Windshield wiper issues (modes and settings)

[Doug_G]

My sensitivity is too low on both settings. The windscreen is nearly obscured by the time the second cycle occurs. I'd prefer a single auto mode with infinite adjustment via the display.

Agreed. The high setting is about one notch below where the low setting ought to be. The low setting is completely useless.

Edit: It's rather variable. Earlier today it was way too slow in heavy snow. On my last trip it was wiping pretty frequently in light snow.

 

[MikeK]

It was a rainy day here in the Bay Area today. The automatic wipers seem, frankly, broken.

• When I started off from the house, I put them on "low", and they were wiping much more often than needed.
• After I turned two corners, they started to wipe much less frequently, although the windshield had substantially more rain on it than it did when they were wiping faster
• During one period, the wipers went from not wiping often enough, to wiping on a continuous "low" setting, to wiping at high speed even though there was virtually no water on the glass.
• I ran an errand and parked the car. When I got back in, the wipers did not wipe, and the headlights did not come on, even as the windshield filled up with water.
• Later, when the car had been parked for awhile, I got in, and before my butt even hit the seat, the wipers wiped. As noted elsewhere, this is not nice behavior (although fortunately there was not very much water on the windshield)

 

[wycolo]

> frozen to the glass [mknox]

ModelS: Place 3 bread bags under the blades. the stretchable plastic, not the crinkly kind. Two bags under the big blade. This due to MS arms being captive under the hood.

Roadster: This arm can be lifted up but don't leave it up in the air as the wind can smash it down onto the glass. Fold the blade upside down & then rest the plastic against the glass.
--

 

[Doug_G]

That pretty much reflects my experience - goes to high when there's little rain, rarely wipes when it's coming down steadily. Seems to almost perversely work backwards.

It was a rainy day here in the Bay Area today. The automatic wipers seem, frankly, broken.

• When I started off from the house, I put them on "low", and they were wiping much more often than needed.
• After I turned two corners, they started to wipe much less frequently, although the windshield had substantially more rain on it than it did when they were wiping faster
• During one period, the wipers went from not wiping often enough, to wiping on a continuous "low" setting, to wiping at high speed even though there was virtually no water on the glass.
• I ran an errand and parked the car. When I got back in, the wipers did not wipe, and the headlights did not come on, even as the windshield filled up with water.
• Later, when the car had been parked for awhile, I got in, and before my butt even hit the seat, the wipers wiped. As noted elsewhere, this is not nice behavior (although fortunately there was not very much water on the windshield)

 

[napabill]

My sensitivity is too low on both settings. The windscreen is nearly obscured by the time the second cycle occurs. I'd prefer a single auto mode with infinite adjustment via the display.

Mine as well. Seems to have gotten worse since I downloaded v4.1 (19.31.1).

But I've got a good fix scheduled. Leaving for southern Arizona tomorrow for 4 months!

 

[dsm363]

A certain batch of cars had a rain sensor issue. Mine is getting replaced soon so that might have something to do with some of these issues.

 

[AnOutsider]

A certain batch of cars had a rain sensor issue. Mine is getting replaced soon so that might have something to do with some of these issues.

ALL of them? :biggrin:

 

[dsm363]

ALL of them? :biggrin:

Could be. I don't know if replacing the sensor will fix things or it is entirely a software issue or both. It hasn't rained too much here so won't be able to tell if it makes any difference.

 

[MikeK]

I think I noticed something, but I'm not sure that it's accurate, and it's hard to say for sure without having somebody ride with me.

It seemed to me that my automatic wipers worked pretty well when I was going slowly, but started to swipe too infrequently as I sped up. I looked at the top of the glass, and it seemed that there was less water on the glass at the very top, where the sensor is. I thought it might be an aerodynamic thing (thus the difference in speed). It may also just be a trick of angles as I was looking at the glass. This is why I need somebody to ride along and look at it.

 

[jkirkebo]

Are there manual intermittent settings ? I have the rain sensor thingie on my Leaf and I'm not really fond of it. My old VWs 4-setting intermittent wipers are much better IMHO.

 

[MikeK]

Sadly, no. There are two levels of auto, and then continuous/slow and continuous/fast.

