Is anybody aware of how to disable the occasional but regular sweep of the rear wiper when driving forwards with the wipers on. It was raining heavily today but whilst on the motorway there was little water going in the rear screen. However, about once a minute the rear wiper would sweep regardless and sounded rather dry at times so I'd like to be able to disable this.

 

I've checked the wipers menu in the vehicle section of the infortainment, and this provides me the option to disable auto wiping in its entirety but not rear only.

 

I do have access to Obdeleven if coding is required.

 

1.4 Edition Spec, 7 seater, built January 2018 and registered May if that makes any difference.

The auto rear wipe happens when you’ve left the stalk in the “rear wiper on” position (perhaps after giving the rear screen a squirt).

 

Pull it towards you one click.

1 minute ago, DaveMiller said:

The auto rear wipe happens when you’ve left the stalk in the “rear wiper on” position (perhaps after giving the rear screen a squirt).

 

Pull it towards you one click.

Thanks I'll look tomorrow.

 

Would it not be on all the time though? If clicked that would make it run all the time or is it linked to the operation of the front wiper?

It happens when you have the wipers set in auto (intermittent) and the wipers are wiping more than around once per second. Rear wiper wipes about once every 30seconds-ish (manual tells you more about it I believe)

13 minutes ago, hwr1983 said:

It happens when you have the wipers set in auto (intermittent) and the wipers are wiping more than around once per second. Rear wiper wipes about once every 30seconds-ish (manual tells you more about it I believe)

Thanks. I did look in the manual briefly. The only thing I could see is that it was possible to disable the function if you have the personalisation option... Which I don't!

I don’t believe it happens if you put the wipers on regular wipe so that could be an option if you don’t have the personalisation option on your car

This annoyed me too. I experimented a bit today and I think that maybe if you start the car with the intermittent wipe setting set to something less than “as frequent as possible”, it doesn’t wipe the rear window. Certainly I just drove for about 10 minutes in the rain with the front wipers on automatic, and the rear screen didn’t get wiped once. 

 

 Changing the setting back to “most frequent” or pushing the stalk to get a rear wipe to happen seemed to reinstate the automatic rear wipe functionality. 

 

I’m not 100% convinced whether this was just a fluke, but it might be worth others giving it a try. 

 

Funny old weather that we’ve managed to have our car for nearly 3months and I’m only just now having to work out how the wipers work for the first time...

I had a quick look using Obdeleven today. Rear wiper is in Central Electrics but it was all in German so I left it.

 

I suspect it's something to do with the rear wiper sweeping once for every 20 or so front sweeps. I have no doubt you can change the number of sweeps using VCDS or Obdeleven but not sure how to!

If you push the wiper stalk away from you the rear wiper operates and goes in to intermittent wipe mode. Just pull the stalk back and this stops. I normally just flick the stalk forward to clear the screen when I want, and flick it back to off again. Or push it fully forward to spray rear screen then off. 

That's the regular operation of the rear wiper though.

 

What is being observed here is different, and I noticed it today for the first time too.

 

Front wipers on auto, heavy rain, rear wiper in the off position. Every so often the rear wiper operates of its own accord. Annoying.

 

I looked in the settings menu, and as others have observed there are only two options, one to disable auto wiping, which disabled front and rear auto wiping, so no good, the only other option is to turn the 'auto rear wiper in reverse' mode on or off, which I quite like.

 

So, at least on my car it doesn't appear the random rear wiper can be turned off without disabling the front auto wipers.

I’ve certainly never experienced the rear wiper on my SEL operating randomly on its own unless the wiper stalk is in the pushed forward position. 

Edited 13 August, 20187 yr by Kenny R

I noticed this yesterday in the rain but in all honesty felt that it only triggered the occasional rear wiper wipe depending on the intensity of rain on the windscreen. One thing that I would have thought they would have on the stalk though an "auto" option like they do on the light switch.

It is meant to happen....

"Automatic rear wiper
If the windscreen wiping is performed without interruption, then the automatic regular intermittent wiping of the rear window takes place."

 

 

It's just rather annoying it can't be disabled. If the rain is driving towards the windscreen and you're travelling at motorway speeds the rear screen stays virtually dry.

24 minutes ago, Kenny R said:

I’ve certainly never experienced the rear wiper on my SEL operating randomly on its own unless the wiper stalk is in the pushed forward position. 

Does SEL have automatic wipers?

My copy of the eManual suggests this “auto wipe” can be deactivated via the menu.

 

I know mine is turned off as it seemed to also be connected to (motorway) speed for a certain time with front wipers on.

The manual makes mention of 'active user account personalisation', not sure if I have this?

 

Mine only seems to do it at motorway speeds. I'd like to turn it off though if possible.

Thanks both. As I mentioned in.... 

 

 

It seems possible if you have personalisation. It's just bizarre you can't disable it without the personalisation!

1 hour ago, silver1011 said:

The manual makes mention of 'active user account personalisation', not sure if I have this?

 

Mine only seems to do it at motorway speeds. I'd like to turn it off though if possible.

 

My SEL definitely does it at town speeds too and unless it is raining exceptionally heavily and you’re moving very slowly then it’s not necessary. I don’t have the user account personalisation option.