Anyone else hate these things.

Perhaps mine aren't working quite right but they are driving me mad.

Damn things appear to be speed sensitive so they stop working alltogether when Im stopped, say at traffic lights.

Also when set on intermittent they seem to have a mind of their own, sometimes work OK, sometimes not.

I assume these can be turned off by a dealer or VagCom?

which one of ur cars u talking about? Fabia Vrs or Octavia 2.0 Tdi Estate?

i didnt think the fabia had rain sensitive wipers?

Anyone else hate these things.

Perhaps mine aren't working quite right but they are driving me mad.

Damn things appear to be speed sensitive so they stop working alltogether when Im stopped' date=' say at traffic lights.

Also when set on intermittent they seem to have a mind of their own, sometimes work OK, sometimes not.

I assume these can be turned off by a dealer or VagCom?[/quote']

I have the Ocky 2 Elegance with Auto wipers.

They are a tad idiosyncratic they tend to wipe too frequently in drizzle and not quite often enough in light rain.

In steady rain and motorway spray they are absolutely superb, especially if you are overtaking lorries when they will speed up to clear the road spray.

If it is rainiing steadily they do not stop when the car is stationary

Discussed them with a Passat owner, same perfomance.

You can just use the continuous positions on the wiper stalk that give normal and fast operation. You can also turn them off. There is no equivalent of a "fixed interval" intermittent.

Anyone else hate these things.

Perhaps mine aren't working quite right but they are driving me mad.

Damn things appear to be speed sensitive so they stop working alltogether when Im stopped' date=' say at traffic lights.

Also when set on intermittent they seem to have a mind of their own, sometimes work OK, sometimes not.[/quote']

Right,

the four settings on the wiper stalk do not work the same with the rain sensitive wipers.

1. Single wipe - exactly the same

2. slow speed - Exactly the same

3. Fast speed - Exactly the same

4. Intermittent wipe - This is the rain sensor feature. The toggle for the intermittent time length actually adjusts the sensitivity of the rain sensor. And of course it will only work if the sensor detects enough rain so there are times when the thing stops. It is working fine and just takes getting used to once you understand how it works. I think it's excellent as you can more or less leave the stalk set at intermittent all the time without worrying.

I agree, I leave the stalk in the auto wipe position, with the fine adjuster slide all the way to the right, ie max sensitivity. I think the system works well. The only problem I have had was when new the windscreen in front of the sensor (in the interior mirror housing) needed cleaning to remove polish/wax residue which seemed to confuse it.

For me too, they work very well

Must be something wrong with mine then as they definitely dont work properley.

Set on intermittent they are all over the place, sometimes operate with a dry screen and then not when its wet.

On continuous same problem and always stop completely when the car is stationary.

Ill get them checked out when I take it in.

Must reopen this topic from briwy. I have the same problem with the auto-wipers. Under some conditions the screen is completely obscured before the wipers trigger. No problem I thought just change the sensitivity setting. Nothing. Took the car in and they changed the switch. Still Nothing. Took it back in only to be told the adjuster switch is not sensitivity but wiper speed! Not convinced by this I called Skoda customer care to be told the switch does nothing unless the auto sense mode is switched off by the dealer.

What is the truth about the adjuster switch? If only I could adjust the sensitivity they would be great.

The little switch on the top of the wiper stalk is for intermittent delay on cars with no rain sensor and it adjusts the sensitivity of the wipers on cars with the sensor.

If you flick the top switch to the far right the rain sensitive wipers will be at their most sensitive. Flicked to the far left is the least sensitive. The other 2 positions between them are pretty obvious.

When moving the switch from left to right one click you will notice the wipers will sweep the screen once. If they do this they are working normally.

TBH I don't think changing the stalk will achieve anything unless it is proven to be faulty. Maybe the rain sensor itself needs to be changed.

Another thing to note: the rain sensor can get confused by flickering sunlight when driving under trees. This is not a fault but merely something that cannot be avoided.

I think that it's one of the best features on my Octy. I have mine set on the 3rd most sensitive setting almost all the time. It usually picks up pretty quickly if it starts raining and drops off again if it stops. As has been mentioned, it's especially good on motorways as it reacts very quickly to spray from HGV's etc.

I find that it can be encouraged into action by nudging the sensitivity up one and then back down again.

Mine are also rubbish. My winscreen is completely obscured by the time the wipers kick into action. Then I get three wipes when it's dry for no reason. Great! I hired a Ford Fiesta in Jersey and the wipers on that worked perfectly. The sensitivity setting is on maximum. I 'd hate to think what it would do if I put it on a low setting.

Mine are also rubbish. My winscreen is completely obscured by the time the wipers kick into action. Then I get three wipes when it's dry for no reason. Great! I hired a Ford Fiesta in Jersey and the wipers on that worked perfectly. The sensitivity setting is on maximum. I 'd hate to think what it would do if I put it on a low setting.

