Wipers ... and their armatures

[sp4rk]

Wonder how the model S will handle their wipers? Anyone seen them work?

What am I on about?

It's this.

My (USA) Leaf has wipers where the armature points are lined up with the drivers side of the car.

When they wipe, the passenger gets a wipe and that's it.

The driver, on the other hand, gets both a wipe AND a face full of wiper arms that really get in the way of vision.

My UK car, a Mitsubishi, of course is reversed. But the (windscreen ) wipers are the same. And I get a face full of wiper arms.

My Nissan dealer assumes it has to do with the dashboard harness and that it is attached to the armatures close by.

Change the dashboard to the UK or USA (left/right) and the wipers are again right in the way of the driver.

Some manufacturers (no idea which but think Merc is one) use a single armature and do a pleasant 180 sweep.

I hope the S does that.

On the wiper front ... one thing I'll miss is having had SUV type cars (including the Leaf) for decades, I'll have no rear window wiper on the S.

The X presumably has one?

Anyone any ideas?

[Zextraterrestrial]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TF0g...eature=related

on point right in front of driver, one barely to the right / just left of cars center line

looks like it works pretty well

[ElSupreme]

I have a rear wiper and will really hate to go without. But I at least garage my car now, so I doubt I will mind as much.

[sp4rk]

Thanks for the link to video ... very disappointed they didn't think that through.

Strike 2.

(1 was red rear turn signals.)

[KBF]

While I really like rear wipers on my SUV, I don't ever recall needing them on my past sedans/coupes. Angled rear windshields don't get dirty like vertical ones do in my experience. And snow only accumulates when parked (outside), and up here we always carry scrapers in our cars in winter, so I don't anticipate much trouble for me.

As to the OP, definitely not all wipers are created equal I really like my Ford Explorer's wipers, not that it matters incredibly much. And my '06 Civic had a very nice wiping pattern (very good coverage). I've had annoying ones in the past (I think my GM vehicles weren't great), but I made do.

[TEG]

Some manufacturers (no idea which but think Merc is one) use a single armature and do a pleasant 180 sweep.

FWIW, the Roadster has a single wide sweep wiper like that just like on the Lotus Elise.

I hope the S does that.

Sorry, nope. More conventional wiper arrangement on the S.

[sp4rk]

TEG

I assume you work for TM?

Why can't they at least center the pivots points at 1/3rds.

Or use the Roadster version?

[AnOutsider]

Sorry, nope. More conventional wiper arrangement on the S.

Snapped these today

[sp4rk]

Are you stalking your local "design center"?

[youlikeadajuice]

Slightly different, but still wiper related question...For those of you who have experienced it, how effective is the "auto" function for wipers? I've never had this feature before and am curious how well it works!