the speed up and down, and then getting nagged about not paying sufficient attention while doing so. Great job illustrating the fundamental problem with the lack of physical controls (and the awful camera-based auto wipers implementation).

You do have physical controls for the wipers though. Button on the end of the stalk to wipe once (and bring up the wiper control box) and the left hand left/right steering wheel toggle to adjust the speed.

 

[Zilla91]

You do have physical controls for the wipers though. Button on the end of the stalk to wipe once (and bring up the wiper control box) and the left hand left/right steering wheel toggle to adjust the speed.

If you’re having to explain something then you’ve already lost.

Its not immediately obvious that functionality is there for you to use.

 

[ajmorr.is]

If you’re having to explain something then you’ve already lost.

Its not immediately obvious that functionality is there for you to use.

Agreed, it's definitely not obvious. I knew about it but at some point forgot and was reminded by a post on here a little while ago.

 

[Burley]

It is sort of obvious, but perhaps with RHD your hand obscures the pop-up which you'd see more clearly if you were driving LHD.

When you click the left button the wipers wipe, but each time you do this the wiper control screen pop-up also appears for a few seconds with all wiper options and the < > icon, showing you that you can cycle through them with the left scroll wheel, or touch the screen to select the option you want.

 

[spdpsba]

If you’re having to explain something then you’ve already lost.

Its not immediately obvious that functionality is there for you to use.

BMW did that with the 3er and 5er auto wipe changes, needed an explanation. I am not sure where we are with this. Every car has a push button on stalks that does a single wipe and Tesla also brings in a pictorial representation of what else you can do with that?

 

[KennethS]

Having driven quite a large range of cars (as have most here I presume) it is good practice to familiarise oneself with the basic controls prior to setting off. On most cars (I hesitate to say all) the use of the wipers and wash function has its own way. I don't find the Tesla way particularly confounding or complex.

 

[Zilla91]

it is good practice to familiarise oneself with the basic controls prior to setting off.

The problem with that is the basic controls sometimes change between updates and it's not really mentioned anywhere