[BillB]

Anyone else perplexed by how fast the intermittant wiper control moves the wiper blades? My slowest setting is about twice as fast as any intermittant wipers I have ever owned and the fast setting is about as fast as putting the wipers in constant slow setting (no pause between swipes). It hardly rained at all this summer in Northeast, so this speed of wiper craziness was not noticeable until what was left of Rita paid us a visit last night.

 

[jlannoo]

Mine a has a nice spread of adjustment IMO. Its also nice how it slows automatically when your at a stop, and always wipes when you lift your foot off the break.

 

[larryr]

My slowest is too fast also . the slowest should be 1 swipe evey 60 seconds ( what my GM trucks do ). I get a swipe every 4 seconds at the longest setting on the Ridgeline.

 

[shingles]

There's one setting which is speed sensitive. When stopped it doesn't wipe, but when moving it wipes that it's on the slow setting. Did you have yours set there by chance?

 

[BillB]

Shingles, I probably have the speed sensitive setting thing going on; however, when moving, the lowest rung of intermittant is too fast and does not handle mist or really light rain well. The next rung up is even faster and top rung is like intermittant is not even on, just wiping all the time like slow speed full on mode. Where is this speed sensitive control point? An online manual would be a good feature for Honda to put on their web site so I could search for key words like "speed-sensitive". Maybe this controller is too smart for its own and my good. Thanks.

 

[nevadagarth]

I think all the intermittent settings are speed sensitive. I also think it depends on when you turn on your wipers.

For example, if you turn on your wipers when moving, the slowest setting will automatically "speed" up because the speed sensitive feature presumes you are hitting more rain drops because of your speed. If you come to a stop light or stop sign, the slowest setting becomes very slow. Almost non-existant. If you turn on your wipers to the slowest setting when not moving they will function at their default speed.

Another similar example, if you turn on your wipers when moving, the highest intermittent setting will automatically "speed" up to the low setting. This is done again because the speed sensitive feature presumes you are hitting more rain drops because of your speed. If you come to a stop light or stop sign, the fastest intermittent setting becomes intermittent again.

I am not sure if all models of the Ridgeline come with the speed sensitive feature or not. I have the RTL-SR and my wipers perform like I mentioned above.

My '03 Accord EX-V6 had speed sensitive wipers, I believe the other Accord models did not have this feature.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the speed sensitive wipers also automatically give the windshield a wipe when ever you take your foot off of the brake pedal when fully stopped no matter where you are at in the intermittent cycle.

 

[shingles]

Shingles, I probably have the speed sensitive setting thing going on; however, when moving, the lowest rung of intermittant is too fast and does not handle mist or really light rain well. The next rung up is even faster and top rung is like intermittant is not even on, just wiping all the time like slow speed full on mode. Where is this speed sensitive control point? An online manual would be a good feature for Honda to put on their web site so I could search for key words like "speed-sensitive". Maybe this controller is too smart for its own and my good. Thanks.

Yeah, it's not "slow" enough for when it's barely raining. Usually in this situation, I just turn it off and use the mist function.

 

[BillB]

Nevada, interesting theory on moving or stopped when wipers are engaged as to how they set their speed. I have an RTS and definitely there is a speed variable involved in my control's programming. Personally, I would favor no speed variable included and deal with a constant intermittant speed at the setting I choose. And, I would like a slower speed at the lowest setting. I wonder if there is anyway to alter the settings timers from a programming aspect or if a different switch could be substituted. I'm glad I don't live in Seattle where it rains all the time.

 

[fatboy]

I just drove my Ridge for the 1st time in the rain & discovered this feature (pretty cool). But does anyone have an answer as to how the variable wiper speeds actually work?

 

[DoctorJ]

The speed control is in front of the wiper switch. It varies the speed like any other intermittent control.

 

[fatboy]

Maybe I should clarify. The wiper speed interval varies from the time that you are at a stop & when you are moving. As you choose different ranges of the variable wiper settings, the speed of the vehicle also impacts the wiping intervals.

