Poor design... a cautionary tale, always turn your wipers off

[Yorkshire Hillbilly]

I've been fairly happy with the lacking ignition or start/stop button... that is, until the below happened:

It had been raining the previous evening, so I'd had the wipers on and didn't think to turn them off before I got out of the car.

The next morning the car was covered in snow so I carefully brushed away all the snow from around the doors etc. before opening them but... as soon as I sat down, and before I had a chance to close the door, the blasted wipers started up again and swooped all the snow from the windscreen into the inside of the car. It was in all the door bin, all up in the window switches, the door handles and even the centre console.

I'm guessing that in the climate of the countries the car was designed / manufactured they don't get snow. Otherwise, there would be a line of code that said "if door open do not windscreen wipe"

 

[Everest]

Oops... you haven't been studying Burl's Tips and tricks then!

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

Frequently complained about on here......

I've swept the rain into my open door more than once!

Just have to "try' and remember to switch them off at the end of the journey.

backseat got a good soak!

looks like im accidentally hitting the button when I exit the car! Anybody else?

www.mgevs.com

 

[siteguru]

Ref. snow covered windscreen - you should have swept that clear yourself first; no point in putting excess load on the wiper motor(s) unnecessarily and potentially burning it/them out.

 

[Anon70]

It will be one of those lazy LHD to RHD conversion decisions, where they just kept the wipers set up for LHD cars

 

[Everest]

- but that would mean the driver would be looking through the low swept side - I had that in an old Renault many years ago, but not seen it in the last 30 years or so?

 

[siteguru]

RHD MG4 has wipers the correct way round.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

It will be one of those lazy LHD to RHD conversion decisions, where they just kept the wipers set up for LHD cars

The LHD wipers are the mirror opposite to the UK versions, we just get wet on the other side, so is the windscreen and camera position so parts incompatible (windscreen) if you are in foreign climes .

 

[Deleted member 18292]

When we had the blast of snow last week I did the exact same thing as you! Was a fun drive into work with a wet backside.

 

[InnocentSmith]

Another version of this annoyance is setting your wipers to service position to clean/dry the windshield, and forgetting to put the wipers down before sitting in the car to move it. Yes, wipers went back to their normal position scratching the underside of the bonnet. Felt so stupid when it happened Luckily, the scratch was very minor and can't be seen from the outside, only if you look closely to the underside off the bonnet's edge

 

[deke]

I've been fairly happy with the lacking ignition or start/stop button... that is, until the below happened:

It had been raining the previous evening, so I'd had the wipers on and didn't think to turn them off before I got out of the car.

The next morning the car was covered in snow so I carefully brushed away all the snow from around the doors etc. before opening them but... as soon as I sat down, and before I had a chance to close the door, the blasted wipers started up again and swooped all the snow from the windscreen into the inside of the car. It was in all the door bin, all up in the window switches, the door handles and even the centre console.

View attachment 32517

I'm guessing that in the climate of the countries the car was designed / manufactured they don't get snow. Otherwise, there would be a line of code that said "if door open do not windscreen wipe"

I feel for you. That is bad luck and put design by the make but possibly nothing to do with the country they're made on. The only reason I say this is because the original Nissan Juke 4x4 which I bought for winter driving here, did not have heated door mirrors. I found out from Nissan Japan (where they get a lot of snow) that the bright sparks that made necessary technology decisions for each country the car is sold in, told Japan that the UK didn't need heated mirrors. Huh??? Even more annoyingly they could be retrofitted but again someone in England decided they are not needed and so the retrofit pack was never sold in the UK. Perhaps the decision about the wipers was not made in China (where it snows). I bet you won't do it again.

It will be one of those lazy LHD to RHD conversion decisions, where they just kept the wipers set up for LHD cars

Surely if they are setup for lhd the snow or rain will will do the same but on the left instead of the right.

 

[ReintjeWA]

Surely if they are setup for lhd the snow or rain will will do the same but on the left instead of the right.

Which wouldn’t be an issue because that’s the passenger side. The issue is that the wipers swipe water/snow towards the driver’s side in a RHD car, which means you’d somehow have to close the door before your bum touches the seat.

MG could’ve prevented this issue with this setup;

My Peugeot RCZ has this style, I love it, but my wife finds it “disconcerting” and says it’s wrong because “it’s not a bus”.

 

[ReintjeWA]

You know what though, having a look at the website I liberated that gif from, I guess it is the correct setup for RHD cars, otherwise you are left with the unwiped portion of the window in front of the driver.

Now I guess the question is, can someone with a LHD MG4 confirm which way their wipers wipe?

 

[Scotsman]

In the 1980s mercedes had a single arm system fitted in the centre of the screen it cleaned 86% of the screen but was discontinued due to complex mechanism system I think ? I don't know why that system hasn't been modified and introduced? Saying that the Peugeot set up is a good one mercedes use that and some fords also me thinks.

 

[MG Clive]

You know what though, having a look at the website I liberated that gif from, I guess it is the correct setup for RHD cars, otherwise you are left with the unwiped portion of the window in front of the driver.

View attachment 41427

Now I guess the question is, can someone with a LHD MG4 confirm which way their wipers wipe?

The wipers go the opposite way on the LHD MG4.

 

[ReintjeWA]

In the 1980s mercedes had a single arm system fitted in the centre of the screen it cleaned 86% of the screen but was discontinued due to complex mechanism system I think ? I don't know why that system hasn't been modified and introduced? Saying that the Peugeot set up is a good one mercedes use that and some fords also me thinks.

Yes the mono blade system! Probably because it’s so much about share holders and profits nowadays, everybody ends up with the cheapest option.

 

[Scotsman]

Yes the mono blade system! Probably because it’s so much about share holders and profits nowadays, everybody ends up with the cheapest option.

View attachment 41429

Yeh absolutely profits first . But single blade definitely the way to go , or sometimes I just get the wife to sit on the roof with the squeegee? Oh piece and quiet it's bliss

 

[Rolfe]

In the 1980s mercedes had a single arm system fitted in the centre of the screen it cleaned 86% of the screen but was discontinued due to complex mechanism system I think ? I don't know why that system hasn't been modified and introduced? Saying that the Peugeot set up is a good one mercedes use that and some fords also me thinks.

A friend of mine has one of these cars. He's still running it. I didn't realise these wipers had been discontinued. He said he was a little apprehensive when he got the car, as regards reliability, but it turned out that the damn thing was so over-engineered it has never given him a moment's trouble. The cute way it sort of dips and shuffles to the other side on every wipe is fascinating.

 

[Scotsman]

A friend of mine has one of these cars. He's still running it. I didn't realise these wipers had been discontinued. He said he was a little apprehensive when he got the car, as regards reliability, but it turned out that the damn thing was so over-engineered it has never given him a moment's trouble. The cute way it sort of dips and shuffles to the other side on every wipe is fascinating.

Still running brilliant, do you think your mg will still be running in 40 years time? Now that I think about it I won't be running in 40 years time