Front camera(s) cleaning

What makes it get so dirty?

In one of the videos I watched they mentioned the plastics and materials off gassing, I don’t smoke so that thought tracks with me.

Is this a problem with all? I should probably look at my 2019 M3

Shit man and we breathe that stuff … crazy! Ok awesome I’ll clean mine this WE! Thanks man!

Somebody on here found a cigarette butt in their Tesla's air intake, so maybe your car has been sneaking a drag when you aren't around.

Yeah I think all of them can get dirty, my car was giving me a camera visibility warning, and that I needed to schedule a service to get it cleaned just about any time light was pointed directly at them. The service center charged my friend 200 to clean his and I said no way to that and just did it. Super easy to do

lol shit maybe. Haven’t smelled anything ever but the roads here in DFW are so trashy anything’s possible

Haven’t gotten that notification service but once a while when doing FSD, the sun hits it on the right spot that it wants me to take over. Found a Sunday project 😂

For real. It only took me 10 minutes and there’s plenty of videos on how to do it

Yes! These days everything does. Check the materials of all your clothes and jackets. Unfortunately, no plastic ever completely stops off gassing. The first cars with interior plastic parts were in the 20’s, but plastic car interiors really took off in the 60s-70s.

My Tesla dealership did it for free

Was your car actually telling you to clean the windshield? Or was it just not doing so well with autopilot distances and so on that prompted you to clean it?

Off gassing from inside materials. Creates a fog like haze film on inside glass.

Nice, in a little over a year and 22k miles I haven’t had to go to a service center or get serviced (other than a paint chip that was there prior to delivery). Only thing it’s needed was the camera cleaning and tire rotations and I did those my self

Both, it would tell me as well as show a photo from the camera with the view being hazy and to schedule service to have it cleaned just about every time the sun or a bright light was pointed at it, and also i noticed it trying to avoid “objects” that weren’t actually an issue, like tire marks on the road for example, it would try and dodge them in FSD when it didn’t need to

Does it prompt you to re-calibrate the camera? If no, I recommend to do so.

If the car recommends a camera cleaning Tesla will do it for free. If you request one yourself they will charge.

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The irony of seeing this post today when in another thread someone was insisting you couldn't possibly get headaches from off gassing in a new Tesla because "they use excellent materials that don't offgas"...

In fairness, to get that bad you need to spend months breathing 2 inches from your seat but still...

I just made a post about this a few weeks back same thing mine was all hazy and getting pissed

Very good job. I feel like a lot of Tesla owners should learn how to do it on their own tbh. It isn’t hard at all and definitely saves you time going to the service center. Just recently cleaned mine and had it done within 10-15 min. To whoever reading this who hasn’t tried cleaning it themselves, don’t be afraid! It’s easy

Tesla did it last time I was I. The service center but the wipers are constantly going off in broad daylight now... I'm thinking about opening it myself and checking it

They have a bulletin for it. It’s apparently an issue now. It wasn’t on my 2019.

Yeah my 1 year old car has the issue, my 7 year old car is fine.

Do mine please

Older cars seem to be less prone to the issue. They changed something in the martials when they changed the camera and the combination of heat and vapors cause it to stick to the windshield.

How often you suppose to do it and is their tutorial? I have A 2023 model and heard some plastic parts can break etc Is this reason why I get parking lines not visible etc or prob cause I’m in Seattle lol

It’s the new car smell

It did not, even after going through the service menu to say it was cleaned

On the 2024 it was screwed in as well, I saw someone say 2025+ is just clips but I can’t confirm that as I have a 24

Agreed, even if they’ll do it for free like some have said, still faster for me to just do it

Where do you live?

Maybe? And I have a 24 so my parts may be different than your 23 but my car told me it needed it and to schedule an appointment. It was very easy to do my self on the 24 so I’d think yours would be similar

I've needed to do mine. I'll probably tackle it soon. Any 'go-to' video for this or are they all the same?

What tool did you use to get under the plastic trim? Did you have to buy anything? Asking to see if there’s any house tool I may have that would be appropriate to do this (without damaging the plastic)

I had a plastic trim tool already that’s meant for popping plastic trim off. You could maybe use a plastic putty knife, but it may not have enough of an edge to get under it initially. To clean it just some windex on a paper towel then dried with a microfiber. All stuff I already had

They’re pretty much all the same. What I would recommend is just make sure u type in the model u have and the year on YouTube. Just so you can feel assured ur watching someone with the same thing. Won’t take more than 15 min

I see so the notification popped up on your screen and that’s when you made an appointment? Or I’m guessing you did it yourself I forgot that that was the case. But since you’re a car is so new, how come you didn’t go to the dealer to get it done if it got some kind of notification?But thanks for the post.

