Mine seem to do that too, like sometimes they go quicker than other times.

 

While your situation may be indicative of a bigger problem, you might want to try applying rain-x or a similar water repellent to your windshield and wipers. The wipers are each controlled individually (whereas in nearly all other cars, they are controlled by one motor and joined by a linkage assembly) so that the wipers are designed to not run into each other and if one is dragging against the windshield, they will both slow down. Otherwise, the fast one would keep popping over or hitting the slow one.

 

Oddly enough, last night it was raining on my way home from work and I had them full speed again and they'd swipe full speed 9 times, they'd start to slow down and hesitate for only one swipe, and then back to full speed 9 more times, and the process repeats. Maybe the car just... Knows when it's actually raining vs me spraying it at a carwash? Lol I don't have the "auto" wipers but maybe they're all rain sensing to a degree?

 

Mine seem to do that too, like sometimes they go quicker than other times.

Hi guys,

Let's not get caught in the rain, so to speak. Have you been to your dealers to have this checked out? Once you have an appointment set up, send me a PM with your VIN, mileage, best daytime phone number, full name, and dealer name/location. I'll see what I can do to assist.

Meagan

 

I live about 35 minutes from the dealer, is there a way I can go to my regular mechanic to look at it and then if it is actually an issue and not just me(I noticed it during a big snow storm so I'm not sure if the wind was actually holding the wipers back?) I then go to the dealer to get it fixed? I just don't want to drive up there for nothing, you know? Full time student and working full time, sometimes time is actually tight.

 

Mine does the same thing 2014 Focus.
Bringing it up for next maintenance cycle at my local dealer.

 

I also use Rain X.. And I never run my wipers much.
Usually I only run them when passing a truck (due to the spray off the truck tires) And I pass them fast.. slowing behind until I can go all the way past 18 wheelers all in one fast run.. I would NEVER drive next to an 18 wheeler)

Most of the time I only flip the lever a one time wipe.. sitting at a stoplight. etc.

I bet I have never even RUN my wipers to nine swipes of the glass.. LOL [popcorn]

 

I've been using Rain-X since 1987. I rarely if ever use my wipers and when I do they're in interval mode. I use the rear wiper more than the front since they rain and road spray doesn't roll off when driving due to air flow.

 

I have a '15 Race Red manual SE hatch that is doing the same exact thing. Sunday morning I was driving through a crazy downpour and put the wipers on high. After about 45 seconds they slowed down to normal speed on their own, and after another 45 second they went into intermittent mode, however the switch was still set to high speed. I'd have had to pull over if I hadn't already put rain x in the windshield.
Curiously I'm also having problems with the HVAC vent settings. If I have dashboard and foot selected I get no airflow from the dash vents. I had the car in a couple weeks ago and was told the dash selector was reprogrammed because it did not know where home was, and was told that my wipers were operating normally. They even showed me the very vague description in my owners manual of how intermittent wipers work. For a couple weeks after I got the car back the HVAC vents worked, and my wipers now were working correctly, staying on normal speed and not slowing to intermittent on their own. Last week my vents went wonky again, and the wipers were now acting up again the next time it rained. The car goes back in next week, but I don't think the service guys are understanding what I mean about the wipers slowing down on their own, and I do not have rain sensing wipers. I'll post a follow up after the dealer visit next week.

 

Update: My service advisor just called and told me he and his tech just got another car on the lot to show the same fault as mine, so he's starting the process with Ford today to get this and my wonky HVAC controls figured out. He's going to have an answer as to how to fix it by my appointment next Wednesday, and thinks he may be repairing a lot of 15's with this issue as at least two other cars on his dealer lot have the same writer problem.

 

Wiper problem. Damn auto correct

 

Definitely let me know what they do and if there is some sort of known error code. I'll have to check my HVAC vents. They've never seemed out of place to me, although I rarely flip the knob to both dash and feet. I'll give it a shot and let you know.

 

Got my car back last night. The left wiper motor had too much resistance causing the system to go into safe mode to keep the motor from burning out. Picked it up in the rain, it works.

 

What an odd little quirk to be causing that. Good that it protects itself, but still odd. Did your HVAC problem get any attention? My vents seem to work just fine but my wipers are still dumb. Luckily it doesn't rain often enough that I really have a big problem with it.

 

My left wiper was difficult to move by hand with the ignition off before it was replaced. Nowhere on the vent problem. They said that's a normal characteristic of the 15 manual control vents despite what the manual says. There's a thread someone started about that issue a few days ago though, so I'm not the only one.

 

Not just 2015 wipers acting this way

I found this thread because I just paid $300 at the dealer for a new wiper motor and the car came home with the same problem. My car is a 2011 Focus. Never had this problem until late last winter - started in a serious snow storm while driving home from work.

No problem all summer, but as soon as the weather got cold the wipers wouldn't keep running to clear frost from the windshield. Just like someone else here said - on high runs 9 times before slowing down (and eventually stopping) and on low runs 19 times and then slows.

Dealer couldn't find anything wrong. My husband traced it to the driver side wiper (by lifting them one at a time and running them - no prob when the driver side was lifted - problem occurred when driver side was down and passenger side lifted).

Dealer was still baffled but we decided to change the motor. They did state clearly that they didn't know whether it would fix it.

I'm not too happy now to find out that this is apparently not an isolated problem. So for the dealer to not be able to find anything about it in their database isn't impressive.

I'm going to try RainX, and I'll have my husband look to see if something is binding up that driver side wiper. But seriously - this shouldn't be happening. I really can't drive in the snow, knowing what happened last winter, and I live in Maine!

