The owner's manual indicates that 'the amount of rain or snow has settled on the windshield is measured.' Is this measured by an infrared sensor in the wipers or is there something in the windshield?
There is one sensor only, in the rear-view mirror mounting. Cover that up and the wipers don't activate automatically...
Here's a
link
to a TRW *.pdf file that explains how the sensor works.
If anyone is debating whether or not to order the rain sensor, I can state that it has worked perfectly for me after several days of varying rainy conditions. It speeds up and slows down as the rain increases or decreases. I have it set on maximum sensitivity. You just have to remember to flip the wiper lever up or down after starting the engine in order to enable its operation.
Its a very convenient feature. Having to frequently adjust the intermittent wiper in my Audi TTbecame a nuisance.
Wow.I'm justnow thinking about what I've just said. Is this the height of laziness, or what?/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/embaressed_smile.gif
Maybe the height of laziness, but my 2002 turbo has this, and after several trips across the country in all kinds of weather, I have to say it's a great convenience. Set it and forget it. It not only measures the amount of precipitation and increases the wiper speed, but it also takes the car's speed into consideration, increasing wiper speed with the car's speed. 2 weeks ago I drove our
BMW
525i sport wagon from Palo Alto to Las Vegas and the weather was all over the map, hard rain, sprinkles, no rain with lots of spray from other cars from the wet roadway, and I was constantly fiddling with the intermittent wiper speed - it drove me nuts. I've ordered this on my new
Cayman
.
brad
If you have
PCM
, I think you can set it so the rain sensor is on when you start the car vs. manually selecting it.
Ruby
Anyone know if the rain sensors and self-dimming mirror can be retrofitted?
JHellow
jhellow,
You might want to check with your dealer. The rain sensor would require replacing the windshield since the sensor is built into it. I had my windshield on the turbo replaced because of some rock damage, and the part alone (just the glass) was $800, it was almost $1200 including the labor to install... luckily insurance paid for it. If a retrofit were possible, I doubt it would be worth the serious money involved.
brad
Brad:
Thanks. I did not realize the sensor was built into the windshield. I thought it might attach on the inside and measure any change in refractive index or some such.
JHellow
Jhellow,
Well, to be more precise I guess you could say it's built 'onto' the windshield but when you order a new windshield, it's part of the part. The rearview mirror then attaches to the sensor.
brad