If they do not work to your satisfaction you have every right to take it to your local dealer and make them sort it out

If they do not work to your satisfaction you have every right to take it to your local dealer and make them sort it out

Thanks for your posts. Problem is when I did take it back they said the switch adjusted the speed of the wipers not the sensitivity. Being in no real position to argue I contacted Skoda who said it did nothing at all unless the auto wipe was disabled. Where to take it up now?

Do other people see a definite difference in sensitivity between different settings? I wonder if the switch really doesn't do anything and people just think it does because it triggers the wipers once when you change setting.

The switch on the stalk does affect the sensitivity on my auto wipers. From memory, putting the switch to the far left will only work when it is belting down. The switch to the far right will get them going with less rain.

Going one way (can't remember which now!), each click of the switch will give the wipers one sweep which I presume is to wipe the screen and start the metering process from fresh.

Came home Sunday through loads of rain and I'm sure the fastest speed using the variable position is faster than the "fixed" fast speed position.

Went through loads of road works slow-downs and found they behaved pretty good in judging the right speed. But they do often stop when the car does.

FWIW, non-auto wipers also either stop or switch to intermittent when the car is stationary. Proper feature to save the blades, I'd say.

I presume both wiper systems are speed sensitive then?

JLT: Have a look through the manual as I am sure there is some info about the rain sensor and the stalk in there.

Once you have confrimed it's in the manual you have some ammunition to hit Skoda CS with. You have been somewhat duped by a few individuals on this one as the top switch certainly does alter the sensitivity of the rain sensor or at least offsets the level the wipers are triggered.

FWIW, non-auto wipers also either stop or switch to intermittent when the car is stationary. Proper feature to save the blades, I'd say.

Bad feature. Suppose you are sitting at a long traffic light with a screen covered more and more in rain. At some point you have to move off blind. You need to remember to give the screen a "manual" wipe first, and not everyone will.

I have lived with the rain sensitive wipers for over a year so I think I have given them a fair trial, (wettest summer for a million years, - must be the global warming), and I have to say that they would be a great idea if they worked properly, but they never do.

I don't think the technology is sufficiently advanced yet, as they rely on a sensor which is very small compared to the area of the screen, or the driver's field of vision.

Let's be honest, gadgets are great, but how difficult is it to switch the wipers to the appropriate speed?

I had them on a Renault Scenic and hated them.

So much so that when asked do I want them on my Octavia I shocked the guy with "No F*****g way, not on your Nelly"

I use Rain-X on all my windows, leave the rain sensor sensitivity to the left and it all works fine, doesn't seem to have to wipe as often with Rain-X on.

Does wipe when there are lots of flies hitting the screen though..:orb_face_

So we now have 'Rain and Fly-gut sensitive wipers'

Well Im glad someone else agrees with me that they are rubbish.

Had the car for over two years now and its the only thing I hate. (apart from clutches and gearboxes breaking)

I contacted Skoda about it because I consider it a safety issue if you cant see where the hell you are going.

Basically got a reply (eventually) thats how it is, tough luck.

The "feature" cant be turned off. Why not??

The dealer to his credit has tried to turn it off without any success.

Ive driven a few hired Citroens recently with auto wipers. Must say they worked a lot better than the Skoda and can be turned off if required.

Guess well just have to live with it.

I think that it's one of the best features on my Octy. I have mine set on the 3rd most sensitive setting almost all the time. It usually picks up pretty quickly if it starts raining and drops off again if it stops. As has been mentioned, it's especially good on motorways as it reacts very quickly to spray from HGV's etc.

I find that it can be encouraged into action by nudging the sensitivity up one and then back down again.

Couldn't put it better myself, got rain senstive wipers on my Golf

One of those little features you come to appreciate over time I think

Mine is 06 model and I had no problems with sensitivity of wipers. I keep the sensor off untill it starts raining. When rain starts I switch it on and in 1 hour journey I change sensitivity maybe once only. Sometimes no need to change it. I don't know if there was any difference/improvement over a years. I have a friend with 05 model and he's not hapy with his sensor.

I too do not like the rain sensitive wipers and woul be happy to have manual ones where I would set the delay time. The hand book mentions nothing about the switch setting the sensitivity something I worked out by accident.

I have all the same problems others have posted, either the screen gets too wet before they work or they work when they should not, also the wipers stopping when the car is stopped (traffic reasons etc) is a nuisance.

I have had the dealer check them out and they say the settings/sensitivity is ok but admitted others have also complained.

I think the problem is in the sensor in the windscreen, it does not sense rain as such but light levels caused by the refraction of light through water, hence the comment about the wipers working when in sunlight under trees.

My mate has a vauxhall vecctra and his are great, I think the sensor on the octavia needs to have a much wider angle to match the size of the windscreen. It is tucked up behind the rear view mirror, I wonder if Audi/VW/Skode have used a one size fits all sensor across the range.

Great forum, lots of info.

Still think the Octavia with the big diesel is a great car.

Robert