Windshield Wipers Broke Tonight, Interesting Findings

[A2Sirbill]

Well, I was driving home tonight and was lucky to have been pretty close to home when they broke. We had a really hard rain this afternoon, could barely see the road while driving. I was actually very happy on the way home before they broke. I was planning on making a post about my positive experience with using the autosteer in such a major downpour.

I stopped at my mailbox about 100 feet from my house. As I was clearing out the mail I started to notice a loud noise. I couldn't tell what it was at first but then noticed the distinctively wiper back and forth noise, just a lot louder. I like kid up and noticed the wipers were no longer moving. I turned then off and on with no change. I turned off the radio and it sounded like the wiper motor was in the car right in front of me it was so loud. I parked the car in the garage and jumped out. I turned the wipers to low and inspected the wipers to see if the motors were applying any pressure to the wipers at all, nothing?

I came in the house and decided to see if it may be a simple fix. Something I may be able to do myself in a couple hours. So, off to the Internet to see what I could find? What I found was there have been lots of problems with Tesla wipers going back years. I was extremely surprised to see how many people have posted about this problem. We aren't talking about them braking while people are trying to make the wipers clear heavy snow and ice off the window. Lots of people said it was simply heavy rain or light snow. My car was built in December, 2016 (Model S, P100D) and I just passed the 1,000 mile mark on the car. Lots of the other posts about broken wipers also were with cars less then six months old.

With so many of these breaking even on basically new cars, I would think there must be some underling problem (supplier, design, material etc.). I wonder if the model S & X share the same wiper parts? I really hadn't paid much attention in regards to what model others had when reading posts about their wiper problems, just Tesla. I now want to see exactly what broke and why.

So, back to the service center. I hope we don't have any rain in the forecast.

Thanks,

 

[lunitiks]

I'm pretty sure X has different wiper parts than S. S doesn't have the ability to distribute wiper fluid *from* the wiper arms, but instead sprays the fluid in traditional jets from the hood area.

This implies both different wiper arms, hoses, and perhaps mechanical and/or electrical other parts on the S and X.

Never heard of a wiper breakdown like this on the S, so Tesla should absolutely take this up with their X wiper supplier

EDIT: Sorry, just realized you have an S. What the heck. Why haven't I heard of this before

 

[Nosken]

My new Model S wipers are loud at the bottom of the down stroke. It seems to be predominately on the passenger side. I noticed that there is a plastic plate that appears to be where the passenger wiper should "park". On most strokes, it hits this with a loud thump. I had a 2015 Model S and this loud thump was never present. Additionally, I notice my wipers stop, or park, much lower than on my older car. The loud thump happens at most wiper speeds, but is more prevalent when the window has more water, is better lubricated.
On the older Model S, I noticed, and was distracted by the driver side wiper arm, just barely showing above the back edge of the hood. It didn't bug my much, but I always thought it was not attractive.
On my 11/2016 build, the wipers park much lower, and look better, but.....there is that thump.
I wonder if this is putting a load on the wiper motor as it bottoms out, hard, before the full wipe cycle is complete.
My older ICE cars had splines where the wiper arms attach. If this is the case, with Model S, them it seems that they need to be rotated, one or two splines. On the ICE cars, the motor wouldn't reverse, it would rotate 360 decrees, and something like a cam, would oscillate the wipers. (Long story about using a string to work my wipers while driving home from skiing, in an old SAAB could be inserted here : -)
I don't know if it is a software or hardware issue. I will be having the SC look at it soon.

 

[MS16]

Well, I was driving home tonight and was lucky to have been pretty close to home when they broke.

So, back to the service center. I hope we don't have any rain in the forecast.

Thanks,

Keep us posted on what you find. My wipers have the chattering noise with every sweep, and this has been since new. The SC says its a known problem with no fix. Great.

My wiper motors can also be heard when the wipers are on. I get in my others cars and nothing but silence from the wiper blades and motors.

 

[Robwoodruff]

My 2015 Model S wipers have the chattering noise ever since I put Rain X on the windshield. It doesn't bother me that much. My new 2017 Model S doesn't have the chatter at all, no noise, no clunk. They seem to work the way they are supposed to. I like Rain X but haven't decided whether to put it on the new car or not.

 

[Spyder14]

My 2015 Model S wipers have the chattering noise ever since I put Rain X on the windshield. It doesn't bother me that much. My new 2017 Model S doesn't have the chatter at all, no noise, no clunk. They seem to work the way they are supposed to. I like Rain X but haven't decided whether to put it on the new car or not.

If you like having wipers that dont chatter, dont put Rain-X on it unless you plan on maintaining it on a regular basis. In my experience, the chemicals in the product either deteriorate the wiper blades or gum them up preventing a clean blade interfacing with a clean windshield.

 

[Sir Guacamolaf]

I put Aquapel on the windshield and have to reapply every 6 months. Basically you don't need to use wipers, but you do have to keep applying Aquapel. It takes a total of 10 mins, so no big deal really.

 

[brkaus]

My 2015 Model S wipers have the chattering noise ever since I put Rain X on the windshield. It doesn't bother me that much. My new 2017 Model S doesn't have the chatter at all, no noise, no clunk. They seem to work the way they are supposed to. I like Rain X but haven't decided whether to put it on the new car or not.

Let me know what you decide. Both Rain X and aquapel caused my wipers to chatter on my Acura. Haven't decided what I will do with the Model S.

 

[DDotJ]

I put on RainX and had my windshield wipers make chattering sounds. So I followed the recommendation from other owners on TMC and put on the Bosch Icon 18OE and 28OE wiper blades and I haven't any issues since (even with regular RainX application). Here are the links:

Amazon.com: Bosch 28OE ICON Wiper Blade - 28" (Pack of 1): Automotive
Amazon.com: Bosch 18OE ICON Wiper Blade - 18" (Pack of 1): Automotive

 

[A2Sirbill]

Thanks for all your replies. I will get the car into the service center ASAP. I was just surprised when I Googled about wiper problems on the Tesla and there were a LOT of posts out there with similar problems to mine. I would think with the amount of repairs they are doing on them it would flag quality control to get involved. When I worked in R&D at the Toyota tech center we routinely investigated issues based on service call numbers. Ahhhh, the old days of root cause analysis, lol.

I am just surprised that such an expensive and technology advanced car would have what seems to be an ongoing problem with the wiper/wiper assembly on the model S.

Thanks Again!!!