Automatic wipers

[zivC]

Hi

Can somebody tell me how to operate the automatic front wipers vs. rain falling? I tried to do it according to the manual but, still it is doesn't work.

Yeti experince

[Millstone]

Hi

Can somebody tell me how to operate the automatic front wipers vs. rain falling? I tried to do it according to the manual but, still it is doesn't work.

Yeti experince

Lights set on 'Automatic' - wiper stalk one click up (in the intermittent position) and engine running of course!!

Try this and then chuck some water at the top of the screen to test (shut the door first !!)

[john999boy]

How come the Yeti needs to have it's lights on to work? That's not the case in my Octavia.

[The Plumber]

No auto lights with mine needed; just one click up as suggested and adjust the sensitivity with the rocker switch on top. Found with my Monster there less effective at recognising rain at night :wonder:

TP

[domhnall]

How come the Yeti needs to have it's lights on to work? That's not the case in my Octavia.

I was going to ask that, the kit is identical so I think that's a bum steer. If you leave the wipers on auto when you are out of the car and then start up when it has been raining you do need to re set the sensitivity by flicking it to a different setting and then back again otherwise it doesn't seem to detect the rain too well. There's a thread on this somewhere in the Octy II section.

[900000]

How come the Yeti needs to have it's lights on to work? That's not the case in my Octavia.

Hehehe I guess the poster just wrote the wrong thing! Of course he meant "wiper stalk" set to automatic. (I hope!)

This was my number one pet hate in this thread:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/209301-your-yeti-pet-hate/

The fact that on AUTO it does not detect rain when you start the car in the rain until you toggle the sensitivity switch on top of the stalk. Daft. Really daft.

So to the OP: wiper stalk to Auto (first click). When you get in the car (and it is raining) toggle the switch on top and from then on it will be automatic. If it is not raining it will just automatically start to wipe when it rains (OR you get out to wash your screen at a fuel station and hit your hands! Done that many a time! ) Adjust toggle left to make them go slower and right to make them go faster. Note that in whatever setting you leave this toggle it has an additional speed relativity as well. So it will slow down when you stop at a traffic light and speed up as you drive faster WITHOUT having to adjust the toggle.

[john999boy]

The fact that on AUTO it does not detect rain when you start the car in the rain until you toggle the sensitivity switch on top of the stalk. Daft. Really daft.

It must be a common theme across manufacturers as the BMW also needs to be told to set to automatic mode each time you start the car. :S

Maybe in the past someone had an extra dirty windscreen that was scratched when the wipers auto started? To save a repeat of that scenario, each marque put the onus on the driver to decide if it's safe to start the wipers without scratching their screen?

[900000]

It must be a common theme across manufacturers as the BMW also needs to be told to set to automatic mode each time you start the car. :S

No, if you start the car and drive of when it is NOT raining and it then starts to rain later, they work as intended: automatically. BUT if you get in the car when it is already raining they do not come on. Subtle difference.

[bilun777]

No, if you start the car and drive of when it is NOT raining and it then starts to rain later, they work as intended: automatically. BUT if you get in the car when it is already raining they do not come on. Subtle difference.

Maybe there's a "car has to be moving " function in the computer.

It's to stop the wipers hitting your hands when the car is stationary Johann.:yes:

[john999boy]

No, if you start the car and drive of when it is NOT raining and it then starts to rain later, they work as intended: automatically. BUT if you get in the car when it is already raining they do not come on. Subtle difference.

I appreciate your 'subtle difference' and agree with you but can't help thinking that the manufacturers have maybe been stung with windscreen claims previously and therefore opted for the default option being a 'safe' mode?

Can you remember when the Saharan sand (or Iceland's volcanic ash) deposited itself all over europe and no doubt people with auto wipers may well have had their windscreens scratched if the wipers had come on without it being removed first?

[900000]

I appreciate your 'subtle difference' and agree with you but can't help thinking that the manufacturers have maybe been stung with windscreen claims previously and therefore opted for the default option being a 'safe' mode?

Can you remember when the Saharan sand (or Iceland's volcanic ash) deposited itself all over europe and no doubt people with auto wipers may well have had their windscreens scratched if the wipers had come on without it being removed first?

Maybe... though I don't think that cars will be designed to account for 1 in 100 year events like that?!! But there might be some truth in what you are saying and how that might have been the reason for adding that to the wipers' control algorithm.

[john999boy]

How about this to really throw the spanner in the works....

I've had two separate drives in my car today - each time with the wiper stalk on the first setting. This wasn't on purpose but just as it had been previously left. It's also been a fine dry day but approximately 3-4 minutes after each time I'd set off, the wipers made a lone sweep.

Maybe someone else could try this and confirm what we didn't think should be happening?

[silver1011]

Must just be me then, I always leave my auto wipers in the off position. When it starts raining I flick the lever up one notch to auto and leave it there.

When I get home I manually turn the wipers off and then turn the engine off.

I'm a little OCD about electrical load. Radio, lights, climate, wipers etc. all turned off before turning the engine off and nothing turned on before the engine is running. Just sold my 12 year old Peugeot 306 with the original battery

I reckon the reason they don't automatically turn on when the engine is started is to prevent damage to the wiper motor if the wiper blades are frozen to the windsreen.

Most people start the engine whilst defrosting the exterior glass, wouldn't fancy my wipers trying to free themselves when welded to the glass

[900000]

Most people start the engine whilst defrosting the exterior glass, wouldn't fancy my wipers trying to free themselves when welded to the glass

Ah Silver that is a brilliant answer. Indeed. Thanks for that. I think that explains it very nicely. And yes in the winter I must get into the habit of not switching the car off with the auto wipers on.

[BossFox]

Ah Silver that is a brilliant answer. Indeed. Thanks for that. I think that explains it very nicely. And yes in the winter I must get into the habit of not switching the car off with the auto wipers on.

It's also because people leave the auto wipers on for weeks in the summer... and then drive into an automatic car wash.

This was the actual reason stated in the Range Rover hand book.

[Fluffy destroyer of worlds]

Silver is spot on. My previous steed a 156 GTA had auto wipers and it actually stated in thehandbook the reason you had to reinstate the operation was in case of frozen wipers. I viewed the whole idea of auto wipers (and auto lights) with much scepticism (especially on the Alfa - lol) but on that and the Yeti I have been pleasantly surprised as to how well they have worked.

Not sure I would go down the 'park assist' route though, that's taking automation into the realms of spookiness.

[rarrar]

Can the rain sensing be disabled so they revert to "normal" intermittent control ?

[900000]

Can the rain sensing be disabled so they revert to "normal" intermittent control ?

No. You can only change the sensitivity with the toggle on top. Which to be honest amounts to the same thing.