I see. But I still recommend to do so yourself - in the plain menu (not even need to go to service menu). Even a small deviation can throw off AutoPilot/FSD’s localization ability.

Does anyone know how often we’ll need to clean the camera?

The car is continually calibrating the cameras.

Service centers only bill $60 for camera cleaning, and most service centers will waive the fee the first time.

you don't move the cameras, they're fixed to the top of the glass, you only remove the bottom cover that's not in contact with the cameras, I saw the technician closely and asked many questions, he showed me how to do it

Heeey. That’s personal! haha admire your kindness my friend .

You know that "new car" smell? That's most of the off-gassing including the adhesives.

Just a quick question, is that discolouration visible from the outside with it all assembled or do you need to view it from inside under specific lighting before you can tell?

No wiper fluid? Thats the tough one, stupid evs...

This, its a rolling computer. It doesnt calibrate and then sit on those settings for years...

Oh yeah I’ve added wiper fluid twice I think but I would never go to the service center for that on any car

It was faster for me to do it in 10 minutes than to deal with the service center. I mentioned it in another comment but in my little over a year and 22k miles I haven’t gone to the service center once

Don’t want to pound you with questions, but I do have one final question if you don’t mind. I was curious the notification you got do you know what it said and where it popped up? And was there some kind of YouTube link that you followed or just somewhere on the form you found? Thanks 😊

I think it depends. I made it a year but I’m sure it’s different for everyone

I could see it way easier looking inside out than I could outside in

Not bad, still faster time wise for me to just do it my self than to go through the service center

Did you also clean the lenses?

No worries, there were a few different pop ups/notifications. The pop ups would appear over my music controls and it would show a photo the camera took showing it hazy and said something along the lines of “front camera system dirty, internal cleaning required. Schedule service” then if you were parked it would walk you through scheduling the service. If I cleared it, it would come back again when the sun or a bright light would be pointed at it. In FSD it would also say at the top something like “camera cleaning required, hands free limited additional attention required” There’s several YouTube videos, just search for your specific model and watch a couple and you’ll be good.

Yeah, for those I just wiped them with a microfiber. The glass I used windex first then dried with micro fiber

Sounds like you did a good job!

I put in a service request and they quoted me like 65$. Did they do that to you and then do it for free? Or was the quote for free?

Appreciate the details 👌 also I think maybe you have the new model so it has a little bit more better, notification, etc. and better cameras perhaps

I did a walk in and went to the customer service section right when they opened. Super chill guy was there. I asked how much and apologized for not going through the app for service requests. He said no problem and looked it up and said it was free. From what I’ve read it’s happening a lot to 1year old highlands so I guess they got enough complaints to fix it for free

They definitely off gass. I had to clean my entire windshield because it was completely dirty from all the off gassing on the inside so when the sun was hitting it directly during early morning or sunset I couldn't see a thing. Also, once I cleaned it the new car smell was gone, so be prepared for that. That was a downside lol

The manual says not to touch the cameras, but to each their own.

Same. Just brought mine in over the weekend and they said "o you're not paying for this. 15min later it was cleaned and I was back on the road.

Yea through the app I made the appointment and agreed to pay the $65. Went in and they said I wouldn't be charged/

I need to do the same still! 2024 M3P What did you use for cleaning it? 99% IPA?

I used windex on a regular ol paper towel, then dried with a microfiber cloth

It looks like you have a windshield tint,if so the guy put the tint did this with the heat gun or made it worse.

I do have tint but I doubt it was that, have had the tint for about 20k miles and this is the first time it’s needed it and a friend who doesn’t have his tinted had the same issue

Yeah okay thanks heaps I appreciate it!

I had no visible discoloration from my 2023 Model Y front camera area, but I have been receiving Sentry Mode errors and generic front camera errors within service mode that caused all features that use the camera to be disabled like FSD, autopilot, sentry mode, an emergency brake. Tesla initial scheduled a full computer replacement but then changed it to front camera module and wire harness replacement. But after I cleaned the front cameras like you did, the problem has completely gone away. Saved myself a full thousand to hundreds of dollars.

