NHTSA Complaint #11605643 — 2023 TESLA MODEL Y

I have a complaint about the wiper system. The wiper settings include "Off", "Auto", and numbers 1-4 corresponding to different wiper speeds. The "Auto" detection is based on the front facing camera rather than any rain sensors, and is incredibly inconsistent. It regularly turns on the wipers in completely clear and dry conditions and often fails to turn on the wipers even in heavy rain. This would be more of an annoyance than an issue if it were possible to adjust the wiper speed manually, but it seems that the wipers still utilize some form of auto detection even when set to numbers 1-4. In this particular incident, I was driving in heavy rain, and had the wipers set to "4", the highest setting. Even in this setting, the wiper speed would often slow down regardless of the weather conditions, drastically reducing visibility in an unpredictable manner. At one point, the wipers, still manually set to the highest setting, stopped altogether, and I instantly lost all visibility and I had to emergency brake, as I could not see the road. On the highest setting, the wipers stopped for well over a second, and did not start again until I pressed the wiper button, restarting the wipers. It is one thing to rely on a proprietary and unreliable detection system when wipers are set to "Auto", but I feel it is a major security issue to deceptively allow this unreliable rain detection to override manual wiper settings set by the driver to the extent that the wipers may stop moving entirely in the middle of a downpour on the highest setting.