Rain sensing wipers - giving up.

[SWFLGuy]

Mine works better after they replaced the motor for the recall.

Sponsored

 

[Natetroknot]

I don’t care for automatic anything in a vehicle, and the 14th Gen F150 makes me feel better about being that “get off my lawn, grumpy old effer who wants to do it himself” kind of driver.

If I could have heated seats with crank windows, that’s a metaphor for how I’d option my rig. I’ll center the lane myself, control the high beams myself, fan speed and temperature with an old fashioned dial, cruise control I’ll shut off or grab the hammer lane when necessary, avoid collisions using my eyes and common sense, and select the speed my wipers are moving with my hands.

If Ford, or any other car maker for that matter is listening - putting these features on your product when they flat out suck is why folks like me have piss in our coffee. Make it work or leave it off.

 

[PaulGrun]

FWIW, I remember when the windshield wiper control was a rotary knob on the dashboard with three positions - off, low, and high, and nobody had yet invented a windshield washer.

 

[Popplemer]

FWIW, I remember when the windshield wiper control was a rotary knob on the dashboard with three positions - off, low, and high, and nobody had yet invented a windshield washer.

I'll never forget this. Right after I got my license and learned to drive stick I took my old man's truck and felt stupid asking where the high beam control was when I got home. Now 20+ years later I still have an 80s OBS F250 with the dash mounted wiper controls and the floor high beam control!

 

[23PB&Me]

My initial impression of the auto wipers is meh. I had a 2014 Jeep KL that was pretty much set it and forget it, sometimes I would have to bump it up a notch to keep up with hard rain, but it was pretty much mind reading. This truck, not so much. I am running down my tank of washer fluid from the factory and have some low temp rainx I'll be putting in as well as changing the blades. I'm reserving my full judgement till after those changes, I hope the rainx helps the sensor get the timing right for my needs...

 

[Jimalt]

If ever there was a first world problem this is it.
Curious how others feel about the rain sensing wipers … I’d like to hear your experiences.
I’ve more or less given up on them. They always seem to be in the wrong state - either wiping furiously when there is no more than a light mist, or not wiping at all when needed.
I found myself constantly searching for the right setting, and eventually concluded that just turning off rain sensing and using good old fashioned interval settings seems to work better.
That’s been my experience anyway.

Mine work fine...I leave them on the middle notch and only touch them when I go through a carwash. I do notice that when I start the truck in the morning, they tend to wipe the windshield once to get the dew off. Kind of a side benefit that I like...
21 Plat PB

 

[Horskrzy]

If ever there was a first world problem this is it.
Curious how others feel about the rain sensing wipers … I’d like to hear your experiences.
I’ve more or less given up on them. They always seem to be in the wrong state - either wiping furiously when there is no more than a light mist, or not wiping at all when needed.
I found myself constantly searching for the right setting, and eventually concluded that just turning off rain sensing and using good old fashioned interval settings seems to work better.
That’s been my experience anyway.

Took me a while to get this figured out as the manual is not clear. Aside from the 2 full-on positions, there are four "notches" prior. The first has a single raindrop which is the less sensitive rain-sensing setting, then two dashes (short and long) which are purely intermittent wiper settings (no rain sensing), and then there's a triple raindrop which is the more sensitive rain-sensing setting. All that being said A) I could be wrong and B) I agree, the rain sensing is still inconsistent. I had a 2003 Jeep Gran Cherokee, fully loaded, with the same feature and they worked fantastic. So the tech has been around, Ford's just cutting corners (again).

 

[PaulGrun]

Took me a while to get this figured out as the manual is not clear. Aside from the 2 full-on positions, there are four "notches" prior. The first has a single raindrop which is the less sensitive rain-sensing setting, then two dashes (short and long) which are purely intermittent wiper settings (no rain sensing), and then there's a triple raindrop which is the more sensitive rain-sensing setting. All that being said A) I could be wrong and B) I agree, the rain sensing is still inconsistent. I had a 2003 Jeep Gran Cherokee, fully loaded, with the same feature and they worked fantastic. So the tech has been around, Ford's just cutting corners (again).

Thanks! Interesting thought about the two dashes in between the raindrops...I had wondered about that too. And yet @Jimalt seems to have had some success with leaving the switch on the middle settting, which I take to mean one of the dashes.
As far as the manual goes, I think you re being waaay too kind when you say that the manual is not clear. One of my major pet peeves about the truck is the completely abysmal manual.
Thanks for your comments. I'll experiment further. Perhaps Jim has more to add...

 

[staying_tuned]

The worst is before figuring out how to disable things. After fighting with rain sensors while combatting auto high-beam lights, you finally make it to your destination, exhale shut it down and the truck reminds you to check the back for passengers.

 

[imnuts]

I agree that they have a mind of their own at times, but overall, I enjoy the feature, especially in very light rain or driving through bands of heavy/light rain. I typically keep mine on the first notch, but I wish there was a 1½ setting as the second position is usually faster than what I need, but the first is not quite enough.

There was a recent update to improve the function which helped with the consistency of operation some, but it could still use more refinement.

Sponsored