Just be super careful popping the cover back on. I managed to crack the windshield from the inside and I wasn’t using much force. I think one of those clips fell of without me noticing just before i held it in position and got between the cover and the glass…

what the hell is off gassing

Basically plastics when they are manufactured have chemicals that leach out of them over time. Most significantly right after manufacturer but also over time. That's what the "new car smell" is, you're literally smelling the chemicals that are still coming out of the materials, but some of them can also be odorless. Some people are sensitive to some of these chemicals which can result in headaches and other issues.

https://preview.redd.it/sjetgmqcmccg1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=ec664f3a00cbc5b096ce737965de80ce00c9c78c

Just being sarcastic lol. We love our model 3 rwd. Were 2 year in and have only needed to air the tires, and add wiper fluid! Hoping thats the trend up until the warranty expires.

Dammn.. TIL. All the while I was cursing Tesla for the repeated clean camera notification thinking it was bad Build Quality.

Thanks for the info!

I mean one could argue using a material that off gasses in the camera housing isn't a great build quality decision. My dslr doesn't end up with the same problem, but the fix isn't terribly hard either.

It’s funny how even just a year ago everyone was shitting on this guy that cleaned his front camera area - https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/s/CM4xmTBEGf Now it’s Tesla’s own recommendation to get it routinely cleaned via a service appointment

I had mobile service come out and do it as i said i was doing a roadtrip coast to coast. They didnt charge me for it. Im pretty sure at this point most people complaining about FSD have camera issues as i do not have disengagements anymore

Closer to 4 years and 124k miles, my 22’ Model 3 Performance HAS NEVER BEEN INTO SERVICE, has original brake with a lot of meat left on them (BUT THEY SQUEAK NOW😭) change wiper blades every year, 5 sets of tires, and a couple of bottles of wiper fluid!! Still has original 12v battery, that I think I should change soon no avoid any “scares” down the road but LOVE IT SO MUCH!! I do everything myself except the tires, I go to americas tires for that 🤣

And about a week ago I had to clean my front windshield camera for the first time after this hazing magically appeared out of no where after tinting my front windshield!! Never had a problem with it before ever!!

Which YT video, if any, did you follow to do this? I need to clean mine as well.

How long did it take to get like that?

A year

I don't think the off gassing is from the camera housing but from all of the other plastics in the car that inevitably end up fogging the windshield

Then there would be residue everywhere on all the windows. It's not, there's concentrated residue under the camera enclosure.

Just had mobile service do mine yesterday and they told me a story of something similar happening with another customer when they went to clean theirs.

Off gassing from the car wouldn't cause that much discoloration. Just admit that humans are oily and greasy. Our breath has a lot of organic off gasses. The fans inside the front camera assembly is simply recirculating the air and staining the glass.

Hahaha idiot probably thought the vegan leather was better for them than real leather!

Tesla will also clean the cameras and reseal with nitro if you take it to them rather than DIY it.

I don't think people think vegan leather is better for themselves... More that it's better for environment/cattle. But it's a good point, I'm not sure people consider if the material could be better or worse for themselves like with off gassing.

Unless you’re talking about inside the camera lens it’s self, there’s nothing sealed with the shroud that contacts the windshield, it just butts up against it

Yeah I rather have actual leather, fully use of an animal. I have a Carrera that is 39yrs old this year and the original leather and horse hair stuffing is still as good as the day it was sold. People forget that vinyl is nothing more than oil pumped from the ground. The car they often think doesn’t use any oil/gasoline….. That was more of the point I was making. And I’m not trying to imply no car off gases, they all do but seriously who doesn’t know that. What do they think that “New Car Smell” is. Lol

I love the offgas smell

Just had mine clean for the second time since September 2026 Y. They must be off gassing quite a bit from the plastic housing. They tried to charge me for it this time saying it was just done in October but corrected it and did it for free. I told them this was definitely a service issue and they comp the charge.

I was recently in a loaner while my car computer was getting replaced. It was a model 3 with only 2K miles on it. When I first drove it home I had a hard time seeing out of certain areas of glass because of the film buildup on the inside. I had to do a cleaning just to be able to see properly. I had never seen that much film buildup (probably from interior off-gassing) on something that new. By the time I returned it I was getting messages about cleaning the front camera area.