Follow us today...
Tesla’s Model Y just keeps getting better and better. The launch of the 2025 "Juniper" series offered shoppers a long list of great upgrades over the previous, already great crossover. However, no vehicle is ever really perfect. As one owner, we will call DB has discovered, Tesla’s new Model Y may have one flaw that literally everyone could have seen coming.
DB has pointed out that his Model Y’s headlights don’t melt the accumulating snow that builds up when the vehicle is driven in wintery conditions. This makes it hard for the light to shine through. BB didn’t just make a post about this, he showed his Model Y Juniper caked with snow at a Supercharger. Let’s look at exactly what DB said:
First big snow of the season points out one of the Juniper’s design flaws. Had to drive 10miles in the dark with almost no headlights as the snow accumulated in the recessed light bar, and it was blocking the regular headlights as well as the camera. They are missing either heaters or cleaning nozzles.
Like almost every new vehicle, the Model Y uses LED lighting to shine a light on the roadway ahead. LED lighting offers tremendous advantages over prior generations of headlights. They can be brighter, better aimed, they consume less energy for a given output of light, and they have hold the promise of a 20-year or longer lifespan, even in the toughest of environments. The one thing they cannot do is melt snow. That’s because they are cooler during operation than prior headlights like halogens, which produced a lot of waste heat that would melt away snow as it touched the warm headlight.
To combat this, many brands simply add a solution. Either the headlights are simply angled such that snow flies off due to wind, or they can always include squirters to clean away snow and ice using windshield washer fluid. The nozzles can even be heated. Automakers were solving this problem long before the advent of the Tesla brand, and it’s mature technology.
The Model Y Juniper has a light bar across the front of the vehicle. It is mostly upright, and can collect snow and ice as the vehicle travels through wintery weather. The accumulation can obscure the headlights, and DB has reported and also shown in his image.
Tesla Fans React To Model Y Headlight Issue
Many fans inside Tesla clubs instinctively offer knee-jerk reactions supporting Tesla. That was true under DB’s post as well, but filter out the Kool-Aid drinkers from the vehicle owners and it is clear that many owners feel this is a real issue. Not a hoax by DB. Here are some comments supporting the post that DB made:
TB - “Same issue with cyber trucks.”
ABS - “This is a known issue, and the Cybertruck has the same one.”
FF - “It’s a real issue.”
KL - “This is a very valid concern. Sorry, nosy fanboys don’t care about this kind of thing. I wonder how this can be solved.”
JJ - “The problem lies with LED lights. They do not produce enough heat to melt snow.”
VV - “Not unique, my 2020 Model Y had similar things.”
ORD - “LED lights always do this, had the same problem with my gladiator.”
After a deluge of hateful comments from his fellow Model Y owners saying, “Why not just clear the snow before you drive?” DB, clarified the original post with this added information:
1) The car was snow-free when I started the drive. It doesn't snow in my garage.
2) I can't just clean the lights every 5 minutes on a road that has no shoulder, a steep decline, and in a snow storm with 15ft visibility, doing 15 miles an hour.
3) I cleaned them at the supercharger before continuing.
Why Not Simply Add Heated Washers For Each Headlight?
For decades, brands popular in wintery areas have been adding windshield washer nozzles aimed at the headlights of vehicles. This started even in the days of incandescent lights and super-hot halogen lights. Before ice was the main issue, winter salt and road grime would obscure the headlights in winter driving at night. The headlights’ effectiveness was reduced, and the washer fluid helped. Some Volvo vehicles even had small wipers for the headlights. Modern cars such as the Toyota Crown Signia offer headlight washers. Here is a video shot by Torque News alumnus Toyota Jeff showing how the Toyota headlight washer system works. While not common on all vehicles, there are green crossovers with this technology on the market right now because automakers have found that the issue is real, and it needs to be dealt with.
Tesla is not unique in having headlight issues in winter. The advent of modern LED lighting was mostly positive, but it has some downsides. Chiefly among them is the inability to melt away ice accretion. As we have seen, Tesla may have an issue in certain conditions. Fortunately, more experienced green car manufacturers have already discovered the issue, and deployed a practical solution to it.
Tell us in the comments below if you think Tesla should have front headlight washers available as a winter weather package for those buyers who will need such features.
If you would like to see the original post, please check out the Tesla Model Y group on Facebook. It is a pubic group, so you need not join in order to see DB’s post dated November 17th, 2025. Tell us what you think of the image DB posted.
Top of page image courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools.
Follow us today...
