Rain sensing wipers - not wiping enough for anyone else?

[FirstPony]

I love that the car has rain sensing wipers. It is great when it is raining hard.

But if it is raining anything less than pretty hard, I find the wipers go way too long before activating. Or allow the windshield to get way to soaked before wiping; however you want to look at it. This is true even in the highest / most sensitive setting.

Anyone else noticing or feeling this? Any tweaks I don't know about that could help?

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[Kamuelaflyer]

If anything I think the wipers come on far too often in auto mode, even when adjusted way down. ?‍

 

[kltye]

I don't know if this is a placebo effect, but I swear you can affect the sensitivity range by when you start the wipers in auto mode. Try turning on the wipers at its lowest sensitivity setting next time it doesn't wipe often enough for you. Then slowly adjust it upwards as needed. I feel it sort of shifts the whole scale over, as if you're telling it "this much water is when I consider it to be necessary to wipe".

And then come back and tell me that I'm crazy ??.

 

[hybrid2bev]

I love that the car has rain sensing wipers. It is great when it is raining hard.

But if it is raining anything less than pretty hard, I find the wipers go way too long before activating. Or allow the windshield to get way to soaked before wiping; however you want to look at it. This is true even in the highest / most sensitive setting.

Anyone else noticing or feeling this? Any tweaks I don't know about that could help?

Use a product like RainX, the water will fly off as you drive. My wipers are rarely used.

Or push the stalk up to turn the wipers on low when you want the wipers on for the first swipe then back to auto.

 

[SnBGC]

I love that the car has rain sensing wipers. It is great when it is raining hard.

But if it is raining anything less than pretty hard, I find the wipers go way too long before activating. Or allow the windshield to get way to soaked before wiping; however you want to look at it. This is true even in the highest / most sensitive setting.

Anyone else noticing or feeling this? Any tweaks I don't know about that could help?

On my car the intermittent adjustment feature broke around 55k miles or so. All I have is High, Low and the most infrequent intermittent setting. I can adjust that dial all I want and it doesn't change anything. Well, each time I make an adjustment....the wipers sweep but that is because I made a setting change. It still defaults to the longest interval setting.

This was one of the items I listed on my 60k mile update. Several of the convenience systems on my car are no longer working.

Car still drives fine though. Just some of the convenience features don't work any more.

 

[FirstPony]

I don't know if this is a placebo effect, but I swear you can affect the sensitivity range by when you start the wipers in auto mode. Try turning on the wipers at its lowest sensitivity setting next time it doesn't wipe often enough for you. Then slowly adjust it upwards as needed. I feel it sort of shifts the whole scale over, as if you're telling it "this much water is when I consider it to be necessary to wipe".

And then come back and tell me that I'm crazy ??.

Haha, I'll have to try that.

 

[Mach-Lee]

On my car the intermittent adjustment feature broke around 55k miles or so. All I have is High, Low and the most infrequent intermittent setting. I can adjust that dial all I want and it doesn't change anything. Well, each time I make an adjustment....the wipers sweep but that is because I made a setting change. It still defaults to the longest interval setting.

This was one of the items I listed on my 60k mile update. Several of the convenience systems on my car are no longer working.

Car still drives fine though. Just some of the convenience features don't work any more.

I wonder if the sensor gel pad dried up in your case. You might need a replacement sensor pad.

 

[SnBGC]

I wonder if the sensor gel pad dried up in your case. You might need a replacement sensor pad.

Is that something I can easily replace? Am swapping out my camera coax cable on Friday. Is that sensor up in the same area?

 

[Mach-Lee]

Is that something I can easily replace? Am swapping out my camera coax cable on Friday. Is that sensor up in the same area?

Yes, you might want to pick up a new sensor. It just clips in under that cover above the mirror, seems fairly easy to replace. Just make sure it has good contact with the glass afterwards. I don’t know how much it rains there but you could test it with a squirt bottle.

 

[SnBGC]

Yes, you might want to pick up a new sensor. It just clips in under that cover above the mirror, seems fairly easy to replace. Just make sure it has good contact with the glass afterwards. I don’t know how much it rains there but you could test it with a squirt bottle.

Windshield is getting replaced on Friday so I will use my FordPass points and see if I can buy that sensor. You don't happen to have the part number by any chance?

If not, no biggie. Hopefully the parts counter guy can figure it out.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Windshield is getting replaced on Friday so I will use my FordPass points and see if I can buy that sensor. You don't happen to have the part number by any chance?

If not, no biggie. Hopefully the parts counter guy can figure it out.

LJ8Z-17D547-A but have your guy double check.

Note: any bubbles or irregularities in the sensor gel will cause the sensor not to function. Scrap the part if bubbles are observed. The circle of glass on the inside of the windshield must be impeccably clean before installation, any specks of dust can impact the sensor. There may be a protective film you have to peel off the sensor face first before installation.

 

[SnBGC]

LJ8Z-17D547-A but have your guy double check.

Note: any bubbles or irregularities in the sensor gel will cause the sensor not to function. Scrap the part if bubbles are observed. The circle of glass on the inside of the windshield must be impeccably clean before installation, any specks of dust can impact the sensor. There may be a protective film you have to peel off the sensor face first before installation.

This will be my 4th windshield. Should this sensor be replaced with each new windshield?

 

[SnBGC]

LJ8Z-17D547-A but have your guy double check.

Note: any bubbles or irregularities in the sensor gel will cause the sensor not to function. Scrap the part if bubbles are observed. The circle of glass on the inside of the windshield must be impeccably clean before installation, any specks of dust can impact the sensor. There may be a protective film you have to peel off the sensor face first before installation.

....and Thank You for the part number.

 

[Mach-Lee]

This will be my 4th windshield. Should this sensor be replaced with each new windshield?

Practically yes, because the gel is so sensitive to damage, air bubbles, and contamination. You don't want to touch it. If you are very careful it can be reused, but a lot of windshield techs aren't careful enough. If your sensor has been transferred 3 times I'm not surprised it's broken. Same with your coaxial cable and possibly front camera getting transferred over repeatedly. There could be wires or connectors broken from prying stress.

 

[hack-e]

I have been really impressed with the rain sensing wipers. Unlike my friend's 2019 Tesla Model 3, it actually works quite well. It does have a habit of wiping once when I start the car maybe 15% of the time, but I can live with that...not that annoying.

The thing that annoys me is sometimes I forget to turn it off when going through a car wash and when the people dry the car, it sometimes goes off and whacks them. I wonder if they think I did it on purpose. I'm getting better at remembering.

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