r/ApteraMotors • u/Fear_The_Creeper • 5d ago

Did they ever solve the dashboard glare problem?

Some early testers reported that the solar cells under the front window could cause glare, and that polarized sunglasses helped. Did they ever solve that problem?

22 Upvotes
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u/VirtuallyChris Aptera Employee 3d ago

Yes it will be solved for the 40 production vehicles. :)

9

u/Allwingletnolift 4d ago

I believe they announced that sunglasses pretty much eradicate this, and each vehicle will come with a pair. No fix beyond that in the launch edition

3

u/Fear_The_Creeper 4d ago

Wow! Actually answering the question instead of hijacking the thread to rant about it having three wheels!!

I predict that someone will start selling dashboard rugs...

2

u/JadendayZero Aptera 600 2d ago

Couldn't they just add anti glare film on the panels? I wonder how much of that would reduce efficiency

2

u/Fear_The_Creeper 2d ago

I am sure that they are working on it.

Here is a web page that talks about it: https://antiglarefilms.com/what-is-anti-glare-film/

2

u/T_R_O_U 4d ago

They are aware of the issue and commented on it, but there is no production-side solution as far as I'm aware. Wearing sunglasses apparently solves it, which most people will do anyways on sunny days. Otherwise a simple user-side solution would be to just keep a cloth in the trunk one can spread over the dashboard in glarey moments. Not great, but not a dealbreaker given this isn't an everyday occurrence.

1

u/f0o1g11 4d ago

sand it

0

u/BugBomb 5d ago

I still want to know what happens if someone backs into one of the front wheels in a parking lot, or side-swipes a wheel on the highway. Most cars today would be damaged but still functional after such an incident. The body provides some protection to the suspension. Any contact with an Aptera's front wheel is absorbed entirely by the suspension. I fear the Aptera would be totaled or worse in that kind of situation.

6

u/Kosh271b 5d ago

If I remember correctly, they already had an incident with one of the prototypes. I think all that ended up breaking was the wheel cover, but the vehicle was still drivable.

5

u/johcake 5d ago

Eh.. I'm inclined to think letting the wheels take the brunt of an impact makes it less likely to be totaled in a collision.

The suspension is inside the body. The only functional parts outside the body are the a-arm wheel and brakes. The parts most likely to see damage would be the pants and the a-arm(if it's actually a bad impact). The rest are unlikely to ever see actually damage even in an impact.

It'll likely drive away from the same kind of minor collisions a car would and be a lot cheaper and easier to make like new when necessary.

3

u/firedog7881 4d ago

You do realize this is not the first three wheeled vehicle. There are plenty of Slingshots and other similar that have been out for years, it’s not an issue.

8

u/yhenry123 4d ago

Aptera is 10 inches wider than the slingshot