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There are other issues with Tesla's auto wipers. The main one is that, in other cars, you can have the wipers on auto, while still manually increasing or decre

There are other issues with Tesla's auto wipers. The main one is that, in other cars, you can have the wipers on auto, while still manually increasing or decreasing their speed. So if the wipers aren't going fast enough for you, you can bias the speed upward while maintaining the auto function, and vice-versa. On Teslas you don't have that option; you need to choose between auto and a fixed speed. (My guess is that the ability to increase or decrease the speed of auto wipers is patented, and Tesla doesn't want to license that patent, but that's just a guess. Maybe it's just laziness.) And that's bad enough, but it was made far worse by the fact that for most of Tesla's existence until just recently, the only way to change that fixed speed was via the touch screen. This was, thankfully, finally fixed just recently! (But only properly so for older vehicles.) The turn signal stalk on Teslas that still had turn signal stalks has a button on the end that activates the windshield wipers. It will cause them to wipe once, and will bring up a control on the touchscreen to choose between speeds or turn the wipers off. Until a few months ago, that was your only option to change speed: use the touchscreen while driving. (As a result, Tesla drivers like myself would often just control the wipers manually, pushing the button for each wipe, as that was more convenient than fiddling with the screen!) Then, they added the ability to long-press a steering wheel scroll wheel, and then turn it to control wiper speed (although backwards, with an up turn on the wheel making the wipers go slower). This was a hassle, but better than the screen. For several months that was the situation, until just finally a week or so ago the logical link was made so that pressing the dedicated wiper button on the stalk allowed speed to be adjusted using the wheel. Not as good as a proper, adjustable auto function, but at least usable - finally.

why_at 2y ago
FYI I have owned a model 3 for about a year now and I have always been able to manually set the speed by pushing the button and then using the horizontal part of the scroll wheel to cycle through the settings.
- tempestn 2y ago
  Ha, maybe that's been an option for longer and I just never thought to try that particular incantation. I even googled this issue and didn't discover that. Will have to try on mine now. I do find it amusing that you now have the option of long pressing the scroll wheel or pressing the stalk button to thrn turn the wheel to change speeds... But the direction of the change in those two cases is reversed; in one case up on the wheel is faster, and in the other it's slower.
CGamesPlay 2y ago
Completely ignoring the terrible UX of all of this, I can't imagine why someone would ever want to drive a car where path to access critical functionality changes so frequently.
- tempestn 2y ago
  Agreed. But I wanted an electric SUV with room for kids and dog and such, and the Model Y absolutely blew away competitors in 2021 in terms of space for people and cargo, in a reasonably sized vehicle. Still does to some extent; no one else has the small third row option, which is fantastic for driving kids' friends and such. Also the charging network was/is far superior to alternatives. So I was willing to put up with some Tesla nonsense for those advantages. Probably wouldn't make the same choice in 2024 though, as alternatives have improved, and Tesla's gotten weirder.
  - NewJazz 2y ago
    no one else has the small third row option Kia EV9?
  - Freedom2 2y ago
    > no one else has the small third row option Rivian R1S, Kia Ev9, Mercedes EQS SUV?
    - tempestn 2y ago
      Small third row. The nice thing about the Y is that you have 7 seats when you need them, but don't need the footprint of a massive SUV when you don't, which in our case is most of the time. It's a foot or more shorter than any of those vehicles. As I said though, if I were to choose today, I'd probably pick a different option. None of those existed when we chose the Y in 2021.
lm411 2y ago
Using a touch screen to control wiper speed seems insane. In fact, most of what you wrote sounds incredibly unintuitive and frankly stupid. Things like wiper speed need to be brain-dead simple muscle memory controls - and similar in behaviour to other vehicles. I own three (cheap and old) vehicles, and I can easily switch between them and control the wipers even if I haven't driven one for 6+ months. Vehicle control interfaces and design peaked long ago. True of many things in the modern world in my opinion. I do under these modern designs are cheaper and that is generally the push for them.
- nsguy 2y ago
  When I picked up my new Model 3, about 5 years ago, I headed home and it started raining. I had no idea how to turn the windshield wipers on and was barely able to find a place to stop on the side of the road as I tried to figure it out. I do love the car overall but this certainly wasn't thought through and the auto mode is pretty bad. It's one of those quirks you get used to...
- csa 2y ago
  > Using a touch screen to control wiper speed seems insane. Honestly, I think that this is overblown. Tap the end of the left stick and then use left scroll wheel to adjust. Or use the voice command (e.g., “turn on wipers” or “increase wiper speed by 1”). The “bad” part of the wipers is that some folks new to the car don’t know how to operate them if they have not read the manual. Shitty drivers are going to do stupid things when it’s raining. No amount of UI is going to fix that. All the designers can do is minimize the degrees of freedom of stupidity. Tesla controls are somewhere between fine and quite optimized by this metric.
  - tempestn 2y ago
    Yes, now you can tap the button and then use the scroll wheel to adjust, but as I said, that option has literally only been available for a week or two, at least on my car. For the first three years of ownership you were stuck with the touchscreen. (And even with that ability you need to change it constantly because the auto level is rarely right, for reasons in the OP, and you can't bias it up or down.) Ha, or yes, voice controls. Don't get me started on how many times I tried "set wiper speed to 1" or similar and instead got max speed, before I eventually gave up and used the screen or "manual" control.

