Rain sensing wipers - not wiping enough for anyone else?

[JohnFoxeSheets]

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?

I have the same issue. I'm going to add it to my list of stuff to have looked at when I take it in for my 10K service next month... @Mach-Lee, thank you for the info on the sensor gel and the part number too!

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[Jimrpa]

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 ??.

Actually, that’s exactly what I do sometimes. It helps me to “dial in” on the right level of sensitivity for light rain.

 

[Jimrpa]

I’ve found that my rain sensing wipers work better and more reliably than my remote frunk release ?

 

[Glen Boise]

Many times, after going through the car wash, I find the windshield wiper sensors do not respond to rain. Turning on the blades manually for a couple wipes usually clears the problem.

 

[SnBGC]

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.

Makes sense.
I don't get to test my wipers all that much here in Arizona. When it does rain, it usually is in buckets but this season has been different in that we have had several storms where it has rained almost non-stop for a day or two at at time. That is very unusual for us here.

 

[Thunderanger]

I had my windshield replace. The intermittent wipers stopped working. I took the car in for 20K service. They said they replaced the BCM and fixed it. But it's still not working for me. Think it's the sensor??? What else could it be? I've checked the various setting and rain sensing is ON, so I'm at a loss.

 

[Mach-Lee]

I had my windshield replace. The intermittent wipers stopped working. I took the car in for 20K service. They said they replaced the BCM and fixed it. But it's still not working for me. Think it's the sensor??? What else could it be? I've checked the various setting and rain sensing is ON, so I'm at a loss.

Take a look at your windshield from the outside carefully. Find the triangle at the top for the camera, on the passenger side of that there should be a dark circle about 1.5" in diameter. That is the rain sensor. You shouldn't seen any air bubbles and it should be dark or wet looking inside. More than likely they messed up while transferring your rain sensor to the new windshield and touched the sensor surface or left an air bubble or something. Replacing the rain sensor will probably fix your issue.

My rain sensor is fine, but I have issues like the rest of you in light rain with the wipers not wiping enough. I have to turn the sensitivity up to high (4/4) and that is sometimes not enough. When it is raining moderately or heavily 2/4 or 3/4 settings work fine. So not sure why the response to light rain is so abysmal.

 

[Thunderanger]

Take a look at your windshield from the outside carefully. Find the triangle at the top for the camera, on the passenger side of that there should be a dark circle about 1.5" in diameter. That is the rain sensor. You shouldn't seen any air bubbles and it should be dark or wet looking inside. More than likely they messed up while transferring your rain sensor to the new windshield and touched the sensor surface or left an air bubble or something. Replacing the rain sensor will probably fix your issue.

My rain sensor is fine, but I have issues like the rest of you in light rain with the wipers not wiping enough. I have to turn the sensitivity up to high (4/4) and that is sometimes not enough. When it is raining moderately or heavily 2/4 or 3/4 settings work fine. So not sure why the response to light rain is so abysmal.

Will do. Thank you SO much.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

My rain sensor is fine, but I have issues like the rest of you in light rain with the wipers not wiping enough. I have to turn the sensitivity up to high (4/4) and that is sometimes not enough. When it is raining moderately or heavily 2/4 or 3/4 settings work fine. So not sure why the response to light rain is so abysmal.

I have exactly the same experience.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I have exactly the same experience.

Light rain today in town. I had to turn mine to off so they wouldn’t wipe so darn often.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Light rain today in town. I had to turn mine to off so they wouldn’t wipe so darn often.

Showoff ??

 

[Shayne]

Light rain today in town. I had to turn mine to off so they wouldn’t wipe so darn often.

Reverse for me also lately. Just had my windshield replaced. It use to work perfect now the lowest adjustment is too fast. It use to dial in at 2nd to 3rd clicks up. With all the way down too fast we have no more adjustment. Only tried once as just replaced but too fast here right now also on initial trials.

On the side replacing the windshield got my recalls finally done

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Reverse for me also lately. Just had my windshield replaced. It use to work perfect now the lowest adjustment is too fast. It use to dial in at 2nd to 3rd clicks up. With all the way down too fast we have no more adjustment. Only tried once as just replaced but too fast here right now also on initial trials.

On the side replacing the windshield got my recalls finally done

@Mach-Lee mentioned the sensor for the auto wipers a while back. Might be worth looking at the thing through the window to see if it's got bubbles, smudges, etc.

 

[Shayne]

@Mach-Lee mentioned the sensor for the auto wipers a while back. Might be worth looking at the thing through the window to see if it's got bubbles, smudges, etc.

Thanks I will check. I was informed IPMA alignment was done. Made sure it was set in the settings to sensor it was and now toggled. Put the arm in senor, rotate it to the lowest setting and watch it wipe a dry window ?‍

 

[Thunderanger]

Will do. Thank you SO much.

I have an appointment Thursday to have them look at this, as well as to review my cas for my charging fault. How does this look to you?

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