Rain-Sensitive Wipers Underwhelmimg

singlemalt_18

My Way IS the Highway
:
18Sig9/07GT7AWD
Overall, I am very happy with my new CX-9. I'm not one to nit-pick, but in the early driving hours of 2018 Sig ownership, I am finding the rain-sensing intermittent function to be a disappointment. I am among those, that under light to moderate rain, find wipers themselves to be more distracting than waterdrops on the windshield. At this point, most of the few hours I have spent behind the wheel of my new CX-9 have been in wet and rainy conditions. I find that even with the sensitivity turned all the way down, the wiper frequency cannot be slowed down to something similar to a traditional "intermittent" rate.

The sensitivity from no rain to some level of precipitation appears to be pretty good, but once under light to moderate rain, the wipers act as if they are in the full-on position, with little to no time off between strokes. There does not seem to be a discernible difference in the rate when adjusting from lowest to highest sensitivity? I'm curious what others think about the variability of this feature, thanks!
 
I don't have that problem. I find the intermittent setting quite smart. Your rain sensor may be faulty. Sounds like a warranty job for the dealer to fix.
 
My 2018 work great! I love them and to some extent bought the vehicle because they were included. My only problem is trying to remember how the settings work.

So you rotate the setting stack to either get more (or less) wipes - and there are 4 settings - each depicted by a "Line" that is increasingly thicker - so what means what?

I = Least wipes (Or Least time between wipes)?
II = More wipes (Or more time between wipes)?
III = More wipes (Or more time between wipes)?
IIII = Most wipes (Or Longest time between wipes)?

Is that control giving me more or less WIPES or shorter or longer time INTERVALS?
 
My 2018 work great! I love them and to some extent bought the vehicle because they were included. My only problem is trying to remember how the settings work.

So you rotate the setting stack to either get more (or less) wipes - and there are 4 settings - each depicted by a "Line" that is increasingly thicker - so what means what?

I = Least wipes (Or Least time between wipes)?
II = More wipes (Or more time between wipes)?
III = More wipes (Or more time between wipes)?
IIII = Most wipes (Or Longest time between wipes)?

Is that control giving me more or less WIPES or shorter or longer time INTERVALS?

I asked about this during our test drive, and was told that the adjustment is to control the "sensitivity"; I assume decreasing that should slow down the wiper rate, and increasing would speed up the rate of wipes. That could also be the opposite however, meaning the "minus" may mean how little rain will trip the wipers? I plan on taking some time to "play" with them to get a better feel for what they are doing, and if I continue to sense little ability to control the rate, I will need to follow-up with the dealer.
 
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Turn it off. I prefer the option with regularly timed intermittent wipes. By the way, our Toyota is the only car I've had yet where the auto wipers are close to satisfactory. Not VW nor Mazda.
 
I've turned this option off; did not like not being able to control intermittent timing.

Turn it off, it whacks too often even with lowest setting.

Turn it off. I prefer the option with regularly timed intermittent wipes. By the way, our Toyota is the only car I've had yet where the auto wipers are close to satisfactory. Not VW nor Mazda.

I have read thru the owner's manual & quick-start guide, and unless I am mistaken, the "auto" function cannot be turned off and default to an "intermittent" type of operation is not an option on 2018 Sig 9s.
 
Turn it off. I prefer the option with regularly timed intermittent wipes. By the way, our Toyota is the only car I've had yet where the auto wipers are close to satisfactory. Not VW nor Mazda.

I agree, the auto wipers in our Mazda 3 and CX-5 are rubbish. The ones in my previous Toyota were brilliant.
 
I have read thru the owner's manual & quick-start guide, and unless I am mistaken, the "auto" function cannot be turned off and default to an "intermittent" type of operation is not an option on 2018 Sig 9s.

Mine has the option turned off, I think. Wipers will only work if I turn the stalk to engage the regularly timed wipes. I'll take a look at my menu settings and report back.
 
My previous Volvo XC60 had the rain sensing wiper feature as well and that worked better than our CX9 but in general for me they're not really perfect or ideal as I always found myself adjusting the sensitivity and they never worked to my preference (too fast/sensitive or slow to react sometimes). Although I leave them on all the time there are times that I like to control the intermitent function manually.
 
Turn it off. I prefer the option with regularly timed intermittent wipes. By the way, our Toyota is the only car I've had yet where the auto wipers are close to satisfactory. Not VW nor Mazda.
Yes, not all rain-sensing wipers are the same! The rain-sensing wipers on my Mazda CX-5, which uses the same system as CX-9, and VW Passat are having their own mind and out of control. Theyre almost useless hence many CX-5 owners simply just turn the function off.

On the other hand, rain-sensing wipers on my BMW 528i are as precise as they can be, the sensibility adjustment works exactly as intended. Once compared, one would know how crappy Mazdas rain-sensing wipers are.

Glad to know Toyota also makes functional rain-sensing wipers.
 
I wasn't really digging mine at first either. A month or so later I went back to trying it and found that I like them a lot more now than I used to. Just last month I discovered that if you have the wipers on auto/sensing, if they are sweeping too much, I roll the little ring on the wiper stalk down a notch, and it seems to make an adjustment to the frequency of the wiper sweep. It could just be in my head, but I've been trying it for the last month or so and use it pretty much every time the wipers turn on now.

Worth a shot.
 
I have been plying with mine. As near as I can tell, the four-position adjustment does nothing when the wipers are on rain sense; it neither increases nor decreases sensitivity. It does, however, vary the speed of intermittent wiping when rain sensing is turned off. The rain sensing mechanism is sensitive to the size and frequency of the raindrops on the windshield just in front of the sensor.

Not a scientific test, so I could be wrong, but my results seem pretty consistent.
 
My 2008 CX-9 has a process to reinitialize the sensor. Guessing same for new generation. Google or ask dealer. That should make things better.
 
I have been plying with mine. As near as I can tell, the four-position adjustment does nothing when the wipers are on rain sense; it neither increases nor decreases sensitivity. It does, however, vary the speed of intermittent wiping when rain sensing is turned off. The rain sensing mechanism is sensitive to the size and frequency of the raindrops on the windshield just in front of the sensor.

Not a scientific test, so I could be wrong, but my results seem pretty consistent.

That was pretty much my take as well, but there is supposed to be some control of the sensitivity. I've have it turned off. After nearly 45 years using executive physical management to turn wipers on and off, and adjust their speed, I think I can survive a few more ; -)
 
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