Intermittent wipe being overidden.

[longedge]

I've just come across the first thing I don't like on my new Yeti. When it's drizzling, I always set my wipers to intermittent at a rate where there is something for them to wipe away. I can't bear seeing the wipers dragging across a virtually dry window. I was out yesterday and there was very light drizzle so I put the wipers on at the longest pause setting but the Yeti thinks it knows best and kept changing to wipe continuously. I may have to actually get the handbook out and look at it .

[Llanigraham]

You have your wipers in the "Auto" setting. The sensitivity is adjusted by the switch on top of the wiper stalk.

[SteveH0773]

Llanigraham beat me to it - You will have the automatic wipers. I found the least sensitive setting most suitable, until the past weekend, where we were driving on very narrow twisty roads in heavy drizzle... The low speed meant the wipers were wiping slowly and leaving me unable to see clearly on a twisty road. Setting the wipers to a more sensitive setting sorted the problem.

If you are finding that they are wiping too often on the least sensitive setting, I'm not sure but that may be adjustable by a dealer or VCDS.

[longedge]

Yes, I've now read up a bit on it now having found another thread a while ago. I did try the full range of the switch positions from left to right (I'm assuming far left = least sensitive and far right = most) but I couldn't stop them running more or less continuously when I would have like a sweep every 5 seconds or so.

 

My most favourite ever intermittent wipe was on a Fiesta we had some years ago where you switched the wipers to intermittent, then off for the period you wanted to set and then back to intermittent and that became the time delay for that trip - but that was then and this is now (so the old dog has to learn new tricks ).

[Expatman]

You seem to have a problem because my intermittent wipers have a wider spread than yours. Not measured it but can generally find a suitable sweep timing to suit weather conditions. What range do you have between left and right settings?

[SteveH0773]

35 minutes ago, Expatman said:

You seem to have a problem because my intermittent wipers have a wider spread than yours. Not measured it but can generally find a suitable sweep timing to suit weather conditions. What range do you have between left and right settings?

He has auto wipers, so there is no definite delay between swipes.. I found they take a bit of getting used to as well, but the variable switch alters the sensitivity, so swipe delay is governed by sensitivity and amount of water on the screen.

[x19]

1 hour ago, longedge said:

 

 

My most favourite ever intermittent wipe was on a Fiesta we had some years ago where you switched the wipers to intermittent, then off for the period you wanted to set and then back to intermittent and that became the time delay for that trip - but that was then and this is now (so the old dog has to learn new tricks ).

Now that sounds really useful - I'd love it but have never seen it on any car.  In light of that I think the new dog could learn from the old one.

[Urrell]

To use the intermittent wipe on the wipers as you seem to want you have to turn the headlamp switch out of Auto to on or off.
That also turns the wipers out of auto and the intermittent settings will then act as you want instead of being an Auto sensitivity setting.

[longedge]

1 hour ago, Urrell said:

.... you have to turn the headlamp switch out of Auto to on or off.
 

Yes thanks - I'll try that. I did pick it up from the other thread I mentioned. Life's never easy is it, decisions decisions - I like the auto lights and have simply left the switch in that position since getting the car.

[VAGCF]

Auto lights and wipers are useful but they can't match a human for deciding when their use is most appropriate.

For me wiperwise, the thing that annoyed me was the rear wiper auto wiping (when using the front screen wipers) when the rear screen was dry. Easily turned off via the Maxidot though.   

[ejstubbs]

16 hours ago, Urrell said:

To use the intermittent wipe on the wipers as you seem to want you have to turn the headlamp switch out of Auto to on or off.
That also turns the wipers out of auto and the intermittent settings will then act as you want instead of being an Auto sensitivity setting.

 

Do you have a reference for that?  I can't find it documented in any edition of the Yeti owners manual.  (Not that that necessary means that it isn't the case )

 

What is documented in the manual is that the lights will come on if set to auto and the wipers work (on either auto or manual) for more than about ten seconds.  So the auto wipers can turn on the auto lights, but I've never heard before of auto wipers being disabled by turning off auto lights.

 

I usually leave both wipers and lights on auto, so I'd never notice it if it were the case.  I may have to find an opportunity to check it out sometime...

[Yetiflute]

I rarely have my lights on auto mode in the daytime and my wipers are then definitely on auto mode rather than any plain intermittent setting - something  which I am unaware of.

[ejstubbs]

OK, having driven the car in dry weather this morning, I can confirm that switching off the auto lights does not enable intermittent wiping with the wiper stalk in position 1.  This is in a 2010 Yeti Elegance.  Other versions may behave differently, but there's nothing in any edition of the owner's manual that suggests that they should.

