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Comment by semi-extrinsic | Hacker News Reader

I don't own a Tesla, but just from observing them on the road and in the neighbourhood I can tell there are many reliability issues just with the easily observable features:

* Model S third brake light has single LEDs failing one by one

* Model X doors don't open in sub-zero weather, friends of us had an ICE rental car for weeks last winter

* All models, automatic activation of rear driving lights at night does not work

* All models, cruise control or something will sometimes suddenly slam the brakes on wide open road, so you need to keep good distance

* Model 3 and Y automatic high beams / matrix LED don't function correctly at night if the car is dirty, they blind everyone on the road - I will be very surprised if this doesn't trigger a recall soon

* Model X front driving light clusters failing, I've seen several, all on the passenger side

* Model 3 and Y, rear lights plastic cracking like it's a 1980s Hyundai

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> All models, cruise control or something will sometimes suddenly slam the brakes on wide open road, so you need to keep good distance

You saw this on all models, on the road and/or in your neighborhood? (I mean surely not, but I'm curious to know how you came to this conclusion.)

Teslas represent around 25% of all new vehicle sales around here, so we get to experience a lot of the "beta testing in prod", yes.

> Model 3 and Y automatic high beams / matrix LED don't function correctly at night if the car is dirty, they blind everyone on the road - I will be very surprised if this doesn't trigger a recall soon

Is that what that is? I thought it was my eyes getting older when thinking car headlights are brighter at night than they used to be. We live in an area with a high % of Teslas on the road and this could explain a lot.

Well, yes and no. The first development which is more than ten years old at this point, was to have projector xenon lights that are veery bright below a sharp line. That line is supposed to be kept below eye level of oncoming traffic, and there is a sensor that adjusts the line height. In Europe there is also a requirement to have washers on the headlights if you have this. The system kind of works fine, except when it doesn't, for instance when driving over a curved hill where it cannot work due to geometry, or when a sensor fails.

Then in the past 3-4 years, matrix LED lights became popular, where you have an array of LEDs with narrow beam optics that are aimed in a slight spread, so that each LED covers a specific area of the road ahead. Then there is a sensor that detects oncoming traffic, and dims the one or two LEDs that point towards those cars.

On the Model 3 and Y there seems to be a particularly frequent failure mode with the matrix LED where the lights, or sometimes just one of them, doesn't detect oncoming traffic at all. It also occurs when they are driving behind someone.

Couple of weeks ago I was behind such a Tesla at night, and I had to just let him get far in front of me, because he kept getting blinked at with the ultra-powered high beams of every oncoming semi trailer. Of course the poor driver couldn't do a thing about it.

Well, - frozen doors, LEDs failing, misaligned headlights, radar/camera cruise control suddenly braking for no reason - there are all pretty common and happen to all cars, not just Teslas.

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