Rear Wiper Arm; Doesn't raise and lock

Whitegrill5

Member
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Mazda 5 Sport
Has anyone found a replacement Wiper blade arm for the Mazda 5 that is the correct size (12" blade) that allows you to Raise the blade away from the window and lock it in place.

Here is a picture of all the farther that the 2013 Mazda 5 wiper arm will pull out, it doesn't come out far enough to use a gas station squeegee, ice scraper or snow brush under it, it also doesn't lock out away from the window for doing maintenance on the window or wiper blade.

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Here is a picture of 2003 Pontiac Vibe arm that opens and locks out so you can easily wash, clean, dry, scrape, and brush. It also makes it easier to replace your wiper blade insert. I would consider getting one of those but it is too short, only 11" instead of the M5's 12", I would rather keep with the same size blade.

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Just remove (slide-off) the bottom cover (on the pivot point) and you will be able to rotate the arm.
 
Thank You microvan5!
I did some more investigation and found on mine I pry outward on the two sides and I can pull the trim off the pivot piece and you were correct the rest of the wiper arm was designed to raise out and lock into place for washing, drying, scraping and brushing the rear window. I really didn't want to pry that piece on and off every time I gas up and want to wash/squeegee the window (or every day when snow/frost season returns) as I risk damaging it (especially when it gets frozen).

I took the trim cover off the Pontiac Vibe and found it looked like it was made exactly the same except it didn't have this plastic tab extending that prevented you from extending and locking the wiper away from the window.

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With trim removed the Rear Wiper works as designed; some designer had apparently put much effort into to allow the window to be able to be cleaned and remove snow and ice. Then whoever designed the trim piece messed up the first engineers hard work!

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Let the Re-engineering Effort proceed. All you need is a Dremel, sideways cutting bit, safety googles, and about 2 minutes. Dremel makes a sideways cutting bit but I have been buying Rotozip for the sideways cutting bits they are cheaper, seem to last just as long, and fit my Dremel. I added a layer of electrical tape to the front side just in-case my hand slipped I would have a layer of protection so I didn't damage the visible side in any way.
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Here you and see the modified cover re-installed, the wiper blade can extend out and lock in place for cleaning and clearing the rear window of debris. Notice that the arm has been designed with a center channel cutout that allows the tension spring to pass through the middle, you can tell some thought and engineering went into the design of this piece to allow the rear wiper to extend and lock into place.

 
This is probably the best, cheapest, and easiest mod you can do to your Mazda 5 to gain increased functionality. I don't understand why that little piece of plastic would have been protruding on the back side of the cover that prevents you from extending and locking the wiper to be able to clean all of the back window? Maybe they were going to redesign the piece for a later model year and then list it as an improvement? I haven't checked any Touring or Grand Touring Mazda 5's, perhaps they use a different trim piece without the piece of plastic preventing you from extending and locking out the rear wiper and it is a premium feature?

I normally am very reluctant to modify any "Factory" pieces but since I saw that the 2003 Pontiac Vibe (same as Toyota Matrix) had the exact same design but without the open and lockout preventer plastic piece and since I have had and used that feature on that car for 12 years now I figured it was safe to make the new trim cover piece look like the time tested 12 year old version and regain full functionality of the rear wiper as it was originally designed.

The only reason, and I am stretching here, is maybe if people do carwashes that somehow those long side to side moving rags (you know those long hanging things embedded with debris from the guy that just came through with the dirt and gravel covered Jeep a few vehicles ago) could grab the rear wiper and if it got extended it could do damage, I always hand wash or use a coin operated manual pressure washer so that is not even a potential issue.
 
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