Model Y Juniper facelift panel gap alignment looks off with parallax effect from the sectioned light bar

Just like a lot of other automakers, and certainly the Asian brads, Tesla is hopping on the shiny light bar bandwagon to give the new Model Y Juniper facelift a modern look.

So much so, that it installed not only a unique reflective rear light bar, but also a front one like on the Cybertruck or Cybercab, but with integrated headlights and turn signals.

While the rear light bar offers a soft and diffused illumination that includes the road behind the Juniper refresh at night, the front piece is more orthodox and, unfortunately, sectioned.

Instead of providing a single light strip across the hood like on the Cybertruck, Tesla decided to cut it in three to place the headlights and turn signals in the right and left sectors.

This interrupted design makes it look less clean than on the Cybertruck, whose headlights are positioned way below, and also brings some visual discrepancies.

When moving from one side of the hood gap to the other, the light bar space between the two sections looks like it is not very well aligned with it, evoking Tesla's dreaded panel gap issues of yesteryear.

Needless to say, there is nothing wrong with the manufacturing quality of the Model Y Juniper units that are currently on display at various Tesla showrooms, and this is largely due to a known optical illusion.

The hood panel gap looks offset compared to the light bar interruption at its end only because of the so-called parallax effect. Measured by an inclination's semi-angle, the effect brings a visible difference in the placement of an object when observed along two lines of sight.

Tesla could've easily prevented this with either one whole light bar piece that is uninterrupted from end to end, or by paying a bit more attention to the parallax effect visuals when walking around the car. Tesla said that the mass Model Y refresh production is starting this month in all four of its major Gigafactories, so it's probably too late for a design change of the first batches that will be released in a few weeks.

Granted, this is a pet peeve, but Tesla may ultimately decide to tweak the light bar section placement along the hood gap line of sight at some point, along with all the other kinks that will inevitably need to be ironed out in the first weeks and months after the 2026 Model Y facelift release.

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