Windscreen covers help a lot with keeping the interior cool. Another thing is to crack the windows, just leave a tiny 1/4 inch of gap open. These two things has been the cooling tricks used for decades.

Thanks for doing this test Kim & PJ! I started using cabin overheat protection when I saw my Model 3 interior went up to 152° one summer while parked at church. 🥵 Lots of people are concerned about energy consumption, but from my experience when it’s on for 4 hours while I was at church, it only consumed 1% battery. It’s totally worth it to leave it on.

Couple other temp control tips: * park in the shade if you are able. * park with the front windshield facing away from the sun (sun hitting tinted rear windows directly doesn’t heat the car as quickly as coming directly in via the clear windshield.) * roof sunshades and windshield sunshades can help out significantly. These couple items can save a fairly significant amount of energy and keep your car cooler (whether Tesla/EV/gas car), especially when you may be doing several shorter stops.

+Window Tint +Roof Sunshade (Can be removed at night/winter if passengers want to enjoy the view, but most passengers aren't looking up enjoying a 95 degree sun in their face in Summer) +Thick front sunvisor when parked outside, these all combined really make a big difference in hot climates with the Tesla!

Hi, Kim. I live in south Florida and I can tell you I know from experience how that heat feels. I have a MY with black interior and I had to add ceramic tints. You don’t have to do dark tints 5/ 10/ 15% however, you can tint the windows and roof with a lighter tint i.e. 35%. I’ve seen my interior on 100 degree days dropped significantly after I added my ceramic tints. The ceramic tints are on the pricey side but they work. The car is much cooler now. Also, I use cabin heat protection. One issue I have as well is sometimes on my model Y, cabin heat protection does not turn on. I’ve tried 90, 95 & 100 at times to see if this would fix the issue and still does not turn on. I think there is a bug that Tesla needs to address. Great video and very informative.

It's actually the effects of Infrared that causes the heat in your car not UV. The UV blocking tint will more or less protect you from sunburn. Even though UV has more energy, the wavelength is too narrow to cause kinetic energy buildup in molecules which would cause heat.

Awesome video! Just a quick note though. The rear A/C does automatically come on when you have the AC in auto. It detects any weight on the seat and will kick on the air when it does. I believe it's around 15 lb give or take. But it's still good practice to do as you recommend and make sure the rear air is on.

I was in Croatia last year summer and we had 45 degrees Celsius outside all day long. First day my Tesla went to 65 degrees inside. Then I decided to switch on Camp mode and set it at the max temp of 28 degrees Celsius. Worked like a charm. I had the car plugged in all the time thanks to a 11kW charger on the lucury camp ground and it took about 5% per day only. I was pretty surprised but it seemed that most was needed to get it down from 65 to 28, keeping it there was not such an issue 🤷‍♂️

For Florida summers I just keep a sun blocker in the front ceiling glass all summer. I cut out some Everbuilt Double Sided Insulation (the silver bubble-wrap looking construction stuff), with some suction cups.

Thank You Kim & PJ for the amazing test on heat range inside each Tesla and How the X seamed to have a issue that Tesla should be able to fix, could be fatal for a child or Pet, You both do Amazing Vlog’s on so many subjects!!!

I have a white on white model Y best choice I made instead of going black the car gets cooler waaay faster within 2-3 minutes of starting the AC

Good catch - that bug with overheat protection definitely needs to be fixed

I got reflective roof sunshades for my wife's Model 3. They work great. You don't feel the sun on your head. There is aside affect. I think they make the cabin little quieter.

Very interesting experiment Kim & PJ. PLEASE let viewers know… From the Owner Manual… “Cabin Overheat Protection operates until 12 hours has elapsed once you exit or until the Battery energy drops below 20%, whichever comes first. Using Cabin Overheat Protection requires energy from the Battery, which may decrease range.” SO MANY PEOPLE are not aware of these facts.

