Is anybody happy with Rain Sensing?

[Billy4202]

Honest question.. why would anyone even want this feature?

turn on my wiper blades for me when it rains? I would disable this if my car had it.

Lol none of us had a choice. Want a Touring? You get it. Blame Honda's packaging. Can't be disabled either (this I don't agree with) Blame Honda again.

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[snowdog9]

I, too, was unhappy with mine at first. So much so that I decided to rainx the windshield and not use them. After a few weeks the rainx wore off to the point I needed to use wipers again...for some reason they seemed to work much better with a window that was treated with rainx vs stock. YMMV.

 

[johnc_22]

The rain-sensing feature doesn't seem to work at all. I end up manually tweaking the intermittent setting. Annoying in a brand new car. They worked great in my Audi.

 

[Porsche tech]

This from another thread about rain sensors:

New owner here. Just purchased a 1 year old Touring model and found the rain sensing wipers only performed like intermittent wipers. I would pull into my garage and they would continue to work in intermittent mode. Saw this:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM545590/SB-10083545-2280.pdf
from a previous poster on this thread and pulled fuse 18 "back up" (10 amp) and fuse 19 "audio" (15 amp), put them back in and now functions normally. Thanks to the guy that posted that link.--Dave

 

[zroger73]

My brother had a '16 Touring with rain-sensing wipers that seemed to intermittently work the opposite of what you'd expect. While it was pouring, they'd wipe only occasionally. After the rain let up, they'd start wiping at full speed. Then stop. Then start again.

 

[PhotoVoltaire]

Mine seem to work well most of the time. Occasionally they'll go into apeshit speed for no apparent reason, but this is rare. I've noticed if my wiper blades themselves are a bit dirty, they might leave some streaks over the sensor and run faster than I'd like, but after a few minutes of rain, it usually resolves itself.

 

[Mocha90210]

Mine have never worked properly, even after the dealer tried multiple things to correct it. So I tried Rain-X, and haven’t looked back since. I reapply every few months.

It’s too bad you don't have the ability to disable rain-sensing in the user options.

 

[mis3]

It’s too bad you don't have the ability to disable rain-sensing in the user options.

What? You cannot disable it?

 

[dick w]

What? You cannot disable it?

Not in the sense of reverting it to intermittent. You can turn it off and just use Lo/Hi/Mist on your own. But that completely defeats the purpose.

 

[BarracksSi]

I've started to like mine. Yeah, they freak out once in a while, but most of the time, they work well enough that I forget about activating them.

Of course, my previous car didn't even have variable speeds for its intermittent setting.

 

[WhiteTouringQC]

We bought a '16 Touring, in part, because of prior good ('99 BMW 135i) and fair ('12 Ford Focus Ti HB) experience with this feature on other cars. And we live somewhere that can be rainy. So it seemed like a good idea.

When we first got our Civic, the rain sensing wipers couldn't sense a downpour. After I took it in with my own squirt bottle filled with water and sprayed the windshield over the sensor and nothing happened, the dealer replaced the silicone bonding sheet between the sensor and the glass. Now they sense rain. But they still work like crap, no matter the sensitivity setting--which I usually keep at its minimum setting. They will always sense when rain starts but seem incapable of sensing when it slows to very light or changes in quantity/obscuration. Sometimes they even seem incapable of sensing when it stops--maybe it would eventually turn them off but I get tired of it wiping a more or less dry windshield and turn them off and start using Mist myself. I've also watched the rain slow to what I'd use traditional Honda Intermittent wipers in one of the lowest frequency settings--and all of a sudden the Civic "rain sensing" wipers go to full-on or highest speed. VERY annoying. The biggest problem is that these behaviors are not readily repeatable for the dealer.

Is anybody happy with 10th Gen Civic Rain Sensing wipers? Has anybody gotten any satisfaction complaining to the dealer? Are there any software TSBs? Do they work better on '17s or '18s than '16s?

Hi, Mine were quite erratic, as you just described. Went to the dealer and they changed the sensor, as there were several similar cases. Work perfectly since then.

 

[darkness975]

Is this a feature that is only found in the Touring models? I have the EX-T and I don't have it as far as I know. I do have intermittent speed options though.

 

[Mocha90210]

Is this a feature that is only found in the Touring models? I have the EX-T and I don't have it as far as I know. I do have intermittent speed options though.

Consider yourself lucky.

 

[BarracksSi]

I was reminded tonight that it gets absolutely baffled by a light mist.

 

[dick w]

I was reminded tonight that it gets absolutely baffled by a light mist.

High Speed? Sigh.

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