Toys4RJill

tex2670

It does make what you said false when you keep saying that rain sensing wipers seem to go haywire and swipe if you blow on them lightly. One tiny droplet of water on the sensor does not cause the wipers to swipe. So keeping the glass clean is irrelevant. And, as someone said above, the easier solution is to move the wiper stalk to off when it's not raining, rather than constantly worrying about how clean your windshield might be just in case you get a drop of water on in it.

My windshield was replaced because it had a crack in it, probably from a rock. Which would be a much more common occurrence than defective glass.

tex2670

I agree. Given how niche wagons are in the USA, I don't see Buick pulling off a top of the line wagon; particularly if the Avenir trim is non-AWD. The Tour-X trim gives that plastic-cladding SUV style, so it might trick enough people into forgetting it's a wagon.

mmarshall

If the rain-sensing feature can be turned off, yes, that's one good possibility.

Agreed. I've had several of them done myself over the years. Part of it is that paving and construction crews are often careless, and don't clean up properly after themselves, leaving a lot of debris on the road.

tex2670

What do you mean "if"? All wipers have an OFF setting. Rain-sensing merely replaces the INT function.

LexBob2

Yup. If it starts to rain just hit the button or move the stalk. Easy peasy.

mmarshall

I was referring to the rain-sensing function...and if (?) one could dismantle that apart from the other wiper functions. I'll agree, however, that if the rain-sensing function simply replaces the INT, that's a good set-up...wouldn't mind having it myself.

Toys4RJill

Aron9000

Same reason Ford and Eddie Bauer parted ways. Same thing with Lincoln and all those 70's/80's pimp-mobile editions like the Bill Blass, Versace, Givenchy, Cartier, Valentino, Emilio Pucci, I'm sure I'm forgetting one. The car companies are cheap bastards and don't want to pay those fashion houses the rights to use their names on the car.

mmarshall

A good point.....except that Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean aren't fashion-houses. They make outdoor gear. I'm assuming, though, by your response, that the principle is the same.

tex2670

You keep saying "if". But there's no speculation--this is not an emerging technology. Cars with rain sensing wipers have the following settings: OFF - AUTO - LOW - HIGH; just like any other wipers, except if you have rain sensing, you don't have INT; you have AUTO instead, and then you have the ability to adjust the sensitivity of the AUTO, rather than manually adjusting the speed of the INT.

This is how rain sensing wipers work.

In fact, to me, the biggest issue with rain sensing wipers is that if you leave them on, and forget, and go into an automated car wash, you may be in for a problem if you don't switch them to OFF quick enough.
They can be both. Eddie Bauer and LL Bean definitely have some great outdoor gear, but they also hawk their label too. Some of their clothing is unjustifiably overpriced. That's why it goes on sale so often.

Toys4RJill

There are numerous Buick videos on how rainsense works. Great job Jill!!! The GM wipers use infrared light to determine rain.

http://www.autohow2.com/video/window...e-buick-encore

Toys4RJill

Buick rainsense wipers do not work in a car wash. If a Buick is moving less than 5MPH, the rainsense does not work. Toyota does not have this feature so the car wash concern is valid.

I am assuming we can put to rest the argument of dirt on the windshield causing scratches as more than likely wind over 5MPH will blow it all away.

tex2670

Good feature.

mmarshall

Not all dirt.....but I agree we've covered it enough. SCRATCH-OUT will help with some small very fine scratches, but it tends to leave a film on glass. It is designed more for clearcoat paint than for glass.