Warning: Eye strain, Split vision, and headache for tall drivers

[LuciPearl]

Thanks for this...6'3" and over 60, with Monday test drive. My last low-slung car (Jag XJL) was low (seat-to-ground) but easy to enter viz. headroom. I like your idea of gettin in/out multiple times

I should have added I’m 68 and a lot less flexible than much younger 6’4” people. I hope the test drive went well!

 

[LuciPearl]

I’m sure you’ve tried this, but does the lumbar support help? It can move in and out, as well as up and down.

I utilize both the lumbar support and massage, and both are great. Once in the car I’m fine. The concern is a repetitive stress injury from getting in and out.

 

[windscar911]

Quick follow up on this -

Tech came home, saw the windshield (and started tickets for the handful of other items I wanted addressed) and concluded that he can not see the same effect.

To be fair, we did it during the day and you really need to know what to look for to spot it.

Unless the tech can spot it, Lucid cannot offer any solutions or alternatives.
Current plan is to head to the nearest studio on Thursday with the tech and test out the windshields on those cars as well.

I seriously hope the other windshields don't have that issue, meaning I have some hope.
In the meantime maybe I can test one of the other SD owner's cars (@Sandvinsd?).

I've attached 3 pictures here

1 - From the night of delivery, you can see the super messy looking headlights on the cars. Note how the Left turn traffic signal and the street lights do not exhibit this blurriness (indicating camera quality is not an issue) as they are behind the tint.
2 - A view of sunlight reflecting off of the Lucid tech van taken from a the eye-level of a person of average height.
3 - The same view of sunlight reflecting off of the Lucid tech van taken from my eye level. (Notice the "ladder" of reflections). This effect is 10x at night as you can imagine.

 

[GEWC]

I’m 6’4” as well, and have my seat in a similar position to that which windscar911 describes, and have noticed the same effect with point lights (especially the headlights of oncoming cars) being doubled. For my brief evening commute, this is just a minor inconvenience. I haven’t had an opportunity yet to do a lengthy night drive, but I think this effect could get pretty annoying and even headache-inducing after awhile. The effect seems to go away if I put on polarized sunglasses, although this isn’t much of a solution at night. I’m considering getting a pair of glasses with clear polarized lenses for night driving.

I also notice some mild optical distortion when looking through the bottom 20% of the front windshield. Not a big problem and not distracting during driving, but it is noticeable.

More interesting is the optical distortion I see when looking through the rear window via the rear view mirror. This distortion slightly compresses objects in the vertical so that they look a little flatter than in reality. I don’t mind this because it actually gives me more visibility of following cars than would otherwise be the case through a rear window that would otherwise have a somewhat more restricted field of view in the vertical aspect than I’m used to. Anybody else notice this, or is it peculiar to my GT?

BTW, I have the same issues that other taller bloggers have described with the sun visor interfering with my upper field of view looking forward. The solution that others have proposed about positioning the sun visor edge-on so that the blockage is minimized works perfectly for me.

I see the same flattening in the rear view. I assumed it was supposed to be that way. I quite like it.

 

[windscar911]

I see the same flattening in the rear view. I assumed it was supposed to be that way. I quite like it.

The flattening in the rear glass is quite different from the effect I see in the front windshield.

The rear glass image remains sharp while objects in it are deformed.

I have no problem with that either and pretty sure it's normal.

 

[MPawelek]

It’s entirely possible something went wrong in the tinting process that is causing that blur for you. I sincerely hope that is the case.

I’m 6'2". I’ve only test driven during the day, but my sight line was just below the tint line. So I think I’ll be fine.

Lucid has a few execs who are over 6'4". I can’t imagine if this is a problem for all Airs that none of them noticed this before.

 

[windscar911]

Quick follow up on this -

Tech came home, saw the windshield (and started tickets for the handful of other items I wanted addressed) and concluded that he can not see the same effect.

To be fair, we did it during the day and you really need to know what to look for to spot it.

Unless the tech can spot it, Lucid cannot offer any solutions or alternatives.
Current plan is to head to the nearest studio on Thursday with the tech and test out the windshields on those cars as well.

I seriously hope the other windshields don't have that issue, meaning I have some hope.
In the meantime maybe I can test one of the other SD owner's cars (@Sandvinsd?).

I've attached 3 pictures here

1 - From the night of delivery, you can see the super messy looking headlights on the cars. Note how the Left turn traffic signal and the street lights do not exhibit this blurriness (indicating camera quality is not an issue) as they are behind the tint.
2 - A view of sunlight reflecting off of the Lucid tech van taken from a the eye-level of a person of average height.
3 - The same view of sunlight reflecting off of the Lucid tech van taken from my eye level. (Notice the "ladder" of reflections). This effect is 10x at night as you can imagine.

Just checking but do you all see the blur effect in the photos here?
I'm not crazy right?

