Deadly windscreen wipers... Skoda. Simply Stupid.

[ausspace87]

I washed my car today. I also replaced the wiper blades with new ones. As I was in the middle of changing the wiper blades, I needed to move my car forward slightly to enable a relative to drive behind my car. As I started to drive forward my wipers realised they were in the "service position" and decided to put themselves away. They then hit the bonnet and the metal hooks on the end of the wiper arms smashed into the windscreen in two places. My windscreen is now completely cracked with one crack running halfway up the glass...
Skoda. Simply Clever...? Yeah right. The wipers should stay in the "service position" until you press the wiper controller again, regardless of if you start driving! My previous cars (also had rain sensing wipers) never automatically engaged the wipers unless the wiper stalk was pressed. I'm furious.

[Antiplastix]

Ummmmm, I dont think its the car thats "stupid". It doesnt have a brain, it cant think for its self. The operator on the other hand should be able to.

[Candyman]

I've heard of it happening to quite a few people

I don't use the service mode anymore when washing the car, just a wipe with the microfibre mitt soaked in car wash solution by running the mitt under the blade - cleans the screen and the blade

[jameshero]

well if you had to push the stalk to engage them, then they weren't really automatic wipers, did you have the stalk in the automatic or off position?

[ausspace87]

The stalk was in the "off" position. Hence the surprise when they engaged. One would think that when something is set to off, it would remain off until you turn it on again!

[Candyman]

They were off and returning to the off position.

Service mode is just that. VW don't expect someone to drive in service mode.

They worked as designed

[gregozedobe]

Is this behaviour described in your owner's manual ? If it is, then you now have some very good ($$$$) reasons to give said document a thorough read.

[hooba]

Holy moses, a Rover 75!

[woofy]

If you have a look I had the same thing happen in late 2008, I was washing the car, and moving it forward to dry in the garage, in my case it took paint off to bare metal on the driver facing edge of the bonnet. Was about $100 at the dealer to fix it up with a touchup guy, all good now.

I didn't blame the car though, they return to home position automatically, otherwise you would have an illegal situation where the wipers are blocking the drivers view. It was my first car with auto wipers, and I 100% blamed myself. I learnt my lesson, put them down before driving it anywhere...

[dArK5HaD0w]

The stalk was in the "off" position. Hence the surprise when they engaged. One would think that when something is set to off, it would remain off until you turn it on again!

u took the wipers out of the 'off'' position into a 'service' position.
the "service" position is not an off state.

its not a skoda fail, its an operator fail.
should b a lesson learnt. before u start the car, make sure the wipers r back on the windscreen.
the manual says so too.

the wipers were merely returning back to its "rest" position.

sorry to hear that this has happened though, as u now have a cracked windscreen.

Is this behaviour described in your owner's manual ? If it is, then you now have some very good ($$$$) reasons to give said document a thorough read.

its clearly stated on pg 63 of the octavia user manual.

[brad]

I have sympathy for the OP but I think this is another case of somebody stuffing up & trying to apportion the blame to another party.

Stuff happens. Sometimes it's an expensive lesson.

edit: Yes, I'm the first to admit to having massive brain farts in my time including trying to drive out of my garage with the hatch open. $800 lesson learned.

[tooch]

The stalk was in the "off" position. Hence the surprise when they engaged. One would think that when something is set to off, it would remain off until you turn it on again!

Sucks man, but every car I've ever had will return the wipers to the home position even with the switch set to off, as soon as you turn the ignition on.

[BottomScratcher]

I too sympathise with the OP, but it just isn't the car's fault mate. Aside from the warning in the book, if you were changing the wiper blades then you've probably washed the car often enough to know how the wiper service position works. Someone asks you to move the car, "Yeah, hang on", a momentary drift towards complacency, and before you know it, "Oh, $#@&!!!!!"

You consciously got into the car to drive it. Not far, but drive it none the less. People might do it, but I've never seen anyone changing wiper blades through the sunroof, or with someone hanging on to the bonnet with one hand and changing blades with the other while driving around, so it's fair to say that the wiper service position was never designed to be operated with the vehicle in motion, and sadly, that's all there is to it.

[Diesel_vert]

I'm with the OP.
I think it's presumptuous (like most German or German-derived cars) to take the wipers out of service mode without the operator saying so.

However, the owner's manual (which is vastly underrated in this forum) is very clear and specific on the risk of damage to the vehicle when the wipers are folded out.

Skoda have essentially covered themselves with that bit of info, so the blame is transferred to the operator.

[K1W1]

What's the old adage about a poor workman blaming his tools?
I'm sorry for the OP especially with a nearly $700 windscreen being broken but it's still operator error unfortunately. The thread should be retitled because the Skoda was not the stupid party in this problem.