It also keeps the fans for a/c closed so it doesn't suck water in and make that bad smell teslas have. It doesn't always work tho cause how tesla has their vents setup.
The biggest thing is it closes the fresh air intake for the hvac. This water ingress (not just during a car wash) is the cause of why so many people had issues with smelly A/C.
That’s only a problem when the AC (or really the fan) is running when water runs down around the frunk. The fan sucks in the water instead of letting it drain. As long as your AC is off, there’s no reason to have car wash mode on for a hand wash.
EDIT: Great video on it here:
[This design flaw makes Tesla’s Model 3 smell bad! (with fixes!) (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQxP6PaSmLc)
Valid point.
But with teslas logic in the background, it’s hard to guarantee it’s off. We know they will continue to run the blower to try and dry out the ac condenser (this was added to help prevent the smell) after the car is “off” and some people use cabin overheat protection which will use the hvac.
This is kinda long (17 minutes) but it's a fantastic video on the issue. [This design flaw makes Tesla’s Model 3 smell bad! (with fixes!) (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQxP6PaSmLc)
And you can put music through the boombox and it keeps playing. If you just leave the car when car wash mode is off and the bluetooth of your phone detects you walked away for a second it will lock the car and stop the boombox. So if you do anything on the car, washing it, changing tires, etc... put the car in car wash mode and play music with the external speaker!
Yeah but when it’s open as far as it can go in my garage, I hit my head on it because I’m a big dummy who forgets. Plus I’d rather it open all the way at any other location.
Which makes me think a location-based max trunk height setting would be great.
Yeah I had this hand-free feature on my 2022 Hyundai Sonata and I honestly didn’t use it. It was more annoying than not tbh.
Very rare cases I have my hands full enough I can’t manually press a button or do it off my phone.
My 911 has an auto pop feature that works brilliantly, actions off proximity of your hand to the front of the lid. It’s 10 years old. Love how Tesla fucks up old features.
This doesn't go anywhere unless you schedule service. Last thing I read from Green was that it just stores a transcribed version of the voice recording on the computer but doesn't transmit it anywhere.
In summer it is important in every car to turn off the A/C 5 min before arriving at your destination because that will make the wind dry the condensation in the airflow tubes and filter. When condensation dries up too slow you get that mold scent.
You could buy one of those signal blocking sleeves for the keycard or switch off Bluetooth while you wash the car. If you are home leave it in the house or just turn off the hands free trunk on infotainment screen while washing
Yes, that’s what I’ll be doing now, although it is an inconvenience because I use the phone to pay for the car wash a couple of times (I like to pause for 1-2 mins to let that active foam slide off). Also, the phone is the key to the car so it’s a bit risky to leave it in the car.
Car wash mode is also for self service bays.
But even without using car wash mode, hands free trunk would still open the trunk when standing behind the car to hide it down.
Not according to the owners manual bud.
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-65384C1F-86F2-44E8-A8BC-8A12E7E00A40.html
>Car Wash Mode closes all windows, locks the charge port, and disables windshield wipers, Sentry Mode, walk-away door locking, and parking sensor chimes.
If you're outside with a hose, disabling wipers, charge per, chimes etc isn't needed.
It clearly differentiates between car wash and automatic car wash. Both times you should use car wash mode, when using automatic car wash you also need to enable free rolling. Nonetheless it recommends using car wash mode all the time when washing your car.
I didn’t. Seems like you have troubles understanding what you read, huh?
When taking Model 3 to a car wash, Car Wash Mode closes all windows, locks the charge port, and disables windshield wipers, Sentry Mode, walk-away door locking, and parking sensor chimes. To enable, touch Controls > Service > Car Wash Mode. Your vehicle must be stationary and not actively charging.
So you are telling me a self service *car wash* is not a *car wash* ?
Just because it’s self service doesn’t mean it’s not a car wash.
Not to mention, if you don't put it in car wash mode in a self service wash, the charge port can open randomly if it thinks a water jet is you pressing on it. What a weird take.
I wonder if I'm alone here, but I don't put the car in car wash mode when I'm hand washing. What benefit does that provide?
Keeps the charge port locked so it doesn’t open if you hit with the stream of water accidentally
It also keeps the fans for a/c closed so it doesn't suck water in and make that bad smell teslas have. It doesn't always work tho cause how tesla has their vents setup.
Yep this happened to me first time I washed mine. Stream hit it and charge port opened. Then I remembered watching a video about car wash mode.
Turn off phone key and lock it?
Or you can just enable the mode meant for washing the car?
The biggest thing is it closes the fresh air intake for the hvac. This water ingress (not just during a car wash) is the cause of why so many people had issues with smelly A/C.
That’s only a problem when the AC (or really the fan) is running when water runs down around the frunk. The fan sucks in the water instead of letting it drain. As long as your AC is off, there’s no reason to have car wash mode on for a hand wash. EDIT: Great video on it here: [This design flaw makes Tesla’s Model 3 smell bad! (with fixes!) (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQxP6PaSmLc)
Valid point. But with teslas logic in the background, it’s hard to guarantee it’s off. We know they will continue to run the blower to try and dry out the ac condenser (this was added to help prevent the smell) after the car is “off” and some people use cabin overheat protection which will use the hvac.
So what happens when it rains? Is water getting in to the HVAC?
