Watch my Cybertruck ceiling glass spontaneously crack in near real time

[beatmstrj]

I live in south Louisiana. I set my “cabin overheat protection” temp to 90 degrees. I have not had the battery drain substantially because of that temp yet.

It's pretty hot here on a daily basis and the CT is a second vehicle for me so keeping the cabin protection on drains quite a bit of battery. Not something I can maintain reliably. Cars are meant to be out in the sun, most without A/C on cooling them down. I can't imagine this is anything more than a flaw.

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[Treynor]

It's pretty hot here on a daily basis and the CT is a second vehicle for me so keeping the cabin protection on drains quite a bit of battery. Not something I can maintain reliably. Cars are meant to be out in the sun, most without A/C on cooling them down. I can't imagine this is anything more than a flaw.

Agreed, a flaw. Should be replaced by Tesla.

 

[Trekboy]

A while back I ran some simple tests on sunscreens placed inside in an office environment. Temperatures were about 110F at the base, rising to 180F at the top. This was because the sunscreen placed vertically has a pretty uniform amount of solar converted to IR for each foot of height, and it all adds up.

Although one feels cool in the room, all that hot air is heading toward the ceiling and eventually goes into the AC return. Thus it lowers the efficiency of the air-conditioning.

As a result, we moved the sunscreens to the outside of the windows and had much improved results.

Here, you can't easily move the sunscreen to the outside. And since hot air rises, we can consider it as "trapped" between the sunscreen and the glass. So, will the glass handle 160-180F temperatures reliably?

Most people don't understand that any automotive sunscreen reflects a certain amount of light, and turns another part into IR - heat. Of that reflected, a fraction successfully goes back out thru the glass, and another fraction doesn't. The sunscreens that are best at their job are the silver ones. That is not what the Cybertruck ceiling shade is.

The overall end result? It's pretty easy to have a net result of zero from a sunscreen. You don't want it to feel cooler in the cab because hot air is trapped between the sunscreen and the glass - that's an illusion, your AC must remove heat from the cab.

Also, people are correct to question tints and coatings, as they also affect these issues. Unfortunately that area is clouded by marketing claims to the point one can't believe anything.

Interesting study. I'm not surprised that the best remedy is moving the sunscreen to the "outside". Really, the only way to do this is with a silvery car cover. Not always practical. I live in Northern California, and in two days the forecast is 118F.

 

[beatmstrj]

A while back I ran some simple tests on sunscreens placed inside in an office environment. Temperatures were about 110F at the base, rising to 180F at the top. This was because the sunscreen placed vertically has a pretty uniform amount of solar converted to IR for each foot of height, and it all adds up.

Although one feels cool in the room, all that hot air is heading toward the ceiling and eventually goes into the AC return. Thus it lowers the efficiency of the air-conditioning.

As a result, we moved the sunscreens to the outside of the windows and had much improved results.

Here, you can't easily move the sunscreen to the outside. And since hot air rises, we can consider it as "trapped" between the sunscreen and the glass. So, will the glass handle 160-180F temperatures reliably?

Most people don't understand that any automotive sunscreen reflects a certain amount of light, and turns another part into IR - heat. Of that reflected, a fraction successfully goes back out thru the glass, and another fraction doesn't. The sunscreens that are best at their job are the silver ones. That is not what the Cybertruck ceiling shade is.

The overall end result? It's pretty easy to have a net result of zero from a sunscreen. You don't want it to feel cooler in the cab because hot air is trapped between the sunscreen and the glass - that's an illusion, your AC must remove heat from the cab.

Also, people are correct to question tints and coatings, as they also affect these issues. Unfortunately that area is clouded by marketing claims to the point one can't believe anything.

I'd love to think that Tesla did their own research and wouldn't sell a glass sunshade without testing it at least somewhat. I would find it hard to believe that this scenario would have caused this particular issue, but it's an interesting anecdote nonetheless.

 

[BengalBoy]

So I went to go pick up a new TV this afternoon and while loading the TV I noticed my ceiling glass had completely shattered. There was no impact anywhere and it spread all over the entire glass. I park in the driveway and have a camera monitoring events so I decided to go back through the footage and noticed that it happened yesterday. I don't have 24/7 recording so I only got footage every time someone walked by, but it was enough to see the whole progression throughout the day. It was a pretty hot day (about 100F), but my CT is parked in the driveway every day so this wasn't unusual. No one, and no water touched my car that whole day.