CORRECTION: 2012 FOCUS HATCHBACK SE

 

Need to post the actual car type.

I was about to comment that the '11 is an entirely different system when I noticed you listed the car as a hatchback, and those weren't avail. in the U.S./Canada in the '11 model year.

Assume you actually have a '12 model (MkIII) purchased in '11?

 

Oops! Yes you are right sailor. It is a 2012 model, purchased in October of 2011.
2012 Focus Hatchback SE.

I should also clarify that the wipers did not start acting this way until late last winter. At that point the car already had over 70,000 miles on it. So SOMETHING that used to work better isn't working so well now.

 

OK, that adds up then.

From what I've seen posted the new electronic controlled wiper motors have an overload protection that slows or cuts them off after too much time swiping a dry window, your comment on it happening when trying to clear frost would qualify for that.

For the clearing frost situation, the best I've found is switching to Prestone De-icer type washer fluid for the winter (you can leave it all year) as that will dissolve most frost rather quickly. Regular fluid tends to freeze on a cold windshield instead, so it's not much help until the car is hot.

Heavy snow can be an issue with many types, how best to handle depends a lot on temperatures. When it's warm (for winter) keeping heat to the windshield at the max. can do the melting to help the wipers clear it, with regular use of the washers to help keep the blades clear as they accumulate ice & start to freeze. Gotta use the wipers intermittently if the windshield starts to get dry, they can melt a bit in the parked position with defrost on full.

When it's stinkin' cold, and the road isn't wet with traffic throwing slop, I like to back off on the defrost to let the windshield get cold so the snow doesn't melt & stick - blows right off then. It's an odd method for particular cases, helps when it's SO cold the defrost can't melt it well enough. Transition from hot windshield to no defrost & the reverse is the tough part, if you give the wipers a swipe with only a little melted above them and the rest cold & dry it puts ice right across the cold part and you need washers & heat to clear it again.

If using the hot windshield method keeping the blades moving helps keep them from freezing. I'll use washer to keep the windshield/blades wet as needed and to melt the blades rather than let them stop & freeze in a shape that won't clear the whole windshield.

Heavy snow is not easy to deal with, finding what works best for the car in changing conditions is a challenge.

 

I have a 2012 SEL Sedan and It has the rain sensing wipers, but damn I really hate these. The moment a tiny amount of water is on the windshield, the wipers turn, and I want it like my 2002 Focus where I can have it on the lowest setting and it has like 10 second pauses between wipes, but on my 2012, even on the lowest setting, the times between wipes can be either 1-2 seconds, or up to like 10 seconds, its never consistent and I had to recently get new wipers since the ones I had were wobbling. I was amazed really at how long the wipers are on the MK3's.

Is there anyway to get these to have long pauses between wipes without it wiping with the smallest sense of rain?

 

I would point out that the instructions on the RAIN-X wipers say to run the wipers on dry for 2 minutes after installation. Given this thread, I would advice against doing that and just use them normally. (P.S. They really are fantastic).

Seems weird that a fault wouldn't have been recorded if the wipers had gone into safe mode.

 

Thanks for the suggestion sailor. I'll put Rainx on the windows, try that brand of washer fluid, get new fresh blades, and keep all of this in mind.

While, thankfully, your solutions make logical sense, it's unbelievable to me that Ford (or any manufacturer) would design a car this way in the first place, and not recall it when the issue was discovered.

I've been driving for over forty years, both personally and professionally. In recent years I have logged over 50,000 miles a year and, working for an electric utility in Maine, you can imagine that I was driving in all kinds of weather. I have NEVER had a vehicle that the wipers didn't keep going under all conditions. Sure they ice up sometimes and you have to stop and clear them, but they don't just slow down or stop.

Anyway - thanks again for the suggestions. I'll be sharing all this with my dealer and expressing my dissatisfaction. I've been a regular customer of theirs for over a decade.

 

You know you can buy Rain-X wipers rather than having to get the fluid?

 

CPMaine - sounds like I was preaching to the choir on that one, you're not new to the Fun.

This OG would prefer the older simpler system that doesn't depend on electronics for synchronizing wipers, much less anything that "senses" too much drag on them to slow them down for a drying windshield. Long aero windshield & long blades with the aero/rain edge to the windshield are all poor for Winter IMHO.

Experienced some of your weather trucking up the pike & beyond, from heavy wet snow in Portland to deep fluff in the cold up beyond Bangor. Those times up north were among the few when running without wipers at all worked best, the cloud of snow behind the few moving at speed trailed each by at least 1/4 mi..

I became a convert to the winter fluid use whenever practical a long time ago now when prestone was the first one available. Clears frost on a car parked outside and the refrost you can sometimes get when starting to move with a cold windshield. Much better for clearing ice/snow from the blades & windshield as well, even on those bad days when you throw max heat to the windshield and flick the speed from low to high trying to knock off the accumulation.

Wal-Mart had good deals on it in the past where the price was no worse than the OTR price for std. fluid. Convinced more than one truck owner to pay for that instead of putting the regular on the fuel bill, I'd do the extra work to stockpile it at $3 a jug rather than be lazy and just buy it at a truck stop when needed. Paid for it when running my own as well.

Runs from Buffalo to Maine or down to NYC got the snows regularly, all over the Northeast the blizzards could get interesting and I count WV and up in that category. Anything to make the going easier was worth it when pushing through the nastiness. Saw more closer to home here than when running the whole country I think, fun all over but not as often.

 

Hi. Have the same problem. As above just bought the car. At 82,000. The dealer say is could be the battery at fault. It’s scary in bad weather. It’s got 6 month warranty.