 

One thing I did notice is that moving the rotary switch that controls the sensitivity of the auto wipers to the most sensitive position seems to trigger a single wipe.  But it doesn't continue to wipe after that if the windscreen is dry.

[weasley]

I'll admit, I was surprised by Urrell's post as I generally know my cars' intricacies in tedious detail (and didn't know that).  I knew about the lights thing (ie, if the car realises it's raining and you are moving fast, you'd better have some lights on).

 

I also knew about the single wipe on change of sensitivity thing, although on mine I think it only happens if making it more sensitive (ie 1 click to the right), not the other way.

 

It is one little niggle about the Yeti (and all other VAGs with auto wipers like this) - you can't do a manual single wipe when in Auto mode without dropping the lever down and back up again (or doing a sensitivity change and back).  A BMW I had previously allowed you to do a single wipe and keep the Auto setting set - sometimes you just want to flick the wipers to clear a big drop/splash/smear, or in anticipation of a truck coming the other way or whatever.

[weasley]

Ok, so it was wet on the way home to night and sure enough:

 

- the light switch position makes no difference to the auto wiper operation

- flicking the auto wipe sensitivity to the right gives you a single sweep, but not to the left

 

...all on my pre-FL SE of course.

[Urrell]

I was wrong about the wipers having an intermediate function if light switch not in auto, tried it myself in rain yesterday.

I thought it would work like that but had not tried it with the auto function working so well.
 

[longedge]

Well I think the truth of it is that I don't like change. I was out yesterday and there was the slightest hint of drizzle as I drove home from the supermarket (about 4 miles). The wipers swept the screen 3 times in all and I had them on minimum setting i.e. far left. I can live with it, I think, and it's one more thing that the car now does for me without my intervention.

[weasley]

I find that the auto wipers react sooner to drizzle and spray than to larger rain droplets.  My guess is that the sensor works on refractive index and having lots of small droplets triggers it sooner than fewer, larger ones.

[Trev96]

I so wish that Skoda made auto wipers an optional extra, I would always opt for 3-position intermittent wipe like my '80s Datsun had. (2,4,8 second delay?)

[speedsport]

On 01/02/2017 at 13:55, longedge said:

My most favourite ever intermittent wipe was on a Fiesta we had some years ago where you switched the wipers to intermittent, then off for the period you wanted to set and then back to intermittent and that became the time delay for that trip - but that was then and this is now (so the old dog has to learn new tricks ).

I agree that this was a brilliant intermittent system. I had it on 2 of my Fiestas - You could then easily decide the frequency of the wipe yourself and this also overcame the issue of the Yeti's auto wipers suddenly triggering by a flash of low sun and wiping a dry screen when you weren't expecting it. I normally have the auto wipers turned off, but even I sometimes forget and only realise Auto is still on when the wipers suddenly do a single sweep for no apparent reason.

I wish there was some way of reducing the sensitivity of the Yeti's system. I only ever find a need for the two least sensitive settings. On both my Yetis, the other settings just resulted in continuous wiping with no intermittency. Progress i guess!

[weasley]

I find mine work perfectly.  There is a noticeable difference between settings and I can match them to the conditions.  In fact I rarely change it.  If it's dry I'll switch the wipers off, but in any kind of precipitation I'll put them on Auto and they do everything from an occasional sweep to full speed as appropriate.  Same with my Audi.  Auto lights, wipers and mirror dimming is a must have on any car for me.

[freedie]

6 minutes ago, weasley said:

I find mine work perfectly.  There is a noticeable difference between settings and I can match them to the conditions.  In fact I rarely change it.  If it's dry I'll switch the wipers off, but in any kind of precipitation I'll put them on Auto and they do everything from an occasional sweep to full speed as appropriate.  Same with my Audi.  Auto lights, wipers and mirror dimming is a must have on any car for me.

 

Exactly like mine.

I have read this read with increased incredulity. Where is the problem?

[longedge]

14 minutes ago, freedie said:

 Where is the problem?

Hardly a problem. There seems to be enough divergence of opinion to make for a discussion though - isn't that what the forum's about .

[Llanigraham]

2 hours ago, weasley said:

I find mine work perfectly.  There is a noticeable difference between settings and I can match them to the conditions.  In fact I rarely change it.  If it's dry I'll switch the wipers off, but in any kind of precipitation I'll put them on Auto and they do everything from an occasional sweep to full speed as appropriate.  Same with my Audi.  Auto lights, wipers and mirror dimming is a must have on any car for me.

 

Quite. Totally agree with you.