2018 Tesla Model 3 Visibility & Wipers Problems

The front and rear windshields of my Tesla Model 3 developed long cracks requiring full replacement. For over six months, I have been unable to complete these replacements due to repeated failures in the replacement process. The vehicle and damaged glass are available for inspection upon request. My insurance claim was filed with Esurance, and Safelite AutoGlass, Esurance’s designated auto glass provider, has handled all replacement attempts. During this period, three shipments of glass arrived damaged and two shipments were the incorrect glass for my vehicle, resulting in canceled or rescheduled appointments. Safelite has documentation of these failed attempts. Driving with cracked front and rear windshields puts my safety and the safety of others at risk. The damage impairs visibility, especially in rain or low-light conditions, and compromises windshield integrity, which is critical for vehicle structural support and proper airbag deployment. The rear windshield damage also raises concerns about sudden glass failure while driving. The issue has been reproduced and confirmed multiple times by Safelite AutoGlass, an independent service center. While waiting for service, I personally spoke with several other Tesla Model 3 owners at Safelite locations who reported similar experiences, including multiple failed appointments, incorrect glass, and in some cases incorrect installations requiring return visits. This suggests a broader, systemic issue rather than an isolated incident. The vehicle has been inspected multiple times by Safelite AutoGlass, and the issue is documented through Esurance claim records and follow-up complaints I submitted regarding the prolonged lack of resolution. Tesla has not directly inspected the vehicle. There were no warning lights or system alerts prior to the issue. The problem presented as visible cracks that appeared and progressively worsened, prompting replacement attempts beginning approximately six months ago.

Live in Atlanta that seldom we get frost. We had an event in December and noticed my rear defroster would not defrost killing rear visibility. Got Tesla to check if connected which it is but doesn't work. They blamed the ceramic tint that was recently installed. Took car to film installer and he showed me how my car's rear window never had any embedded wire, just painted lines that do not heat up. Showed me newer tesla model 3's and showed how Tesla seems to have changed the design and you could feel the defroster wiring so seems I never got defroster wires. Going back to Tesla. All documented in you tube from statement from Tesla glass installer and film installer. Search for xpel vs Tesla defroster in youtube. My glass was recently replaced by tesla ln December 2022. Noticed the problem the first day we had frost in Atlanta

Recently I noticed that the automatic windshield wipers are completely non-functional on my vehicle. Windshield wipers can still be turned on manually and work normally as expected in all speeds in manual control mode. But in auto control mode, they simply don't turn on at all, even in very heavy rain. This is critical because when driving the vehicle in Autopilot mode or Full-Self-Driving mode, the vehicle automatically puts the windshield wipers in auto control mode and the driver cannot change them to manual mode. So when driving using Autopilot in the rain, the windshield wipers just stay completely off all the time, even when Autopilot is displaying warning messages about severe weather. I contacted Tesla support about this and Tesla support immediately responded that this is a known issue and should be corrected via over-the-air update soon, but no ETA available.

Software bug for sure. When car is in autopilot the windshield wipers start and cannot be turned off. This occurrs when the windshield is clean , not raining. The wiper off virtual switches cannot be turned off and the only option is to switch from auto to 1 to slow the wipers. If the car is not in autopilot the issue doesn’t not occur and the wipers operate as they should.

I’ve called twice for Tesla to fix the part for this recall. They tell me they won’t fix because I have an aftermarket truck opener. The back up camera works sometimes but not all times.

Heating has malfunctioned and car will not warm up defrost windows in snow storm. This happened shortly after charging the tesla at a supercharger and the car also seemed to suddenly require a software update. Having performed the update and reboot, the heat has not fixed. The weather is currently 14f and the car is essentially undrivable in the recent snow storms due to no heat. The system will blow air but this will not melt accumulating ice. Unsafe and random.

The electrochromic rearview mirror will not significantly darken or dim. There is no way to make the mirror less reflective. The vehicle is designed to automatically simultaneously darken the rearview and sideview mirrors at night. The sideview mirrors darken properly* but the rearview mirror only very slightly changes color and does not noticeably reduce reflected light. This appears to be a manufacturing defect with the mirror. From what I understand about how electrochromic mirrors work, I believe there is likely a slight misalignment within the layers of the mirror that result in the mirror providing less than acceptable contrast. I have another Tesla with the exact same mirror and it works as intended. According to various internet message boards, many Tesla owners have the same and the opposite problem (mirror gets too dark). This would lead me to believe this is due to lack of quality control during the mirrors' manufacture. This lack of functionality requires me to suffer temporary blindness (Troxler Effect) caused by the intense reflection of headlights of the vehicles behind me. My only remedy is to reposition the mirror such that the mirror becomes useless for its intended purpose. This defect has existed since I purchased the vehicle new in September, 2018. There are no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms associated with the defect. I reported this to Tesla multiple times. Tesla technicians inspected and tested the mirror on at least two separate occasions during daytime hours. Both times the technicians stated that the mirror appeared to work properly but the technicians were unable to replicate the issue because the vehicle will only darken the mirrors after sunset. *This is also problematic because the mirrors should also darken on dark, rainy, overcast days when the vehicles behind me are using their headlights. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notifications of NHTSA Campaign Number 21V00D000 (Electrical System, Visibility, Back Over Prevention), 22V702000 (Visibility), and 22V798000 (Seat Belts) however, the parts to do the recall repairs were unavailable. The local Service Center was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced the failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