[1:15] We drove a 2010 Toyota PRIUS with a Solar Sun Roof, the Solar option provided power to a Cabin Temperature Control Unit that turned a fan on and expelled the hot air from the interior. We set this feature on all the time... Our Current vehicle; a Pearl White Tesla Model 3 LR | AWD | Dual Motor | FSD with White Interior, we selected this colour combination with the Summer heat in mind, figuring that it would be significantly cooler inside than any other colour combination. Maybe over time this decision will also benefit the vehicle both in performance and aesthetically… 🤔

Solar radiation arrives on Earth in many forms - visible light, UV and infrared are just some that we're used to measuring. Most of the heat that we feel arrives from infrared so a UV tint isn't going to do much for that. I put a IR blocking tint on my X and it does significantly cut down on the heat buildup. The seats and cabin surfaces don't get as hot. But the actual glass of that huge windshield does get insanely hot and will radiate latent heat into the cabin. Tip: Leave one window down a crack so that the high pressure heat can escape from the cabin greenhouse instead of transferring its heat into the interior cabin materials. If you tinted you vehicle you can also attempt to park in such a way that the tinted rear/top of the vehicle is facing the sun (future sun if parked for a long time) since the front windshield is not visible light tinted. Most auto glass will absorb the majority of the UVB (the ones that cause tanning) but pass through UVA and IR - if you want to stop those from entering the cabin you'll need to have a tint applied and it can be done to the windshield legally and it shouldn't significantly interfere with visible light wavelengths - although it will cause some chromatic aberrations.

Great content. Thanks for your time, effort, and expertise!

Definitely have run into the bug where it says the cabin protection is on but the interior view within the app clearly shows it's not working but haven't been able to consistently get it to trip so unsure what causes it. My only insight, use the same color crayon next time with every car so it's controlled, otherwise you run into the same issue where the different paint colors register at wide ranging temperatures so the crayons wouldn't melt the same way.

I am impressed that you had a meteorologist join you in this video.

Thank you for the Video. FYI: if you have issues with your cars climate system, you might want to check your cabin filters. changing your cabin filters will allow the system to do more air changes, and allow your car to cool much faster. I live on a dirt road, so I have to change my filters every year.

I bought a custom made Windshield Sunscreen from Covercraft Company as well as glass roof sunshades from Temai. Installed the glass roof sunshades & they’re never removed. They match the color of the light grey material in the car perfectly too. Never feel any sun heat beaming in from the glass roof at all. Roof sunshades really work all year round. (don’t feel any cool/cold air from glass roof in the fall/winter either) I set the auto cabin protection to engage at 90 degrees & use the auto interior temperature, which usually stays at 72 degrees & both works like a charm. Car exterior paint is deep blue, seats are white. 2022 Tesla Model 3.

Great video very informative. Thank you so much. I have a place out in the CA desert that we visit often. A few weeks ago I was driving around and it was close to 110° and the air-conditioning could barely keep up in my model Y. After that I decided to get a sunshade for the roof. That made a huge difference. It's well over 100° today and with the sun shade and the cabin overheat protection it seems to work pretty well when I go into the car during the day it doesn't seem bad at all but I always try to find some kind of shade if it all possible. I am happy to trade miles for cool. Our place is in a little town by the Joshua tree national Park. Close to where we have a house is the Tesla supercharger so that makes it very easy and convenient. I need to get an outside plug put in so that I can charge at the house.

2022 Tesla Model 3; exterior paint is deep blue, seats are white. I bought a custom made Windshield Sunscreen as well as glass roof sunshades. Installed the glass roof sunshades & they’re never removed. They match the color of the light grey material in the car perfectly too. Never feel any sun heat beaming in from the glass roof at all. Roof sunshades really work all year round. (don’t feel any cool/cold air from glass roof in the fall/winter either) I set the cabin overheat protection to engage at 90 degrees & use the auto interior temperature, which usually stays at 72 degrees & both work like a charm. *I also suggest getting nano ceramic window & rear glass roof tint. 30% on the front driver/passenger windows. 15% on the rear windows & rear glass roof. Note: u can’t put just any tint on a Tesla, anything non ceramic will mess with the technology/computer. And a Clear Bra paint protection film. It’s is a protective, transparent, nearly invisible, urethane film that absorbs the impact of small rocks and debris preventing paint chipping. Have installed on the bumper, front lights hood & on up to the rear view mirrors & the rear bumper up to the bottom of rear windshield. Basically the entire front & rear of auto. (sides of auto are optional, as most small rocks & debris will hit the front or rear of auto)