why_at 2y ago

FYI I have owned a model 3 for about a year now and I have always been able to manually set the speed by pushing the button and then using the horizontal part of the scroll wheel to cycle through the settings.

tempestn 2y ago
Ha, maybe that's been an option for longer and I just never thought to try that particular incantation. I even googled this issue and didn't discover that. Will have to try on mine now. I do find it amusing that you now have the option of long pressing the scroll wheel or pressing the stalk button to thrn turn the wheel to change speeds... But the direction of the change in those two cases is reversed; in one case up on the wheel is faster, and in the other it's slower.

CGamesPlay 2y ago

Completely ignoring the terrible UX of all of this, I can't imagine why someone would ever want to drive a car where path to access critical functionality changes so frequently.

tempestn 2y ago
Agreed. But I wanted an electric SUV with room for kids and dog and such, and the Model Y absolutely blew away competitors in 2021 in terms of space for people and cargo, in a reasonably sized vehicle. Still does to some extent; no one else has the small third row option, which is fantastic for driving kids' friends and such. Also the charging network was/is far superior to alternatives. So I was willing to put up with some Tesla nonsense for those advantages. Probably wouldn't make the same choice in 2024 though, as alternatives have improved, and Tesla's gotten weirder.
- NewJazz 2y ago
  no one else has the small third row option Kia EV9?
- Freedom2 2y ago
  > no one else has the small third row option Rivian R1S, Kia Ev9, Mercedes EQS SUV?
  - tempestn 2y ago
    Small third row. The nice thing about the Y is that you have 7 seats when you need them, but don't need the footprint of a massive SUV when you don't, which in our case is most of the time. It's a foot or more shorter than any of those vehicles. As I said though, if I were to choose today, I'd probably pick a different option. None of those existed when we chose the Y in 2021.

lm411 2y ago

Using a touch screen to control wiper speed seems insane. In fact, most of what you wrote sounds incredibly unintuitive and frankly stupid. Things like wiper speed need to be brain-dead simple muscle memory controls - and similar in behaviour to other vehicles. I own three (cheap and old) vehicles, and I can easily switch between them and control the wipers even if I haven't driven one for 6+ months. Vehicle control interfaces and design peaked long ago. True of many things in the modern world in my opinion. I do under these modern designs are cheaper and that is generally the push for them.

nsguy 2y ago
When I picked up my new Model 3, about 5 years ago, I headed home and it started raining. I had no idea how to turn the windshield wipers on and was barely able to find a place to stop on the side of the road as I tried to figure it out. I do love the car overall but this certainly wasn't thought through and the auto mode is pretty bad. It's one of those quirks you get used to...
csa 2y ago
> Using a touch screen to control wiper speed seems insane. Honestly, I think that this is overblown. Tap the end of the left stick and then use left scroll wheel to adjust. Or use the voice command (e.g., “turn on wipers” or “increase wiper speed by 1”). The “bad” part of the wipers is that some folks new to the car don’t know how to operate them if they have not read the manual. Shitty drivers are going to do stupid things when it’s raining. No amount of UI is going to fix that. All the designers can do is minimize the degrees of freedom of stupidity. Tesla controls are somewhere between fine and quite optimized by this metric.
- tempestn 2y ago
  Yes, now you can tap the button and then use the scroll wheel to adjust, but as I said, that option has literally only been available for a week or two, at least on my car. For the first three years of ownership you were stuck with the touchscreen. (And even with that ability you need to change it constantly because the auto level is rarely right, for reasons in the OP, and you can't bias it up or down.) Ha, or yes, voice controls. Don't get me started on how many times I tried "set wiper speed to 1" or similar and instead got max speed, before I eventually gave up and used the screen or "manual" control.