At 10:38am was the last time there was no crack in the glass. In the next photo you can see the crack starting in the top right corner. It didn't seem to have any predictable flow to it.

With each timestamp you can see the progression of cracking. Around 7p it had fully cracked as much as it was going to crack.

Not tinted, but I did install the mesh headliner sunshade thing it came with.

How it looked when I noticed it today

That sucks! I'm sure Tesla will get your roof replaced ASAP!

 

[jerhenderson]

Gotta love glass, eh ?

 

[Cyberman]

So I went to go pick up a new TV this afternoon and while loading the TV I noticed my ceiling glass had completely shattered. There was no impact anywhere and it spread all over the entire glass. I park in the driveway and have a camera monitoring events so I decided to go back through the footage and noticed that it happened yesterday. I don't have 24/7 recording so I only got footage every time someone walked by, but it was enough to see the whole progression throughout the day. It was a pretty hot day (about 100F), but my CT is parked in the driveway every day so this wasn't unusual. No one, and no water touched my car that whole day.

At 10:38am was the last time there was no crack in the glass. In the next photo you can see the crack starting in the top right corner. It didn't seem to have any predictable flow to it.

With each timestamp you can see the progression of cracking. Around 7p it had fully cracked as much as it was going to crack.

Not tinted, but I did install the mesh headliner sunshade thing it came with.

How it looked when I noticed it today

Must be a bad batch of glass

 

[jsongster]

Not tinted, but I did install the mesh headliner sunshade thing it came with.

Wow… not installing the shade now… was just mulling it over until I saw that clips were required and decided against it… glad I didn’t try it yet. Maybe later once it has been fixed for others.

 

[mhaze]

Interesting study. I'm not surprised that the best remedy is moving the sunscreen to the "outside". Really, the only way to do this is with a silvery car cover. Not always practical. I live in Northern California, and in two days the forecast is 118F.

LOL I'm in Texas here and 188F is ... wait, you are saying 118F? Okay well, that Cybertruck factory in Austin can easily do all the testing they want on this issue in their parking lot, but yeah ... Either the silvery thing on the inside or nothing on the inside.

 

[Vegetaban]

I live in south Louisiana. I set my “cabin overheat protection” temp to 90 degrees. I have not had the battery drain substantially because of that temp yet.

I do that with my M3LR and plan to do the same with the CT when I get it.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Did you have any extra tint or the sunshade installed? I am wondering if reflecting/rejecting more heat into the glass can increase the chances of this happening. Regardless this should be a warranty issue.

What’s with all of you? The guy clearly said it wasn’t tinted.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

I do that with my M3LR and plan to do the same with the CT when I get it.

Me too, even though (except for this week) I do not live in a hot climate.

 

[JohnnyDadBod]

Could have been a manufacturing defect in the glass. Could also have been installed slightly askew which can then cause stress to the glass as heat expands both the glass and the structure of the truck, both substructure and body.

My 2018 Model 3 experienced 2 stress fractures of the rear glass. One shortly after taking delivery and another about 1.5 years later. The root cause ended up being an issue not directly connected to the glass. The car developed a creaking noise that was coming from under/behind the rear seat under heavy acceleration and deceleration. After demonstrating to a great tech at the Tampa Service Center they found that a rear subframe connection was loose and allowing the body to flex at that point. After a his was fixed I never had an issue with the rear glass again.

 

[kpg81]

I'd love to think that Tesla did their own research and wouldn't sell a glass sunshade without testing it at least somewhat. I would find it hard to believe that this scenario would have caused this particular issue, but it's an interesting anecdote nonetheless.

Lol... You'd think, right? Look what happened with the wheel covers and accelerator pedal recall. Testing a glass sunshade would have been wayyy down the testing checklist if those items weren't even fully tested.

In Tesla's world... WE.. the early adopters... are the testers.

 

[beatmstrj]

Lol... You'd think, right? Look what happened with the wheel covers and accelerator pedal recall. Testing a glass sunshade would have been wayyy down the testing checklist if those items weren't even fully tested.

In Tesla's world... WE.. the early adopters... are the testers.

That definitely seems to be the case here. This will actually be my first service appt in 3 Tesla's. Hopefully it doesn't suck.

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