Rain sensing wipers

smile

Member
Hi all. Anyone know what the + /- dial does on the wiper control stalk? I thought it controls the sesitivity or frequency of the wipers coming on in the rain, but when I adjust the dial nothing obvious happens. (dunno)
 
Owners Manual is your friend! As far as it 'not working', or behaving like you expected, can't help you out there since my 5 is US-spec and for some reason we don't have the auto wipers down here.
 

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smile said:
Hi all. Anyone know what the + /- dial does on the wiper control stalk? I thought it controls the sesitivity or frequency of the wipers coming on in the rain, but when I adjust the dial nothing obvious happens. (dunno)

Yes, that's exactly what it does, + for more sensitivity and - for less. The sensitivity increments are quite small, but it is there.
 
smile said:
Hi all. Anyone know what the + /- dial does on the wiper control stalk? I thought it controls the sesitivity or frequency of the wipers coming on in the rain, but when I adjust the dial nothing obvious happens. (dunno)

I didn't play a lot with it. But quite often it's really hard to say if it changes speed. Overall I don't like them too much. If I would have more speeds in manual mode I would never use auto mode.
 
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smile said:
Hi all. Anyone know what the + /- dial does on the wiper control stalk? I thought it controls the sesitivity or frequency of the wipers coming on in the rain, but when I adjust the dial nothing obvious happens. (dunno)


The sensitivity adjust does nothing for adjusting the speed. It alters the amount of rain that must be on the windshield before the sensor starts the wipers and the time that it switches from intermitent to low speed and then high speed.

Intermitent wipers on the 5 are 1 speed and 1 speed only
 
OMG, i need to RTM. Now I can stop bitching about how i can't see anything with these automatic wipers
 
I read somewhere that the auto sensing wipers don't work all that well with snow and freezing rain... gotta wait 'till the spring up here in the Great
White North to check'em out proper....
 
Is that a standard feature on non-NA Mazda 5's?

I've alwys thought that rain sensing wipers are such a waste. I mean, really....if you don't know when to turn the darn wipers on...!!!!!

Now, headlights that automatically come on when the wipers are on is a great safety feature! My old Cadillac Catera (POS) had that neat feature. Why don't manufacturers put useful safety features like THAT on cars instead of silly rain sensing wipers.
 
uhh, the mazdas that come with the rain sensing wipers come with auto headlights :rolleyes:
 
monsta said:
Is that a standard feature on non-NA Mazda 5's?

I've alwys thought that rain sensing wipers are such a waste. I mean, really....if you don't know when to turn the darn wipers on...!!!!!

Now, headlights that automatically come on when the wipers are on is a great safety feature! My old Cadillac Catera (POS) had that neat feature. Why don't manufacturers put useful safety features like THAT on cars instead of silly rain sensing wipers.

Both Rain sensing wipers and auto headlights are standard on NA mazda 5's Right from the start of the 2006 model year!!

that with the Auto climate control and I've never yet had to turn on my Lights, wipers or adjust the interior temp.

Hal is that you??? Hal open the doors!
 
was98strat said:
Both Rain sensing wipers and auto headlights are standard on NA mazda 5's Right from the start of the 2006 model year!!

that with the Auto climate control and I've never yet had to turn on my Lights, wipers or adjust the interior temp.

Hal is that you??? Hal open the doors!

uhh no
that's a canuck thing
 
Yes, from other forums, different Non-Mazda car owners have mentioned that the rain sensing wipers are a nice to have feature but have caused more trouble than benefit given the different weather conditions.

I have found really interesting that, although the cars are manufactured and shipped all the way from Japan to the US and Canada, in both countries the "features" and "naming" conventions are "different"

The question is: Who actually makes the analysis and decision so the features can be matched to the market? Most of the people I see here (plus me) want features available only in other countries, so regionalization may not be that effective.

By the way, Isn't Canada part of NA? (nana)

Good stuff! Thanks!
 
coolmazda5 said:
Yes, from other forums, different Non-Mazda car owners have mentioned that the rain sensing wipers are a nice to have feature but have caused more trouble than benefit given the different weather conditions.

I have found really interesting that, although the cars are manufactured and shipped all the way from Japan to the US and Canada, in both countries the "features" and "naming" conventions are "different"

The question is: Who actually makes the analysis and decision so the features can be matched to the market? Most of the people I see here (plus me) want features available only in other countries, so regionalization may not be that effective.

By the way, Isn't Canada part of NA? (nana)

Good stuff! Thanks!

I guess the answer depends on which side of the boarder you live on!!

For us Canadian's the answer is yes!

Odds are if you're American (honestly no slight intended) you really don't know much about your largest neighbour! (Like where we are, or our Prime Minister's name! )
 
wongpres said:
Yes, that's exactly what it does, + for more sensitivity and - for less. The sensitivity increments are quite small, but it is there.

Wow, thanks for the info everyone. I thought that dial did something to that effect but I couldn't tell the difference and it was starting to bug me. Fancy, but I think I prefer the intermittent with variable speed control.
 
was98strat said:
I guess the answer depends on which side of the boarder you live on!!

For us Canadian's the answer is yes!

Odds are if you're American (honestly no slight intended) you really don't know much about your largest neighbour! (Like where we are, or our Prime Minister's name! )

Good questions, yet I'm not sure if I have the right answers four you here was98strat (evil)


Sounds like an acronym trivia but here we go: I live in the south side of your border and I'm from NA (geographically). I was born in a NAFTA country, yet it is none of the countries mentioned above (spin).

I live in the US (yes, I can call it home after all these years), One of my best friends is Can-eh-dian (from Windsor ONT) (canada) . On my past job I spent long periods of time in TO (I like Summer there).

Just make me a more confused dude, and for the benefit of this forum, wife-in-command is originally from Europe and loved Mazda5 because of the european style, lots of space AND the 5speed MT...

Ahhh, to your last question, I got stuck with the name Jean Cretien as your PM, yet I believe there is a new one called Stephen or Steven, right?

OK OK, not intended for this thread but I'm glad to know that we are from all over the place :cool:
 

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