My old Mondeo would put the rear wiper on when you selected reverse gear and the front wipers were on. My mate who has a Seat Ibiza also has the same. I found it quite a useful feature and wondered if anyone knows if the Octavia has this feature as mine doesn't do it at the moment. I can't see mention in the handbook, but i do see that it should be possible to set the front wipers to do a sweep 5 secs after the last wipe when screen washing, activation/deactivation by specialist garage, anyone got this done (Mondeo again had this feature)?

Matt

It should be on, if front wipers are on, select reverse it should wipe.

yes my fl estate does this, if front ones on and select reserve it wipes rear window

I have my front ones set to the "auto" setting, do the wipers have to be in one of the proper "on" positions or should it still work in the "auto" setting?

Try it on speed 1 or 2

Auto rear wipe is a feature that can be switched on or off with VCDS, as is the teardrop wipe front and rear. If the auto rear wipe isn't working, it might have been switched off.

Can these be set by dealer, or does it need VCDS? I bought the car from dealer as pre-registered and the rear wiper has not worked when setting reverse gear with fronts on since I've had it.

Try it on speed 1 or 2

Will do, just need to wait for some more rain... shouldn't be too long a wait looking at the weather forecast :-)

Try it anyway, won't do any harm on a dry screen for a few seconds.

Ok, tried it, sure enough rear wiper comes on when in speed 1 or 2, just not in auto (intermittent position). I even found it referred to in the manual, missed when I looked last time, P62, no suggestion that that in auto mode it doesn't work, just says "if the front window wipers are on". I'll check with my mate as to whether his were in auto or not on his Ibiza.

On my VRS works with the front set to auto...

Ok, tried it, sure enough rear wiper comes on when in speed 1 or 2, just not in auto (intermittent position). I even found it referred to in the manual, missed when I looked last time, P62, no suggestion that that in auto mode it doesn't work, just says "if the front window wipers are on". I'll check with my mate as to whether his were in auto or not on his Ibiza.

It does work when the fronts are in auto they just need to be doing the equivalent speed to manual setting 1 or 2, that's what i've found.

It does work when the fronts are in auto they just need to be doing the equivalent speed to manual setting 1 or 2, that's what i've found.

Not in mine! With fronts on auto, as long as I have had a wipe in the last couple of minutes (approx!), the rear will wipe on going into reverse, My car is pre FL VRS estate.

This is exacty how mine have always worked, with the fronts on auto, the rear will wipe when reverse is selected IF the fronts have done a wipe in the last 20 seconds or so.

I suppose it is designed to stop the rear wiper activating if it hasn't been raining recently.

This is exacty how mine have always worked, with the fronts on auto, the rear will wipe when reverse is selected IF the fronts have done a wipe in the last 20 seconds or so.

I suppose it is designed to stop the rear wiper activating if it hasn't been raining recently.

+1 same here

...it it should be possible to set the front wipers to do a sweep 5 secs after the last wipe when screen washing, activation/deactivation by specialist garage, anyone got this done (Mondeo again had this feature)?

Not sure why you'd want that function. When the roads are dirty in winter it just smears muck over the windscreen you've just cleaned.

Not sure why you'd want that function. When the roads are dirty in winter it just smears muck over the windscreen you've just cleaned.

I've found that in almost every car I've had after screen washing, there is always some excess pushed to the top of the screen which after the wipers stop starts to run down the screen again, so the extra wipe a little later takes care of this. I've not reallly found that the screen gets dirty *that* fast. At the moment I just end up doing it manually so I would find it useful, maybe.

With regard to the rear wiper issue, I'm going to re recheck what happens with mine as it would appear it should work with the fronts in auto, maybe it has always been too long since it's last wipe so doesn't activate. Should be some nice rain tomorrow so I can test it

It will only work if Auto and wiping constanly or if manual first speed and if selected on the maxidot for those who have it.

My opinion, if Auto and at least one passage to wipe front, the rear one should activate(wipe).

My Renault does this. In Auto I say one wipe at least front so it knows its raining otherwise eveytime you put it in reverse on dry the rear wiper moves, not good for the blade

Edited 22 April, 201214 yr by alberg

My non-FL does it if the front's are on.

It will only work if Auto and wiping constanly or if manual first speed and if selected on the maxidot for those who have it.

My opinion, if Auto and at least one passage to wipe front, the rear one should activate(wipe).

Ok, as it was raining nicely I've been out to the car and tested it. If I set front wipers to auto, and select reverse gear, no wipe of the rear screen even though fronts are wiping every couple of seconds. As soon as I switch fronts to the proper on positions (1 or 2) the rear wiper runs. I have maxidot but don't recall seeing the option in there, can you say where it is in the menu please?

I don't think I mentioned it but this is a FL 2011 model.

[iIRC on the Mondeo the rear wiper worked at the same rate as the front, whatever that was for the conditions, or it's intermittent speed, whichever was quicker. Mind you the fronts always did one pass whenever you switched the ignition on irrespective of rain - not so good]