Since an update, the Tesla Model Y has been plagued by fogging

With the arrival of winter weather, a ventilation bug has appeared in many Tesla Model Y following a software update.

A simple personal message on a Tesla Model Y user forum, posted to seek help, revealed the extent of a problem initially thought to be individual.

“Good evening,
I have a Model Y since August 2023.
And recently, I have a defogging issue, I leave my house, no fog, after a few minutes of driving, fog develops on my windshield, and it has a hard time clearing. (Forced to stop completely, or wipe with a cloth…)
Etc, etc.“

This is where comments from other Tesla customers started to pour in, revealing a deep-rooted issue following a Tesla software update pushed at the end of summer.

Tesla Model Y fog — A photo of the windshield taken by the Tesla user and posted on the Tesla Model Y page in French, on Facebook @D.R.

The air conditioning does nothing?

David posts a response: “The same thing on my side since early September (…) Never had this before“. Same for Randy: “It happens to me too, a little but less than you (probably because I am in the south)“. Javi: “I thought about it yesterday… I have never had this problem since 2018!“.

And it continues with Charly: “It’s been about 2 months since this started. After an update. I hope they will fix it. A tip for now but not perfect: set to HEPA mode“. And so on…

The first owner explains that the defogging mode activates but does not solve the problem at all. Same for the air conditioning, as if a source of humidity suddenly appeared inside the car. Thomas suggests: “This happened on a friend’s Tesla, he had water condensation in his ventilation hoses, which, when the system was turned on, created heavy fog. His workaround was to turn the heater to maximum for 2-3 minutes and then use the classic defogging. Tesla’s response at the time was that he was overheating the heater when parking in a cold or humid location, causing water to condense in the hoses“.

Enfoncer les deux molettes du volant, la solution magique de Tesla

A totally absurd situation at a time when Tesla sells millions of cars. Just like the help provided by Gwenael: “When you set the auto A/C, the recycling mode activates automatically as well, which is not great in humid weather. Just disable the recycling mode and you won’t get fogging anymore“. As is well known, the defogging mode was designed for summer months.

This story highlights Tesla’s inability to operate simple features in a car. Sure, Musk can send rockets into space, but GPS, heating, windshield wipers, backup sensors, or other standard equipment for decades still remain capricious at Tesla. This is a major frustration among some customers who, ultimately, end up returning to traditional manufacturers.

When will this defogging issue be resolved? Hopefully before summer…