 

[LucidNC]

At 6'4" (with seat at lowest level and all the way back) my sight line is below the tint line.

Getting in an out for me is a major issue. Backside goes in first, slides across the seat, head ducks to the left toward the B Pillar and goes into the car, then legs/feet come in. Once in the car it is great. While I have no problem with that technique, at about 2 weeks of ownership I found that my constant but mild lower back pain was starting to intensify. With my history of lower back pain I decided to get on the Gravity waitlist. My heart says keep the Air until I get the Gravity because otherwise it is a great vehicle, my brain (and wife) says sell......so I am selling it. It would be dumb to take a chance on these repetitive minor stresses creating a more severe long term lower back problem.

So my advice to those of you who are tall, the most important part of a test drive for you might be climbing in and out of the car a dozen or more times. And now with windscar911's experience check that line of sight often on the drive.

I sympathize.
I did not have an opportunity to test drive an Air prior to receiving mine (I did have one scheduled, but couldn't make it) and that is my only regret with the purchase process of my "Luci".
I'm 5'11", but rather "rotund" (and in the 55+ club) and I have a difficult time getting in and out of the car without rubbing/hitting my head. (btw, once inside, I absolutely love the car and consider it a "step up" from my S550 that I love.)
I also own a low-to-the-ground ICE sports car, so I'm no stranger to issues w/ getting in and out of a car, but that is not my daily driver and I'm Ok w/ having to do-what-I-have-to-do to enjoy it.
Because of the difficulty w/ entering and exiting, I find myself gravitating towards my F150 (which is great for hauling stuff, but has a horrible turning radius and a bear to park in tight spots).

I've mentioned my concern so many times to my wife (I love this car .. if only I could get in and out of it) .. that she responds by telling me to sell the car (or lose weight .. which would make it easier, but, even if possible, having seen other 6' folks get in and out of my car, I'm not sure would solve the problem entirely).

So, I'll second your advice. If you are near 6' or taller, and/or "well-fed", I would definitely "try before you buy" and enter/exit multiple times (as you would w/ a daily driver).

 

[Gavin88]

I sympathize.
I did not have an opportunity to test drive an Air prior to receiving mine (I did have one scheduled, but couldn't make it) and that is my only regret with the purchase process of my "Luci".
I'm 5'11", but rather "rotund" (and in the 55+ club) and I have a difficult time getting in and out of the car without rubbing/hitting my head. (btw, once inside, I absolutely love the car and consider it a "step up" from my S550 that I love.)
I also own a low-to-the-ground ICE sports car, so I'm no stranger to issues w/ getting in and out of a car, but that is not my daily driver and I'm Ok w/ having to do-what-I-have-to-do to enjoy it.
Because of the difficulty w/ entering and exiting, I find myself gravitating towards my F150 (which is great for hauling stuff, but has a horrible turning radius and a bear to park in tight spots).

I've mentioned my concern so many times to my wife (I love this car .. if only I could get in and out of it) .. that she responds by telling me to sell the car (or lose weight .. which would make it easier, but, even if possible, having seen other 6' folks get in and out of my car, I'm not sure would solve the problem entirely).

So, I'll second your advice. If you are near 6' or taller, and/or "well-fed", I would definitely "try before you buy" and enter/exit multiple times (as you would w/ a daily driver).

Never had an issue - once you hit your head once you never do it again!

 

[LucidNC]

Never had an issue - once you hit your head once you never do it again!

True ... I just "rub it" slowly against the door jam instead .. good thing hair is thinning on top already!

 

[Thinjake]

I'm 6'4" and with the seat all the way down, my eyes line up nearly exactly with the bottom "fade in" area of the tint on the front windshield. As it started to get dark on my drive back from the delivery center, I made a comment to my wife about something possibly wrong with the windshield and that "all point lights are doubled". This was highly unpleasant and I will be reaching out to support about this. I don't know what they can do but people need to know this is a massive problem for tall people.

If I slouch as much as possible in the seat, I can bring my sight line about an inch or so lower and then the view out the front is clear and sharp.
Mid windshield is fine, looking through the tint itself is fine, but anywhere near the upper part before the tint starts is blurry.

I have had my car for 3 weeks now and am just noticing this for the first time tonight. You are EXACTLY correct that if I slouch down, or look through the tint, the lights are singular. But there is a 4-6 inch high strip where the lights appear with a dimmed second set right above them.

What did service say about yours?

 

[windscar911]

I have had my car for 3 weeks now and am just noticing this for the first time tonight. You are EXACTLY correct that if I slouch down, or look through the tint, the lights are singular. But there is a 4-6 inch high strip where the lights appear with a dimmed second set right above them.

What did service say about yours?

I'm sorry, but I'm so glad you're seeing this too

I'm going to the studio next week to check and see if other cars exhibit the same behavior. They have a pre-prod car and a prod car so I'll compare both.