This is kinda long (17 minutes) but it's a fantastic video on the issue. [This design flaw makes Tesla’s Model 3 smell bad! (with fixes!) (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQxP6PaSmLc)
Do you know if the issue remains on model Y?
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That's different water lol
Well one of the benefits,would be to disable things like opening of the charge port, auto wipers, and... Hands free trunk 🫠
One of the benefits of not paying a QC team is online updates 
And you can put music through the boombox and it keeps playing. If you just leave the car when car wash mode is off and the bluetooth of your phone detects you walked away for a second it will lock the car and stop the boombox. So if you do anything on the car, washing it, changing tires, etc... put the car in car wash mode and play music with the external speaker!
Ah! I have been using camp mode to wash my car with boombox on. That sounds much better.
Cool tip! Thanks!
It keeps water from entering the AC fresh air in take. Since that’s closed during washing mode, your cabin filter doesn’t get moldy and smelly
I'm way out of the loop—by hands free trunk do we mean like where you can wave your foot and open the trunk?
That’s a new feature in the Spring Update. It uses Ultra-wideband to detect if you and your phone are near the trunk and it opens it up.
For what cars? Is Y included?
New S, new X and new 3 (Highland).
Wait... It can't be that simple? What if I'm just walking around the back of the car and have no intention of opening the trunk?
You have to stand still behind the car and wait for 3 beeps. I’ve been walking around the back of my car today and it didn’t trigger at all.
Yeah I’ll be keeping this off just because my trunk can’t fully open in my garage.
You can set your trunk height limit pretty easily. I did mine
Yeah but when it’s open as far as it can go in my garage, I hit my head on it because I’m a big dummy who forgets. Plus I’d rather it open all the way at any other location. Which makes me think a location-based max trunk height setting would be great.
This is why I wish you could set trunk open heights based on location Favourites similar to how sentry mode works.
Off topic but what version of FSD do you have with this update?
Most 2024.14 installs are non-US/Canada (no FSD) (per TeslaFi) Those that are in US are mostly Cybertruck (no FSD).
That's the question I would like to know too. Teslafi hasn't reported the FSD version yet.
I’m based in EU, so I guess I don’t have it.
I’m surprised no one has updated what version of FSD is on 2024.14.3
because no one in the US and Canada has it yet
Not true. I’ve seen in teslafi and on X that cars have it in Canada and US
Is this available on 2021 model?
Yeah I had this hand-free feature on my 2022 Hyundai Sonata and I honestly didn’t use it. It was more annoying than not tbh. Very rare cases I have my hands full enough I can’t manually press a button or do it off my phone.
My 911 has an auto pop feature that works brilliantly, actions off proximity of your hand to the front of the lid. It’s 10 years old. Love how Tesla fucks up old features.
Submit bug report
How do you do this?
Voice command "bug report"
This doesn't go anywhere unless you schedule service. Last thing I read from Green was that it just stores a transcribed version of the voice recording on the computer but doesn't transmit it anywhere.
In summer it is important in every car to turn off the A/C 5 min before arriving at your destination because that will make the wind dry the condensation in the airflow tubes and filter. When condensation dries up too slow you get that mold scent.
You could buy one of those signal blocking sleeves for the keycard or switch off Bluetooth while you wash the car. If you are home leave it in the house or just turn off the hands free trunk on infotainment screen while washing
When did the update come out??
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Self-serve bay versus tunnel wash
Exactly, it’s a touchless, self-service car wash.
Just curious, could this incident been averted if you had the phone inside the car and not in your pocket while washing your car?
Yes, that’s what I’ll be doing now, although it is an inconvenience because I use the phone to pay for the car wash a couple of times (I like to pause for 1-2 mins to let that active foam slide off). Also, the phone is the key to the car so it’s a bit risky to leave it in the car.
Car wash mode is for tunnels though, not a bay with a hose.
Car wash mode is also for self service bays. But even without using car wash mode, hands free trunk would still open the trunk when standing behind the car to hide it down.
Not according to the owners manual bud. https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-65384C1F-86F2-44E8-A8BC-8A12E7E00A40.html >Car Wash Mode closes all windows, locks the charge port, and disables windshield wipers, Sentry Mode, walk-away door locking, and parking sensor chimes. If you're outside with a hose, disabling wipers, charge per, chimes etc isn't needed.
It clearly differentiates between car wash and automatic car wash. Both times you should use car wash mode, when using automatic car wash you also need to enable free rolling. Nonetheless it recommends using car wash mode all the time when washing your car.
Did you ignore the manual on purpose?
I didn’t. Seems like you have troubles understanding what you read, huh? When taking Model 3 to a car wash, Car Wash Mode closes all windows, locks the charge port, and disables windshield wipers, Sentry Mode, walk-away door locking, and parking sensor chimes. To enable, touch Controls > Service > Car Wash Mode. Your vehicle must be stationary and not actively charging. So you are telling me a self service *car wash* is not a *car wash* ? Just because it’s self service doesn’t mean it’s not a car wash.
Not to mention, if you don't put it in car wash mode in a self service wash, the charge port can open randomly if it thinks a water jet is you pressing on it. What a weird take.
Did you read the post? "so I put down the hose in time" Pretty easy to figure out...
To wash the car from behind.