Intermittent Wiper and rain sensor
 

Hi Mazda3 Owners

I am just curious about new feature of Mazda3, "Intermittent Wiper and rain sensor". How does it work ? Is it varibale Intermittent Wiper ? Is it allow you set variable time for fixed ?

Thanks for your anwser.

well if you leave the feature on 'Auto' it will automatically wipe when it senses rain, the degree of sensitivity can be adjusted by the adjuster switch where the wiper controls are. It only adjusts the sensitivity. There is not intermittent wiper setting, only the auto rain sensing wiper setting. I can possibly forsee future problems with this feature.

the feature sucks. it constantly smears the glass. but maybe the wipers are just crappy.
adjusting the sensitivity doesn't really do anything.
intermitent wipers would have been a lot better.

How rain sensor works?
 

Rain-sensing Wipers
In the past, automakers have tried to either eliminate the wipers or to control their speed automatically. Some of the schemes involved detecting the vibrations caused by individual raindrops hitting the windshield, applying special coatings that did not allow drops to form, or even ultrasonically vibrating the windshield to break up the droplets so they don't need to be wiped at all. But these systems were plagued by problems and either never made it to production or were quickly axed because they annoyed more drivers than they pleased.

However, a new type of wiper system is starting to appear on cars that actually does a good job of detecting the amount of water on the windshield and controlling the wipers. One such system is made by TRW Inc., here is a PDF describing their rain sensor system. TRW Inc. uses optical sensors to detect the moisture. The sensor is mounted in contact with the inside of the windshield, near the rearview mirror.

The sensor projects infrared light into the windshield at a 45-degree angle. If the glass is dry, most of this light is reflected back into the sensor by the front of the windshield. If water droplets are on the glass, they reflect the light in different directions -- the wetter the glass, the less light makes it back into the sensor.


source

My auto wipers work fine. You don't have to use auto mode if you don't like it. In manual mode, the sensativity control turns into the wiper interval control.

Not sure of your year, but on the 2008 MS3 GT the wiper controls are: Off / Auto (with adjust for sensitivity) / ON-Low / ON-Fast.

There is no adjustment once you have them on "Manually".

With any vehicle your best bet is to read the Owners Manual.

I could be wrong, but I thought my 2010 worked in that way. I'll check it out the next chance I get. I normally just leave it on auto.

I love this feature on my 2009. The only complaint I have is sometimes when you start the car with a wet windshield you have the bump the lever to get them starts. The sensor seems to recognize drops of rain better than the streaks one finds on the windshield when it is parked in the rain.

How do you go about disabling this Automatic feature on a 2010 touring?

I live in WA st and this auto feature is too sensitive for the rain up here. I just want the regular interval timing wipers.

any suggestions?

thanx

I agree. the rain sensing on my 2006 is more trouble than its worth. I never had any problem with the old-school intermittent wipers. Bring them back so I can see where I'm going.

I have a 2004 mazde 3 and every time i turn the ignition on the wipers run about 12 seconde and stop where they want to ,where is no roin sensor on this car. Any one help me?