The automatic wiper does not always work. Set to auto but despite poor visibility on the windshield, it failed to start until I manually adjusted the wiper control on the screen. With poor visibility and having to look at the infotainment screen to adjust wiper while vehicle is in motion, my safety was put at risk. Every time it rains, the auto wiper is unreliable and often fails to start or is too slow to start as if there is a huge delay and does not keep up with in heavy rain as it sometimes wipes too slow and I have to look at the screen to find the settings for the wiper to manually override the wiping speed. Also, the adaptive cruse control accelerates too aggressively at stop and go traffic causing hard braking by the car and I worry this will cause rear end collisions. The blind spot side cameras are unusable at night when turn signal is on as the light blinds the camera image and can’t see anything from it, multiple visits to service center and they told me it is normal and refuse to replace but this cannot be normal as the image from the camera is blinded by the turn signal.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact stated while attempting to roll up the windows, the windows failed to respond as needed. The failure mileage was approximately 55,000. Parts distribution disconnect.

Tesla no longer automatically turns on headlights when the automatic wipers are enabled, this used to be a functionality of the vehicle. The ability to turn on headlights is extremely difficult and requires going through multiple screens while driving, something that is extremely dangerous. Tesla also does not allow you to turn on headlights with voice command. Proposed Fixes #1) Restore functionality that turns on headlights when wipers are enabled #2) Same as #1, but as a preference setting that requires a driver to enable that setting #3) Allow a driver to turn on headlights via voice command. If there is a safety concern that the voice system may turn OFF headlights, disable the ability to turn OFF but enable the ability to turn ON. Long story short the vehicle needs to automatically turn on the headlights when the wipers are on.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the front driver's and passenger's side door panels made clicking sounds while the windows were rolling up and down. The dealer was made aware of the failure but confirmed that parts were not yet available. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 35,000. Parts distribution disconnect.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the front driver's side and passenger's side windows failed to operate as needed intermittently. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that the failure was related to the recall. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. Additionally, the contact stated that he had been receiving notifications on the center display indicating that the visual ability of the camera on the front driver's side of the vehicle was faulty. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was unknown. Parts distribution disconnect.

The rear view camera in our Model 3 stopped working in April 2022. This is a known problem related to NHTSA Recall Number 21V-00D, which was issued in December 2021. It has been over a year & Tesla is still waiting for parts to become available to perform the repairs for this recall. Although our car is still drivable, it is very difficult to use Tesla’s Superchargers since they require the car to be backed into the parking space.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, the HVAC system became inoperable. The contact stated that the cold weather had frozen the windows and the contact was unable to properly see out of the windows and windshield. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but was not yet repaired. The manufacture was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 51,000.

My blindspot warning cameras display gets completely washed out at night, (unable to view alongside my vehicle) whenever the directional blinker lights. This causes me to loose view of anything alongside my car. This only happens during darkness. This has been corrected in newer versions of the camera, but Tesla refuses to repair this under warranty. I was instructed to have the cameras replaced at my cost or to disable the feature. They refuse to fix this under warranty. I have included the complete correspondence with Tesla after requesting service.

Consistently reverse backup camera is delayed appearing on screen. Camera views will be black for several seconds before video feed appears. After video feed appears it consistently freezes initially and then stutters when vehicle is in reverse motion. This legally required safety device puts pedestrians or property at risk as visibility is severely hampered. While over the shoulder visual checks can still occur a functional reverse camera provides additional visibility for shorter objects or children. No warnings appear, just degraded ability to view behind vehicle. Has happened over several years with various software versions, but lately has been consistently bad every time the car is put into reverse. Unclear if this is software only or a combo of hardware and software not being able to reliably handle reverse camera video feed. Current software is 2021.44.30.5

Tesla released V11 software for its cars on December 24, 2021. The following controls were previously directly accessible on the touchscreen: Wipers, Front Defrost, Rear Defrost. These high importance safety controls have now been buried under sub-menus. I was shocked driving my car tonight when my windshield started fogging up and the Front Defrost button was not visible anymore. I could have crashed while searching various UI sub-menus to find it again in a panic.

Tesla recently rolled out version 2021.44.25.2 of their vehicle operating system. This update introduced several major user interface changes. Including moving commonly used “virtual buttons” that had been permanently on the main screen, into buried sub-menus. This requires the driver to take their eyes off the road for a significant amount of time. Among the biggest concern is the windshield wiper controls. But also, seat heaters, and trip data.