Winter Driver: Extremely hazardous

[JRMW]

What I found in the ice storm I drove through, was, heat, outside air only, max fan, all on windshield, crack a back window. Wildly energy-inefficient, but worked.

Cracking a window is not a bad idea.
Toggling defroster with foot heater didn’t work amazingly in -20F temps.

Luckily, in Sydney Australia now, and winter finally waning when I get back. (30s and 40s)

 

[mknox]

"Service Mode" will jog them up enough to do that. I forget which update it was added in.

Service mode only parks the wipers, still on the glass, about half way up the glass. I was talking about pivoting the arm up so that it is 90 degrees from the glass with the blade in the air.

 

[smuseby]

Postscript - I've learned more about the red button mode for the defroster, and am posting the following in the hopes that others can avoid my difficult experience.
In calm circumstances, I set the defroster on red, and observed that the fan was blowing 'room' air, which was what I experienced on that dark, cold, snowy night.
I made an appt for service, and today when I picked up the car, I was told that the defroster didn't work because the car was in 'range mode'. I could find nothing in the manual that suggested range mode controlled the defroster, so I did a little experimenting and learned that the defroster does work, but that it takes 4-5 minutes before delivering any heat (with range mode on). I also confirmed that the defroster takes about the same time to deliver heat with the range mode off. (In hindsight, I wasn't patient because I had very limited visibility in difficult winter driving circumstances and my expectation for defroster heat was influenced by the cabin heater delivering heat in about 30 seconds).
With my experiment conclusions based on an n=1 test, I'd be happy to learn if others have same or different results.

To summarize my beefs with this car/Tesla,

• either expedite the delivery of defroster heat (red button) or document that it takes 4-5 minutes to be effective
• add an AM radio
• provide a user manual in RAM
• add a rear windshield wiper/washer, and a washer for the rear camera
• embed a heater in the front windshield for the wiper blades
• when stationary, permit the wiper blades to be removed from contact with the front windshield

This strikes me as a very reasonable ask for a $100,000 car.
How does one get this information into the Tesla engineering dept?
Thanks to all of you who have contributed to this thread - I've learned a lot, and now know to be patient when using the red button mode for the defroster.

 

[neroden]

Service mode only parks the wipers, still on the glass, about half way up the glass. I was talking about pivoting the arm up so that it is 90 degrees from the glass with the blade in the air.

Right, once it's in service mode you can manually flip 'em up.

 

[dark cloud]

To summarize my beefs with this car/Tesla

• embed a heater in the front windshield for the wiper blades.

I've got one of those.

 

[mknox]

Right, once it's in service mode you can manually flip 'em up.

Not on my S or X you can’t. They will lift a couple of inches before hitting the stop. I want to lift them perpendicular to the glass and leave them there (see earlier picture).

 

[neroden]

Not on my S or X you can’t. They will lift a couple of inches before hitting the stop. I want to lift them perpendicular to the glass and leave them there (see earlier picture).

Huh. You're right. I thought my original wipers flipped up, but they were replaced fairly recently after they self-destructed (long story), and it seems the new ones only move a little.

 

[mknox]

Huh. You're right. I thought my original wipers flipped up, but they were replaced fairly recently after they self-destructed (long story), and it seems the new ones only move a little.

Curious. Are you saying that some versions were able to flip perpendicular? My Model S was a 2013 and my X is a 2018 and neither of those two could. Tesla is known for making multiple design iterations, so maybe some cars between 2013 and 2018 could...

 

[JRMW]

I tried the suggested hack, My flippers don’t flip up either.
You just have to get out of the car every so often and run hands along wipers.

Also, the wiper heating function does not appear to go on automatically. I have to remember to manually turn that on
===

My biggest issue as I said earlier, is the clearance of the car

It’s especially problematic now as the snow and ice is melting, leading to huge thick ruts in the road. My entire alley had snow build up the last 6 weeks (we never got above freezing)
Now it’s all melting, leaving ruts in the ice

The bottom of my car is scraping on an awful lot of ice these days.
I wonder how strong the under shield is?

(Waiting for some Californian genius to tell me I should simply plow all of the roads so that I have no ruts)

 

[JRMW]

Ruts are like these. But deeper, and ice. (Not snow]

 

[mknox]

Also, the wiper heating function does not appear to go on automatically. I have to remember to manually turn that on

Pretty typical.

My biggest issue as I said earlier, is the clearance of the car

I have driven Model S and X through 7 Canadian winters and do not find the ground clearance any different than any other sedan. But I have air suspension and can raise to High or Very High if needed in these circumstances. Can't remember that last time I had to, though.