 

[BillB]

I started this thread awhile ago and have done some playing with the controls recently to try and find how best to set the speeds. My conclusion is that this is a crappy, cheaply deployed intermittant wiper system with little hope in providing the solutions I would have expected from a not cheap vehicle. You have your choice of 3 settings and one manual intervention speed. Intermittant, slow constant, fast constant, and on demand mist swipe. In intermittant, when you slow down to about 5 miles per hour or slower, the speed will come to almost a complete stop, but will swipe occasionally even when completely stopped. This works this way at any of the ring positions. The lowest speed ring position is definitely too fast in a light misting rain and the wipers will squeek and be generally annoying. To use the misting function in this condition by manually turning the knob when you need to clear the window is equally annoying and distracting. In the top ring position, the speed is identical to the constant slow setting, with the only advantage that I can see in this entire system - that when you come to a stop, this constant speed slows to a stop like all other ring positions. I don't know if others have this type of ring feel, but there is a very non-distinct setting point between the ring stops and the ring almost feels like it could move on its own if you were on a bouncy road. I thought maybe these intermediate "stops" would allow a more finite control of speeds, but to my dismay, they did not give any more control. If t rained all the time where I lived, I would definitely consider an aftermarket intermittant wiper control replacement system if such a thing existed.

 

[Truckin']

I don't like this much either. It does not go slow enough for light rain, therefore, DH tends to leave the wipers off longer, letting lots of rain drops gather on the windshield. It interferred with many photo taking opportunities on our trip to Canada where we had rain about three quarters of the days. I've gotten pretty good at clicking between wiper swipes, but taking a photo through rain drops does not work at all unless I want to show how much rain we were subjected to.

 

[captmiddy]

While I may not agree with the settings and design, I by no measure would say it is a cheap implementation. What they tried to do was good, the way they did it was bad. The design is fine it just needs to be refined. Buy a first year model of a car and you get to be the one who tells the manufacturer what needs revision. This vehicle is very well engineered, with a few minor common build flaws and a few greater than minor build flaws, which is indicative of the fact that this is year one. I have no problem with the wipers myself, I may want them to go a little slower but so far I haven't had the chattering problem of them running too fast for the rain.

 

[Whaleya]

I like the wipers. If I am stopped and start moving they wipe, in addition they seem to wipe less frequently when I am stopped.

-W

 

[vincent007]

I'm not impressed with the intermitant wipers, though I would have paid a little more for rain sensing wipers. I have them on my other vehicle and they are great in that you never(rarley) need to adjust them. thats at least my two cents.

 

[Wisconsinite]

I concur with all of the above with regards to the crappy intermittant wiper settings. Wiping far too often in the slowest setting, etc......

What is most disappointing is being a new 2009 owner and searching for this topic and finding the issue dates back to 2005, and has never been refined/adjusted.

Am I splitting hairs? Probably. But it's frustrating to have simple features missing or sub-par on my Honda that are standard on the crappy GM fleet vehicles I drive (textual info on radio display, and a manual "off" setting for DRLs being others). I still love my Ridgeline, and consider all of my criticism constructive.

 

[Skip]

Now that you mention it...............
What's up with the speed up and slow down on accelerating and braking?
I just wish they had instructions on these finer points in the manual or in a video. My quest continues.....................
SF

 

[djsteinkelln]

This wiper system blows my 06' civic's out of the water. With the civic its 3 speeds thats it, so maybe you just don't know how good you have it!

 

[bikerbudmatt]

I concur with all of the above with regards to the crappy intermittant wiper settings. Wiping far too often in the slowest setting, etc......

What is most disappointing is being a new 2009 owner and searching for this topic and finding the issue dates back to 2005, and has never been refined/adjusted.

Am I splitting hairs? Probably. But it's frustrating to have simple features missing or sub-par on my Honda that are standard on the crappy GM fleet vehicles I drive (textual info on radio display, and a manual "off" setting for DRLs being others). I still love my Ridgeline, and consider all of my criticism constructive.

On my 2010 I don't find it wipes too often in a mist on the slowest setting. Perhaps this has been refined for the past two model years.

This entire thread (with the possible exception of "I would add an aftermarket intermittent wiper system if such a thing existed") really belongs in the "Dear Honda…" forum section if people are interested in offering feedback to the manufacturer. Otherwise (though I'm taking your particular remark about constructive criticism seriously) it's just another resurrected whine thread.