Thanks guys. Entertaining and informative. If you want a real heat test come to Phoenix. This summer we had more than 30 continuous days where the high temp was never less than 110 F and the lows never dropped below 90 F. Keep up the good work. 🙂

Thats a very informative video ! I have the 2018 Model S in all black and I'm frequently in Italy parked with no shade. I have the non-leather seats exactly because of that reason. They feel colder and do not soak up that much heat. The interior gets up to 60C and when possible I turn on the A/C 5 minutes before leaving. It's usually set to 24C. That time is enough to lower the heat and pre-cool the seats a little. When I go shopping I keep the AC at 26C through the APP. It's actually very pleasant that way and well worth the spent mileage.

i notice that cabine overheat protection works better when putting the a/c on auto at 72 and recirculating, also ceramic tints help also a lot

You should do a short video containing 10:20 - 11:55. That’s an excellent explanation of why car interiors get so hot so fast. Might save some lives.

I wonder if using “vent” how much will the temperature drop rather than using A/C to consume battery. What I usually do I vent and turn on ac manually when outside is hot. Usually within 3-5 mins it will drop from 120 down to 80

We had a couple days over 130F (54C) in Arizona (indicated by MY display while on freeway at 55 mph) and I noticed at this point, the voice recognition stops working until things cool off. The music service still plays however.

We took a trip with our 2017 model X with 2 dogs in the back seat, but we kept the cabin a/c on and in keep for our dogs at 74F and blowing in the backseat too. This worked well when we stopped to charge and go into the restaurant to eat while keeping an eye on the Tesla app. The dogs are big black Giant Schnauzers and where quite fine with the whole procedure. 😅 👍🏻

Denver, CO MYP Black on White, nanoceramic 90% & 85% windsheild. Works great at overheat prot to 100, then remote cool to 60 5min before leaving wherever we are ;)

It was very nice to see this experiment done. Thank you for sharing with us.

I live in hot hot Phoenix and I have a black on black model Y. I used to have a white S. The Y cabin overheat can be drag to 90, 95 or 100. I set it at 100. If I go in somewhere like grocery no just keep my ac on foe shirt stops. It cools off quickly. One thing that js a problem is that dumb passenger priority. I need to turn on rear fan every time I get in the car. It’s more efficient to cool the whole car

This might explain why my driver's seat headrest has bubbled (again - replaced first time in June). I'm in the Portland, OR area, and my blue '21 MYLR is kept in my driveway (no car garage). I have overheat protection enabled, set to 95F and uses AC. It is also plugged in when in my driveway. When I bought the car, I bought screens for every window (wanted to try camp mode), but haven't gotten around to trying them. I mainly want to see if the cover for the top glass will help cool the cabin. Being a SW developer, and a tinkerer, I should setup a Raspberry Pi with thermal sensors in the car (it could run off the car's USB) and put the thermal sensors in various locations.

Tbh this is why I picked a white on white trim, I got a white model y with white seats

Interesting video. This applies to all cars. 👍

Probably one of your most informative videos yet! Even as a 3 year Model 3 owner( and a 14 year Tesla fanboy😄) I didn’t know some things you mentioned. I have to say, people can downplay it if they want, but it is a very serious thing to me to see the mistake of leaving a baby or a toddler in a hot car, the Memphis area seemed to have one event after another on the news in the 2010’s. And after all of that, leave it to Tesla and no other legacy automaker to have solution . And that is because Tesla owners asked for it, Elon listened and we got it! I guess the other automakers didn’t discuss this in one of those ‘ focus groups “ . Thank you and your husband for all of your hard work, you make a great team , and I look forward to the synopsis on your Model X cabin overhear protection.

