Windscreen wiper.

[Chris Dance]

Since buying new Gen4 Prius in mid March there has been no necessity to use the windscreen wipers in rain. Yesterday in light rain the drivers side wiper was "juddering" and the rubber on the blade looked as if it would split. This happened with the wiper on slow speed. I cleaned the blade rubber with washing up liquid and ensured the screen was free of grease etc. Problem still existed. I took the car to the dealer today and he said there is nothing wrong with the wiper and this can happen because the drivers blade is longer than on previous Prius models and in light rain and slow speed it will "judder". I would be interested to know if other Gen 4 owners have this issue. I have never had this on other Prius cars I have owned.

[BhxTrev]

Hi Chris,

I've never had that problem on my Gen4 Prius Excel. It's probably a faulty wiper blade - worth trying another blade of the same size & I'm surprised the garage didn't do that!

[kithmo]

This happened on mine the very first time I used the wipers. Assuming it's just juddering in one direction just twist the end of the blade a little, in the opposite direction, to cure it.

[PeteB]

Mine have been impressive all the time, and still are after 1 year and 16,000 miles.

[Chris Dance]

Thanks for replies. Came through the Cotswolds this morning and the rain was not too heavy. ( Light Storms).. The drivers side wiper was juddering but it did clear the screen of water. I will leave it for now and see if the rubber eventually splits. The dealer knows about it and said there is nothing wrong and a new blade would do the same thing!!.  (Thanks for your tip kithmo. It did not work for me it judders both ways at the lower end of the "stroke".)

[Cyker]

You could also try some PIAA silicone wipers - I put a set on when I bought this Yaris and I've never needed to change them, vs having to change regular wipers every 1-2 years on my old Yaris.

They are smooth as silk and silent all the time, even when you have light 'sticky' rain that causes normal wipers to make that horrible screeching sound. And they don't just do that when new - I think they've been on my car for 3-4 years now and they work just as well as when I bought them! They also make the windscreen hydrophobic over time - At 70mph in heavy rain I can turn off my wipers and the visibility is better than having the wipers flick across the screen rapidly!

The only downside with them is they're a bit pricey compared to normal wipers, but IMHO they are well worth it as they'll far outlast normal rubber wipers.

[tico24]

The other downside is they don't seem to do wipers for the gen 4 Prius.