Even though I've had my '04 TL for ~6 months I drove for the first time in a major rain storm today (one of the benefits of living in Calif. ). I know this is kind of a RTFM question but I'm at work and don't have the manual and I couldn't find anything using search that speaks to this.

Is the "speed-sensing" aspect of the windshield wipers supposed to work at any intermittent setting? It did not seem to work for me. If I had the intermittent setting in the middle and the delay was a couple seconds, the delay was consistent at that interval. In other words if the car was going 5 MPH or 50 MPH it did not change how often the wipers moved. How is the speed-sensing feature supposed to work?

 

You have to rotate the wiper delay all the way forward or all the way back for the "automatic" feature to work. I'm pretty sure it is all the way forward.

 

Ha! You beat me to this post. I did not know we had this feature and just noticed it today with the downpour and crazy traffic. It seems to only work in the first wiper position (where you can adjust the time variable). It's not quite "speed-sensing" but more like "motion-sensing". What I mean is that it doesn't speed up as you drive faster or slow down as you drive slower. All it does is slow down or pause for lengthy periods when you are at a stop. Then it'll resume when you start moving again. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I experienced this morning.

 

OK, thanks. I think it was all the way forward. At least that's when the speed of the car seemed to make a difference. I didn't like that setting though because once the car was going more then ~10 MPH the wipers were moving too fast for what I wanted.

And yes, BigBluu you described pretty much what I experienced.

 

BigBluu - what you're describing is different...
As long as the wipers are turned on (speed/setting doesn't matter) they will clear the windshield when you release the brake from a stop. New to me, but apparently it's a Honda thing...guess it's to make sure you can see as you enter an intersection?

 

it's interesting that you mention that. i wasn't going to bring this up because i felt it was just a minor annoyance, but now that you mention a relationship between the brakes and the windshield wipers, i wonder if this is the reason that when i was stopped at a traffic light and had my wipers on, i could feel the brake pedal pulse in sync with the wipers, meaning that when the wipers hit one end of their arc, i could feel a pulse in the brake pedal. Just thought it was really weird, never experienced it on any of the other cars i've had, and i've only driven hondas.

 

Aha! I thought I was crazy! It's been raining in Pittsburgh and you're right, at full-tilt, I can feel the wipers through the brake pedal when they hit the bottom of their arc. And you're right, it's annoying.

 

Ok I just went out to lunch and tested this. It seems that the speed sensing works at any part of the intermitant stage. I tried it and diffent points and it would always slow down as I came to a stop.

 

I think they always fire once when you lift your foot off the brake at a stop, too.

 

I'm curious to know if speed sensing wipers is the same feature as "rain sensing" wipers as the Lexus ES300 has. Or do the 2 features work differently?

 

Different technologies. Rain sensing uses optics to detect moisture on the windshield. The TL simply adjusts the intermittent interval as vehicle speed changes.

 

Thanks, cpurick. I would hope that Honda would add this feature in the future. Seems more technologically advanced then just basing it on the vehicle's speed.

 

Be careful what you wish for. Rain-sensing wipers are more technologically-advanced, for sure, which can translate in practice as "rain on your windshield when you want it dry, and wipers wiping when the windshield is dry." Believe me.

 

I have an RX330 and the automatic wipers work just fine. They never come on when the windshield is dry. I also like the automatic on-off, self-leveling bi-xenons. Of course I lived happily for many years without stuff like this, but what the hell, sure is neat.

 

Honda has the technology as my wife's '03 MDX has rain sensing wipers. They work relatively well although they can be a little quirky, i.e., a wipe across the windshield on a sunny 80 degree day.