kevin-L

So, there's a huge design flaw with the w205 wiper blade system. I spent some time detailing my C43 today and I had my wipers in the raised position to clean and coat the windshield. While I had the glass cleaner out I decided I'd wipe off all the 360 camera lenses too, but you have to turn the car on to get the rear camera to pop out. Even with the wiper switch being in the off position, as soon as I hit the power button, the wipers returned to their resting position, despite being up, which brutally scrapes the wiper arms against the lip of the hood, completely removing the paint even through the xpel ppf I have installed. I'm pretty upset about this, I put a lot off money and effort into keeping my exterior looking brand new, just for the car to damage itself. I have no idea what the best way to fix this would be, but hopefully someone reads this and can prevent their car from scraping itself.

Malar

The Car didnt damage itself.
Read the Manual, its written that the car should NOT be started with the Wiper Arms up.

So yes, YOU damaged your Car by not following the Manual.

kevin-L

I've read the manual but I honestly thought the wipers wouldn't activate if I had the switch in the off position, like every other car I've owned. I guess I overestimated the engineers when I expected that switching the wipers to off after putting the wipers up would prevent them from moving as soon as you boot up the electronics. Just because there's a warning buried somewhere in the manual doesn't mean that it's not a major design flaw to not have some kind of protection against this happening. If anything it means they were aware of this being possible but decided against doing anything to prevent it, I doubt it'd be very hard for them to have set it up so that the wipers don't automatically go back down when you start the car with the setting in the off position, or at least not have the wipers activate when you're just turning on the electronics. What if someone put their wipers up so they wouldn't freeze to the windshield, and wanted to turn on the defrost to help get ice off before putting the wipers back down?

alexasa

iTrader: (1)

lol. sorry to hear - thanks for the heads up

RichardCranium3

I just read the user manual to see what MB's official procedure is...I've always wondered when cleaning the car because you can't just lift them up as they're obstructed by the hood. Classic German engineering! For those reading, the manual outlines operating the wipers and just turning off the car when they hit 12 o'clock on the windshield! LOL! While I would certainly be upset at this ridiculous procedure, I understand the mechanical logic of how this all works.

Think of it from a programming perspective...the car doesn't know the difference between changing the wiper blades vs defrosting intent...I'm sure it's programmed in a very German manner to clear any potential visual obstruction to the driver upon startup. This includes returning the wipers to default storage position if they're left up on the glass, as no one would willingly drive around with the wipers half cocked across the glass. To your statement about pulling them up to defrost, in their perspective, I have no doubt they were programmed under the mentality never thinking anyone would need to lift them off the glass..."our clientele aren't peasants and always park their chariots indoors and well protected!" Also knowing that the defrost vents first point of contact is the glass immediately underneath the wipers, thus melting any ice their first.

Poorly designed ignoring the realities of what people do in the real world...sure. Mercedes fault they said "don't do this" and you did...definitely not. Sorry friendo...this is on you

munis

Happened to me too the first time I was washing the car. I just used a touch up pen and moved on

MVEOVR

Damn that sucks, but thanks for the heads up!

Dieseldan9

iTrader: (1)

same............ learned a lesson for sure

GuardianVA

It really should be titled in the manual for both cleaning and changing the blades, but here is the procedure:

unr1

Thanks for sharing. Sorry it had to happen.

Bankroll

Sorry it happened to you, but is this your first automobile? All wipers "park" when the ignition is turned on, and the wiper switch off, if the wipers are not "parked" when the ignition was shut off.

kevin-L

This is my 5th car and I can't remember any of my previous cars having the wipers do anything at all when the wiper switch is off. My last car I could drive around with the wipers in whatever position they were in when I switched the wipers off. I think switching it to off just cut all power to the wiper system. This is my first german car though, and the least analog.

boosteddub69

I'm sorry this happened and it's obvious that you're pissed. Trust me, I know all about being pissed off at your car. Just chalk it up to lesson learned, touch it up or if it's really bothering you, take it to a paint shop, get it fixed and move on.

Bankroll

So you are trying to tell us, that it is normal for the wipers to, for example, stop in the middle of the windshield when you turn them off, and you are driving? Just keep blaming the car, if it makes you feel better.

Harold1898

Best to just touch it up and move on. Life is too short to remain upset by something like this.

stockbmw

I used to attach flags on my wipers when I was young and switch it on. Sadly I noticed it right away you can't do that to our cars.