This is from a UK perspective, maybe that's the problem so please bear that in mind.

In the UK we sit on the right hand side of the car to drive. The wipers on most cars (Merc may be an exception with only one wiper, but all other single wipers seem to be as follows) seem to pivot on the right as you look at from them inside. This means that the first 'sweep' is from left to right. This first sweep is the one that will generally remove the mess (lets assume some huge bug has been splatted or a big load of bird mess) and deposits it generally on the rhs of the windscreen.

I have noticed that over time, the majority of the 'contents' of the windscreen end up either on the right on in the middle of the drivers side. A simple change of direction (i realise this requires some major design changes but its certainly easier than moving the drivers position to the left and changing the UK driving system to drive on the left) would seemingly help this situation which drives me (no pun intended) mad.

Is this the same as in the US or Europe - ie the same problem but inverted. I looked at a couple of dozen different models and makes and all appear to be the same.
-- dja, Sep 11 2001

Having had a single bladed Merc for a while I wholeheartedly agree with you, dja.

Another side to this is that the blade itself always ends up pushed against the glass the same way and loses some of its effectiveness. Parking it alternately seems an approach to this aspect.

Try looking for Japanese cars - they often have the wipers the 'right' way around as Japan also drives on the left.
-- snagger, Sep 13 2001


My Nissan has them go the opposite way, which causes the same problem for me, in the US.
-- StarChaser, Sep 13 2001


I suppose you could always wash the damn thing but that would take all the fun out of this idea
-- po, Sep 14 2001


Kind of hard to wash a car when you're on the Interstate at speed and some two pound bug has just covered the windshield in groo.
-- StarChaser, Sep 15 2001


Same problem with the UK Citroen BX.
-- Jim, Sep 15 2001


Isn't your description the right way for them to sweep? It is like this because there is always a corner that the arc of the wipers misses. If they sweep from left to right this missed arc is in the top left, away from the driver. Pivot them the other side and you will have some of the windscreen in front of the driver not cleared.

One exception ive seen to this is the Peugeot 206, which has some clever levering to "flick" the left hand wiper into this corner on its stroke, leaving little of the screen uncleared.
-- Bal, Oct 19 2004



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