Thank you so much Kim, as usual you put out incredible Content!

so... conclusion. SUNSHADES are a must!

You actually make these topics interesting and educational. I subbed because of your energy in what you do.

I'm also wondering if the octovalve models cool down better or faster.

I just use “Pet Protection” when I’m in a store, the pool, or wherever. Works like a charm. 😁

9:59 Kim, the Persian Meteorologist is keeping his cool 😎 in this situation! Pedram wins this contest hands down.

One thing that maybe relevant to the Cabin OverHeat not working well - and I'm not 100% sure this is related, need to run some tests...but anway: With the A/C in AUTO mode, the fan speed shows LO / MED / HI. These settings are the MAXIMUM the fan is allowed to run in Auto mode. From your video I saw it set at LO, so the A/C can only send low amounts of air through, and that may not be enough to keep the cabin cool enough. That's certainly the case in AUTO, but I wonder if they also did this in Overheat protection mode. It's not very hot here in Canada at the mo so I can't test this very well.

While natural disasters may come sparingly as well as multiple day power outages in an area, has anyone had to navigate either of those challenges with a Tesla/EV? What was your experience in terms of having a charged car that you could use and not be worried about it dying, etc? Sometimes I think about people evacuating places due to hurricanes, etc. and wonder if an EV would be a good option in those circumstances. Gas stations can get packed, but fill up time is a few minutes.

We have a white color with black seats. Since when we have dogs in the back seat we always have the dog mode on when we park where there is no SuperCharger, but we try to park for our food breaks where there is a supercharger and just keep the A/C on at 74F. That works best, and when we are home the Tesla is always park in a garage out of the sun.

We have Cabin Overheat Protection set to 100 on our 2018 Dual Motor Model 3 and have never seen the temperature in the Climate Tab get above 101 and we live in the Orlando area and it has been very Hot here. Great Video!

Scary stuff...even here in the uk my 3 gets to 50C on a summer's day that you wouldn't consider to be scorching

I opened my driver-side door. With the door open, I reached down to open all the windows, and three of the switch caps came off in my hand, and I couldn't just snap them back on-no more driver control of the windows. When the inside temp gets high, the plastic gets soft and breaks easily.

I’m new to Tesla so I’m still getting use to its features my wife got her Model Y long range 5 days ago I get my Tesla next month a red Model X plaid

Although my 2023 M3 white-on-white is garaged most of the time I keep "cabin overheat protection" active at the 100° setting. Over the past few weeks, here in SW MS, it's been kind of funny to hear the AC running on its own as interior temps - indoors in a ventilated garage - have been high enough to activate it!

Thank you very much for the valuable test and also for providing the temperatures in degrees Celsius! 👍

Like Tesla’s. Live in Phoenix. I prefer cars with solid roofs and a sunroof that I can open when I want to let sun (and air) in or close to keep the sun (and air) out when I want. A lot of people are putting third party sunshades in their Tesla roofs during the summer, which is something I’d prefer not to have to do on my new car.

This heat is almost as hot as Kim Java. As always, ❤❤❤From Norway

Hey! quick note about the rear seat's AC not turning on in Tesla, if you open the back door and put a child, dog, or someone even sits in the back seats, the car detects that and it will automatically turn on the rear AC! pretty neat! I thought at first I would rush to turn it on and I thought that it was not turning on by itself but then I noticed that every time my S.O put my child in the car seat before I got in or I put my child in the car seat, the rear AC kicked in when the rear doors were opened without me changing it! Another thing that Tesla is actively working on (or already implemented and haven't announced who knows) is the ability for the car to detect if there is occupants in the back if the car is left unattended and keep the AC running for them the entire time. This tech can help save lives! I wish every car had this!

Thank you, Kim, you guys are fantastic !

I alway cover the front WS . It helps a bit for that e steering and the dash board

My method is when I get up to go to the car I use the app and set the AC on low which cools the car down to super comfy temps even on days with temps over 100.