You should reach out to service with the same and go test some other local cars if you can.

 

[DolphinTale]

I just posted on the same topic not realizing that a thread had already been started. My fears are starting to be realized that this is a design flaw and not a one-off windshield issue. The Customer Care team in Riviera Beach just ordered me a new windshield for installation next week. I will reach back out again tomorrow and ask her to get the engineering team involved to see if there is a solution rather than just going through the hassle of ripping this one out and replacing it if the glass is operating as it should. Depressing, especially only having owned the car for a week.

 

[windscar911]

I just posted on the same topic not realizing that a thread had already been started. My fears are starting to be realized that this is a design flaw and not a one-off windshield issue. The Customer Care team in Riviera Beach just ordered me a new windshield for installation next week. I will reach back out again tomorrow and ask her to get the engineering team involved to see if there is a solution rather than just going through the hassle of ripping this one out and replacing it if the glass is operating as it should. Depressing, especially only having owned the car for a week.

I'll have more to report tomorrow. Going to check some other cars at the local studio.

 

[DolphinTale]

I'll have more to report tomorrow. Going to check some other cars at the local studio.

@windscar911 Were you able to check out any other cars having this same issue? I reached out to service again today to let them know that my problem is not unique. Asked them to get engineering and design involved to see if they can work on a resolution.

 

[windscar911]

@windscar911 Were you able to check out any other cars having this same issue? I reached out to service again today to let them know that my problem is not unique. Asked them to get engineering and design involved to see if they can work on a resolution.

Yes, just got back from my service visit.
I checked out 3 cars, 1 in the studio, and 2 test drive cars. Studio and 1 test drive car were pre-production. The other car is much newer.

All 3 cars showed the exact same windshield reflection issue. This is a fleet wide issue.

It's very easy to quickly check if a car has this problem (even during the day) if you look at the reflection of the stitch line going across the dash. You'll see a double reflection on a faulty windshield in the 4-6inch region below the tint line.

I don't know how to get engineering or design involved but I really want to. My service tech suggests possibly tinting the windshield ever so slightly to see if that cuts out the effect but I really want Lucid to look for a more permanent fix (especially since they use AGP for glass, and Model X had exactly this issue)

Not sure what the next steps are but the tech finally saw the issue. I suspect Lucid is going to say it's not a big deal and to just deal with it. If only they could see it at night...

 

[DolphinTale]

Yes, just got back from my service visit.
I checked out 3 cars, 1 in the studio, and 2 test drive cars. Studio and 1 test drive car were pre-production. The other car is much newer.

All 3 cars showed the exact same windshield reflection issue. This is a fleet wide issue.

It's very easy to quickly check if a car has this problem (even during the day) if you look at the reflection of the stitch line going across the dash. You'll see a double reflection on a faulty windshield in the 4-6inch region below the tint line.

I don't know how to get engineering or design involved but I really want to. My service tech suggests possibly tinting the windshield ever so slightly to see if that cuts out the effect but I really want Lucid to look for a more permanent fix (especially since they use AGP for glass, and Model X had exactly this issue)

Not sure what the next steps are but the tech finally saw the issue. I suspect Lucid is going to say it's not a big deal and to just deal with it. If only they could see it at night...

That is very disappointing, to say the least. This double vision poses a serious health and safety hazard. I am going to try and find a contact, higher up in the Lucid organization, who can offer us some insight into potential remedies. Being someone who unfortunately suffers from cluster headaches/migraines, I can't even begin to imagine the eye fatigue and headaches that may accompany this defect on a long, road trip after dark.

 

[windscar911]

That is very disappointing, to say the least. This double vision poses a serious health and safety hazard. I am going to try and find a contact, higher up in the Lucid organization, who can offer us some insight into potential remedies. Being someone who unfortunately suffers from cluster headaches/migraines, I can't even begin to imagine the eye fatigue and headaches that may accompany this defect on a long, road trip after dark.

I am 100% in agreement with you. I'm asking my tech to help me escalate but I have no idea what the actual internal structure is like.

I don't want to start making noise in public without letting them give me a fair response one way or another.

 

[borski]

I

That is very disappointing, to say the least. This double vision poses a serious health and safety hazard. I am going to try and find a contact, higher up in the Lucid organization, who can offer us some insight into potential remedies. Being someone who unfortunately suffers from cluster headaches/migraines, I can't even begin to imagine the eye fatigue and headaches that may accompany this defect on a long, road trip after dark.

I’d suggest emailing Zak Edson about the issue, if service won’t take care of it after you escalate.

 

[DolphinTale]

I

I’d suggest emailing Zak Edson about the issue, if service won’t take care of it after you escalate.

Could you DM me his email address? What is his position at Lucid? Much appreciated. As @windscar911 said, I would like to keep this "in the family" and give Lucid the opportunity to make things right as they have shown an amazing willingness to do what they need to to make the Air the car its supposed to be.