Wiper Configurations

Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Messages
3,518
Location
A Barrier Island
My Ford is the first vehicle I've had where the wipers park in the center and operate in opposite directions. Some Hondas have this configuration also. On the Ford the swept area does not seem larger than the more orthodox method where the wipers move in the same direction.. Could this just be a holdover from when wipers were powered by engine vacuum? It seems to make the linkages more complicated. The geometry of the mechanism looks different.

Wipers.jpg
 
As windshields keep getting shallower angles for aero they end up having much more total area - all in the vertical direction. The wiper configs are getting more complex to clean them. My Toyota is traditional function, but the drivers side is literally twice the size of the passenger and cleans likley 70% of the windshield by itself. The driver side is tiny and has a extremely long arm with a small angle to make it travel basically up and back on the far passenger side. The gear ratio on them are hence 2:1 likely as well - with the big one travelling very fast, and the small one very slow to stay in sync.

My guess is the change has more to do with the size and shape of the windshield than anything.
 
If memory serves me correctly (car long gone)my 1980 Corvette had the same wiper configuration as well and that was some small windshield.
 
My Civic has opposing wipers and I prefer that. Most of the area not wiped is near the rear view mirror so it doesn't matter. Also, during the first half of the wipe it moves all the water to the sides, unlike the traditional setup.
 
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