I think you misunderstand the overheat feature. It is just the temperature you want it to turn on. Not the temperature it needs to keep it. It mostly uses air circulation to keep the material car interior from getting to hot and being destroyed. The keep it cool feature is for a specific temperature to keep you car comfortable as is dog mode.

Do you know if the tint on your X is a ceramic tint? Ceramic tint is the only tint that reduces IR heat. I have it on my Audi Etron and it seems to help. However, using my sunshade is a game changer. With the recent price cuts I ordered a model x plaid. I will be ceramic tinting all windows and I need to find a sunshade for the massive windshield. Does anyone have any recommendations? Great video! A direct comparison of windows cracked open vs closed would be interesting to test. Also a sunshade vs no sunshade. Thanks again!

Whenever I leave anyone in the car, even for a few minutes, I spend 5 seconds to turn on camp mode. As long as your battery isn’t running low, it will keep the aircon running even if your phone isn’t there. And of course a windscreen cover helps immensely. Been thinking about the roof covers but not sure they are really needed as the roof tint is quite dark, but it can’t hurt to have them on only in summer

I have one o those inexpensive glass shades , I sandwich a space blanket (reflective Aluminized Mylar) and it is a game changer for improved efficiency and great for keeping the climate control from going ballistic in the hot sun.

I had an issue with my cabin overheat not coming on sometimes and I put a ticket into Tesla. They told me that the cooling will use the battery as a priority to save the battery. If you drive around for a bit and then park the cabin overheat will come on.

The Glass roof was a real bad idea. Even when it's in the 60's the interior will be over 100 . I turn off auto window close and leave them down a few inches at home park in the shade where possible. Maybe you should do a roof shade temp comparison. How good is your infrared meter those are highly effected by reflectivity . I have a March build model y LR. And I don't live on the Coast so it never gets over 85 most of the time but still even when it's 70 out in direct sun the cabin app sensor reads over 110, and it's funny but the air temp doesn't seem like it's that hot when I get in.

I have a 2010 and 2014 BMW 5 series and they both have that feature. It doesn’t have the same name, but they do the same thing. Not sure if Tesla was the first automaker with this feature. I believe the Toyota Prius does this too.

I do not think the cabin over heat was actually working on the X, this happened to my Y one time. I had to toggle it to become active again even though it said it was on. Turn off over heat, then cool car down below 90, the. Toggle over heat back on.

Security concern? The order in which the doors unlock, can be unsafe. Correct me if I'm wrong. The two front doors unlock at the same time. There is no stopping someone from getting in on the passenger side. If the doors unlocked in a sequence of: 1. Driver door..2. Driver rear door. 3. Passenger front and then passenger rear. It would be safer and handier. Thank for the "cool" video.

Had concern about my 2018 MX's overheat protection not working when my 2023 MY was send overheat protection notices on my app, but not from the MX. Took MX to SC and only diagnostic notice was to replace interior temp gauge, which they did. Unfortunately, still not getting overheat protection notices like the MY... so not sure what's wrong or if the feature is working on the MX. If anyone else has similar experience, please share! Anyways, thank goodness for dog mode feature when running errands!

The hottest Teslas with the hottest host in the hemisphere, and mother of 3. I’m convinced that Kim (formerly Tesla Kim) with her producer husband, had a significant role in Tesla’s breakout success.

I'm here to just say I agree with your pronunciation of the word "crayon"

That’s nuts,we in the UK sadly don’t have them kind of temperatures for very long,was a great video though guys 👍💪😉

I have a 2022 Model X, and I noticed that at my mom's house, it wasn't working. It was plugged in, and the temperature inside was over 130. When I'm here in Atlanta, my car is usually in the garage. That's another fail for the cabin overheating protection on the Model X.

Subscribe to my husband P.J.'s new Weather, Climate and Science channel, WXplained. New videos coming soon! ► youtube.com/@WXplained?si=OKRCwf_9WHv_Q-gW

This is great info for parents and pet owners.

