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Comment by pedalpete | Hacker News Reader

On a car with as much technology as Tesla has, is a defroster icon even necessary? Can't the car know the windows needs to be defogged/defrosted and just turn it on for the driver.

This isn't like temperature, where somebody has a preference to see. Is my windshield clear of fog or ice? No? Turn on defroster.

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If it works as well as their automated wipers you’ll probably still want the button.

Tesla has to do everything differently, including replacing rain sensors that every manufacturer uses with a camera based AI that works less well than any car I’ve ever driven.

That's a very good point, but there really isn't a reason to not have both. The button can be a bit hidden at that point if it's considered a "backup".

It does if you have the AC on “auto”. There’s also another UI element that displays “defogging limited by settings” if you make manual adjustments and it detects the need

That's interesting. I keep my A/C on "auto" and it doesn't seem to detect a fogged up windshield. This mostly happens on colder days after a workout at the gym. I'm hot and sweaty and I get in a cold car and the glass fogs up pretty quickly.

I'll have to make sure I have it configured correctly and see how the car reacts next time. I've also not seen the "defogging limited by settings" warning; then again, the text is so small on the warnings I might have seen it but not been able to read it.

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