 

[Ceilidh]

Seems like Tesla should have worked this into their deal with Toyota for supplying the batteries for the Rav4. I have a 2011 Sienna and the auto wipers work absolutely flawlessly. They are quite literally always exactly what I want for any rain/driving scenario. The only times I have had to use manual adjustments was when the auto wipers had been turned off by mistake, or perhaps 1 or 2 other occasions when they were slightly more aggressive than I wanted in very light rain over the course of 2 years of ownership.

Perhaps Tesla should just ask Toyota to supply the rain sensor and software like Mercedes supplied the steering wheel and turn levers.

Cheers.

 

[MikeK]

What makes you think Mercedes (or more likely, Continental) didn't provide the wiper system?

 

[Ceilidh]

What makes you think Mercedes (or more likely, Continental) didn't provide the wiper system?

Perhaps they did, but I have never heard such complaints about MB or continental systems in other vehicles, which makes me think Tesla did something different. It would be great if they did get a 3rd party system that could be tweaked via software as this may make a fix more likely. Not sure if they released the production and supply specs on the auto wipers though.

You could very well be correct, however. The only thing that makes me think otherwise is that these don;t seem to be working well for people.

Cheers.

 

[Lloyd]

Mine seems to work properly

 

[MikeK]

Perhaps they did, but I have never heard such complaints about MB or continental systems in other vehicles, which makes me think Tesla did something different. It would be great if they did get a 3rd party system that could be tweaked via software as this may make a fix more likely. Not sure if they released the production and supply specs on the auto wipers though.

You could very well be correct, however. The only thing that makes me think otherwise is that these don;t seem to be working well for people.

Cheers.

Yup, I don't know for sure either way, and I certainly agree that they seem to be working improperly. But I suspect that there's some sort of adjustment or calibration that has to be done when fitting these sensors to a new car model, so hopefully there's some relief to be had!

 

[dflye]

At least for me, the vast majority of the time the auto-sensing settings are useless due to their inconsistent behavior (usually wiping too infrequently), so I either end up using the constant wiping setting (and look like those who have their wipers set on high at the first sign of a single rain drop) or prod the end of the stalk to get a single swipe as needed.

If there is any way whatsoever to tie the swipe interval of the "auto-sensing" setting to a control on the touchscreen, it would be a godsend!

Or, more accurately, that would provide the simple feature found on any moderately priced auto where you have multiple settings that provide progressively more frequent swipe intervals.

 

[Al Sherman]

Seems like Tesla should have worked this into their deal with Toyota for supplying the batteries for the Rav4. I have a 2011 Sienna and the auto wipers work absolutely flawlessly. They are quite literally always exactly what I want for any rain/driving scenario. The only times I have had to use manual adjustments was when the auto wipers had been turned off by mistake, or perhaps 1 or 2 other occasions when they were slightly more aggressive than I wanted in very light rain over the course of 2 years of ownership.

Perhaps Tesla should just ask Toyota to supply the rain sensor and software like Mercedes supplied the steering wheel and turn levers.

Cheers.

That's been my experience with the BMW 7 series. The auto wipers could not have been better. Flawless, stunning. Most impressive. My late father in law was so amazed by them that he was out in the driveway spraying the windshield with a hose to see if he could mess with them. He couldn't. I would like that kind of performance.

 

[shokunin]

It's been raining here in socal for the past few days. There's been a number of times when I've accidentally threw the car into Neutral since that is where my wiper controls are in my other cars.

I also notice that the wipers work even though the car is not being driven, just on "on". I should of known this from reading posts about people getting into their Model S only to have the wipers swipe them before getting in.

Today I had the radio going and was washing my car. I don't do traditional washes (getting the hose to rinse, wash, rinse), but do rinseless washes. Started to clean the windshield by presoaking with a handheld pump sprayer and the auto-wipers turned on and just doused me liquid. Nice. I guess the rain-sensors work, even though the car is parked, with charging cable plugged in.

 

[Brian H]

Perhaps they did, but I have never heard such complaints about MB or continental systems in other vehicles, which makes me think Tesla did something different. It would be great if they did get a 3rd party system that could be tweaked via software as this may make a fix more likely. Not sure if they released the production and supply specs on the auto wipers though.

You could very well be correct, however. The only thing that makes me think otherwise is that these don;t seem to be working well for people.

Cheers.

Yeah, in-sourcing everything possible carries the risk of having to reinvent the wheel, over and over. With the wipers, TM appears to have only progressed from the square wheel to the hexagonal. Lots of corners to wear down yet.