Wow keep doing these video please😅

Ceramic tint on front windshield will help cool interior. The tint can be clear and block UV rays

As a Tesla owner you can activate the a/c system when you are not in the car. I use this all the time before I get in especially if the car has been sitting in a parking lot I also have all the windows tinted as well as the sun roof

Kim the white of the model Y helps, but it's also a smaller cubic area ro cool than your X

You are such a cool couple. And very complementary in the videos. 🎉

One thing I’m seeing is a huge market for retrofitting them to be normal roofs.

The rear climate control on auto seem to be weight regulated. Our young girls set it off, but our youngest in car seat does not register to turn on Climate in the back (Model 3 SR+)

All model Y SUVs have heat pumps. That’s not necessarily the case with older Tesla vehicles. Regular AC equipped vehicles will be less effective at managing interior temps.

Ceramic tint will help a ton

Thank you! Great test!

What about battery temperatures? My Chevy Equinox EV suggested keeping the car plugged in at 90F+presumably to keep the battery cool.

Teslas really don't like being parked in the sun. I live in the tropics so all that glass of the Model 3 sucks. I put a 90% cut out tint on the rear window and roof. (that's a 10% tint apparently) I also put the maximin legal tint on the windows. I then got the roof and rear window shades from the Tesla shop. They stay up permanently. Finally I got a windscreen shade from Tesery. With all that on a normal Darwin Australia day, (around 32C) the car will go into overheat protection if parked in the sun. lastly, if I use the Tesla "vent" function, which cracks opens all the windows about 10mm, then it will not go into overheat protection mode. The best Idea is to park in the shade, if posable.

I’m here to see whether I need black or white seats in this Tesla I’m ordering, thanks for this very detailed vid!

I wish my Rivian had cabin overheat protection - the interior gets so hot parked out in my driveway, I worry about the materials 😳🔥

I too would have thought that UV protection would have helped in this test, but it is not the film that does what you might think. Ultra Violet rays are short and carry a great deal of energy, what they tend to do to materials is to cause color loss and physical degradation over time. The better solution would be to have an Infrared (IR) filter film or CERAMIC Film, which blocks the heat from penetrating the window. Ceramic film can block over 90% of the heat energy transmitted

You're never too hot (or too cold) in a Tesla, thanks to overheat protection and remote climate control!

The car needs about 2000 watts to keep it cold. I think a 650w 8000btu wall ac is better. Could you make a window adapter and test this?

Hi, Kim. Excellent video. Was wondering how to check energy usage in my tesla. I have been looking for that info for a while. A y help would be appreciated.

8:27 you have to be careful with measuring using infrared thermometers, they get less accurate and unreliable with reflective surfaces

Surface temp. does not tell the whole story, you should try a heat soak in Phoenix, AZ for 4 hours. The remarkable thing is when you get in the car, being careful not to burn yourself, the AC cools it down very fast, this is because the materials do not hold the heat inside the car. That is smart. (I have a Y with the windows rolled up, white on white).

Hi Kim. Thought you might like to know that FSD has been enabled on new vehicles with Hardware 4 through 2023.26.11. I tested it yesterday on my Model X, which came with three months of free FSD. Unfortunately it was not available on the first nine weeks I owned the car, but I do have a few weeks to decide what I think of it.

The air temp is going to be a lot different than the surface temps using a laser reading. They should have just put one of those dial thermometers on a cushion on the seat to get the air temperature.

2023 MY LR. NE Indiana. I cover my car at work when its sunny. I run the cabin overheat protection at 100 degrees. I notice practically no difference in battery use. Just info, I also tried covering the car and venting the windows. While sunny mid day and about 85 degrees outside the interior temp still reached 115... unbelievable. I will always use cabin overheat, and I recently started using "keep" when I'm going into a store, I'll turn temp up to about 75 when in 'keep'. the car of course cools off almost instantly when I return. Fantastic feature.

Great video! Had no idea cars could heat so quickly.

Great Video! The way you say "Cran" cracks me up. I used to use those in the "Lyberry" when I was a kiddo.

I got the shade for the glass roof, windshield screens, and tinted windows to prepare for summer