November 15, 2025
By Karan Singh
Tesla has updated its referral program in the United States and Canada, adding promotions for trying or buying FSD, in addition to vehicle purchases.
After all, the best way to sell someone on FSD is to have them try it for themselves. The vast majority of people have no clue FSD exists, much less everything it’s capable of.
What Buyers Get
For the first time, new buyers of a Model 3 or Model Y who use a referral link are given a choice that incentivizes purchasing FSD or at least trying it out for free.
This updates the previous referral offering, which just offered Model 3 and Model Y purchasers three months free of FSD.
For buyers of a Model S, Model X, or Cybertruck, the referral incentive remains the same, since these vehicles already come with FSD. Buyers get $1,000 off the vehicle.
What Referrers Get
The incentives for referrers have also been updated to account for FSD trials and purchases. When a referrer’s code is used for a new Model 3 or Model Y, the referrer will now either receive $500 if the buyer bought FSD, or receive the previous $250 credit reward if they bought the vehicle without FSD.
If the buyer chooses a Model S, Model X, or Cybertruck, the referrer only gets a $250 credit, since those vehicles already include FSD thanks to the Luxe package.
Get Paid for FSD Demo Drives
A new addition is that Tesla will now pay owners to get their friends or family members to simply try FSD. Owners can earn $15 US ($20 CAD). This can be earned once for each new-to-Tesla friend or family member who completes a test drive with an FSD (Supervised) Demo.
This new demo incentive is treated separately from vehicle sales. Owners are limited to 30 referrals and demo drive awards for the life of their account, and these do not count against the standard annual vehicle referral limit of 10.
Those owners who have already maxed out their 10 vehicle referrals for the calendar year are still maxed out for sales, though they are eligible to earn additional credits from the new demo drive program.
Other Benefits
For those in the US who are verified military veterans, retirees, active-duty members, their spouses, surviving spouses, first responders, students, and teachers, you are eligible to receive a $1,000 stackable discount.
Similarly, in Canada, first responders, students, and teachers can also receive a $1,000 stackable discount.
You can check out our referral codes here if you’re in the market for a new Tesla.
Ordering a New Tesla?
Use our referral code and get 3 months free of FSD or $1,000 off your new Tesla.
November 14, 2025
By Karan Singh
Owners of the newly refreshed 2026 Model S and Model X vehicles have noticed a curious omission from their Toybox: the beloved Santa Mode is missing. While the rest of Tesla’s fleet can activate the jolly visualization, refresh S and X owners are left out in the cold, waiting for their sleigh to arrive.
However, it seems the feature isn’t gone for good. If you try to activate Santa Mode through the Voice Command Easter Eggs – “Run Rudolph Run”, “Ho Ho Ho”, or “Enable Santa Mode”, your vehicle will say that Santa Mode is not available, but that it’s coming soon.
Following the Gingerbread Crumbs
This isn’t a bug, but rather a casualty of the new visualization upgrade that the refreshed Model S and Model X received. This new visualization engine likely relies on Unreal Engine, and Tesla has to port the assets and functionality from the older open-source Godot Engine over. That process takes time, and the refreshed flagship vehicles have only been out for a few months to date.
Tesla sometimes uses the Model S and Model X as test beds for software and hardware features that will trickle their way down to the rest of the fleet, and what better way to start than with upgrades to the visualization engine?
Improvements to Santa Mode
The new Tron Mode brought major improvements to the way visualizations look and perform. While the feature is controversial, it’s easily the best-looking visualization. Santa Mode, on the other hand, is fairly static and simplified, and the vehicle and reindeer don’t do much other than animate in place. Tron Mode, meanwhile, brings full-on animations, including physics-based vehicle movement.
It’s possible that Tron Mode also relies on the new rendering engine, as switching Tron Mode on or off requires a moment.
CyberSleigh
The Cybertruck’s Santa Mode is the middle ground, with a fully animated and rigged sleigh with reindeer. The Cybertruck’s mode also includes turn signals, an animated Optimus Santa that does arm signals, and levitates in place.
It runs on the older rendering engine and has been in place since the arrival of the Cybertruck.
Holiday Update
Tesla’s software teams are probably hard at work porting over and improving Santa Mode to better fit with other recent updates to Tesla’s Easter Eggs, like being able to adjust the volume in Tron Mode, which you cannot do for the intro songs in Santa Mode.
What better feature to include in the 2025 Holiday Update than a new version of Santa Mode? However, keep in mind that Tron Mode is limited to AMD-based vehicles, and it’s possible the new Santa Mode may be too.
November 14, 2025
By Karan Singh
Tesla has begun proactively offering a free appointment to clean the interior windshield housing for its forward-facing cameras, addressing an issue that can limit the performance of Autopilot and FSD.
If your vehicle detects that forward camera visibility is limited, a Camera Visibility Limited prompt will appear on your screen with Tesla’s latest FSD v14.1.7 update. This update is 2025.38.8.7, which started going out earlier this week.
Windshield Haze Limiting Visibility
This obstruction is typically a hazy film caused by the slow off-gassing of plastics and other materials inside your vehicle’s cabin. Over time, this residue can build up on the inside of the windshield and within the camera enclosure, impairing the camera’s ability to see clearly through the windshield.
This can be problematic, especially when driving into direct sunlight, in heavy weather conditions, or when facing oncoming headlights at night. The haze prevents the camera from seeing effectively, just as if the rest of the windshield were hazy.
The haze can be hard to spot, but if you have a flashlight at an angle, you can often see a slight cloudiness if it’s there.
Cleaning Solution
Up until now, owners had to detect that the windshield needed to be cleaned themselves. With this latest update, the vehicle now detects the issue and prompts users to clean the area.
If the vehicle detects an issue, it offers a free precision camera cleaning directly through the Tesla app. The prompt directs users to go to Service > Outstanding Work > Windshield Camera Area Precision Cleaning. Once the alert is activated, this new service item is automatically added to your vehicle’s outstanding work section.
You can then schedule the appointment at your leisure at your local Tesla service center. For some customers, you may also be eligible for a Tesla Ranger appointment, where a technician will come to your home or workplace to clean the windshield.
Cleaning the camera housing is a normally paid service item that costs between $60-$85 USD, depending on your model.
Tesla is aware of the problematic windshield issue, and Musk has said that it’s a ‘major area of focus’ for Tesla. Tesla is likely working on a design change for newer vehicles to prevent this issue.