Looked on these forums and on Teslatap and couldn't find an answer. My one regret is not getting the cold weather package... we were actually talked out of it by our OA and although the rear heated seats aren't that important, I was wondering if there was a way to retrofit just the heated wipers through Tesla.
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paintpolisher
Banned
breser
AutoPilot Nostradamus
mknox
Well-Known Member
My old Audi has awesome defrost air flow to the recessed part of the windshield where the wipers hang out, but it just melts the ice touching the glass. Once an air gap forms, nothing else melts and your wipers remain encased in an iceberg. I suspect the same happens with the Tesla setup if one has to park outside. I'm not a fan of recessed wipers for this reason and also because you can't pull the wipers off the windshield to scrape underneath. In slushy snow, the wipers also can pack the recess full of snow in a matter of minutes. In cars without the recess, the snow just gets pushed off onto the hood.
The recent weather in New England has just reminded me of a trip to NYC last year during a snowstorm in my Camry Hybrid where I had the front defrosters going at full blast as hot as possible and the wipers were starting to not get the snow off the windshield. I'm disappointed to hear that this isn't retrofittable (at a reasonable cost) but being that I ordered in August, the thought really didn't cross my mind until today.
Forty Creek
Member
I have the cold weather package and would agree that the heated wipers are not a huge advantage. Turned it on a couple of times last winter and it more or less defrosts the bottom of the windshield where the wipers rest. Calling them heated wipers is not entirely accurate. I suppose the feature might help un-stick the blades from the glass in certain situations. With the system on, ice can still build up on the blades while they are working and prevent a clean swipe. The heated rear seats are of greater value (providing you have passengers back there).
Yes, I've found that with the heated seats on, the HVAC isn't needed to go as high. I wish I could retrofit the rear heated seats in my sig, as my wife sits back there and would definitely welcome them.
mknox
Well-Known Member
Sure. The heated wipers are really just a heated section of the lower windshield, and once I was underway with the wipers going in a snowstorm, the wipers turned into popsicles just like on every other car I've driven. The other feature is heated washers, but I always use a high quality washer fluid and had no problem with the washers whatsoever in last winter's deep freeze. The third feature is rear heated seats. I found it awkward that someone in the front seat has to control them from the touchscreen (no rear buttons as far as I could tell) and since I rarely have rear seat passengers, it would be of little value to me.
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