Last winter was my first with my 06 and I found the wiper design is pretty bad for the heavy wet snow/icy type stuff we typically get - there are all kinds of little gaps or "internal spaces" along pretty much the entire length of the wiper rubber insert where it attaches to the arms (these seem to be designed to allow the blade to "hug" the glass contours better), which just fill up with snow/ice as you are driving along and cause the blade to deform against the glass and lift up so it barely even clears anything. Even with windshield defrost on with max fan speed and heat cranked and with the wipers in the "winter" position, it's hella hard to break the icy deposits loose, I wound up having to chisel the ice out with my housekeys as the usual trick of just lifting the wiper arms up and letting them snap back against the windshield would not break the ice out of those little gap areas.

Is there any kind of actual WINTER insert or blade available that works on the RL that can help with this? Back in the day for the typical Toyota and Honda dailer drivers I used to own you used to be able to buy actual winter wiper blades that had very soft flexible blades and a cover or "jacket" that prevented ice from getting in between the blade and the tension mechanisms of the blade mounts on the wiper arms.