... when you are parked up in a vRS, with the blower at 2, warm air gently caressing your face, if you then select reverse, the blower speeds up? :eek:

Hardly earth-shattering news, I know, but why exactly it does this is keeping me awake at night.

Anyone?

To stop the exhaust gasses coming in. It puts the blower into recirculation mode

Doesnt the reverse switch use the same relay as the recirc button????? (I'm sure I read that somewhere on here!)

Similarly,when you have the windscreen wipers switched on and you engage reverse gear,the rear wiper operates.Damn clever these Germans,sorry,Czechs.

Similarly,when you have the windscreen wipers switched on and you engage reverse gear,the rear wiper operates.Damn clever these Germans,sorry,Czechs.

mine doesnt do that!

I dont like that feature, always makes a horrid noise as all the dirt on the rear window gets smeared, as theres not always as much water on the rear window as the front, grrr. So im not a big fan of it!

:iagree:

and annoys me

I also find it quite annnoying. I always try to switch the wipers off before reversing.

AFAIK activating rear wiper when selecting reverse with front wipers on is part of EC directive 94/68/EC and so is fitted to all cars with rear wipers manufactured from around 1996 onwards.

If so it is cunningly a piece of legislation that is marketed as a feature Bit like 'now available with hand operated parking brake' might have been on very early models of cars last century

Back on topic - it tells you about the air circulation and reverse gear in the operating manual Like most people for me the book just lived in the glove box for ages but was very interesting when I actually read it!

I don't think it is legislation, or at least not for English cars, (maybe Faiba has it to meet other countires laws), but none of the other cars in my family, 2001 Punto, 2006 Yaris, 2004 Meriva have it. All post 1996 and they don't do it.

But I agree its annoying as my wiper blade is shoot and just shudders and makes noises as it bounces across the glass.

To stop the exhaust gasses coming in. It puts the blower into recirculation mode

Ahhh, of course!

I dont like that feature, always makes a horrid noise as all the dirt on the rear window gets smeared, as theres not always as much water on the rear window as the front, grrr. So im not a big fan of it!

I was pleasantly surprised about two months ago when it first happened to me.

Seems I was lucky that the rear window was relatively free from dirt and rather wet.

It's not even been a jarring experience on the subsequent occasions since then.

I'll tell you what does grind my gears though... not being able to fire the windscreen washers independently of applying the wipers like you could on ye olde automobvoitures like my long-since-departed Pug 106 Xsi.

Now a slightly dirty screen can quickly be turned into an impenetrable, smeary mess if the washers have frozen.

How I yearn for the time when one could test fire the washers by themselves and let them thaw out as required before having a wipe.

AFAIK activating rear wiper when selecting reverse with front wipers on is part of EC directive 94/68/EC and so is fitted to all cars with rear wipers manufactured from around 1996 onwards.

If so it is cunningly a piece of legislation that is marketed as a feature Bit like 'now available with hand operated parking brake' might have been on very early models of cars last century

Back on topic - it tells you about the air circulation and reverse gear in the operating manual Like most people for me the book just lived in the glove box for ages but was very interesting when I actually read it!

Both my dads and my own 2007 Toyota's don't, or my mums Mercedes...in fact don't know any car that does it other than the Fabia.

Both my dads and my own 2007 Toyota's don't, or my mums Mercedes...in fact don't know any car that does it other than the Fabia.

VW and SEAT cars do it as well.

my old car did it - rover 25 (2000 reg) first time it did it i spent ages trying to turn the rear wipers off (whilst still in reverse! ) when my fabia had it i just figured all new cars had it.

my old car did it - rover 25 (2000 reg) first time it did it i spent ages trying to turn the rear wipers off (whilst still in reverse! ) when my fabia had it i just figured all new cars had it.

I took my 2005 Polo back to the dealers thinking it was a fault

I got rid of the rear wiper in whole (even took the rear wipe motor off) and replaced the hole in the glass with a metal pad...

I'd rather have a dirty rear window (I never reverse looking at the rear window anyway) than having a rear window that has scratches on it..

Takes about 20min of work to take the motor off, and looks much better without the wiper too!

To stop the exhaust gasses coming in. It puts the blower into recirculation mode

Thanks. I always wondered why the pitch of the fan changed when going into reverse.

This has got to be up there with frozen wash-wipe hoses and pulling to the left!