Wipers and auto lights

[Trewithy]

On my previous car setting both wipers and light switches to the auto position would make the headlights come on when the wipers gave a couple of continuous wipes of the windscreen.  I have looked through the Vehicle Settings menu and I can't find an option to set this up on my corolla, so I presume it is not possible.

[50p]

not  heard of that before. Why would you need it? I was out today and constantly cleaning the front screen, if the headlights flashed each time I'm sure I would not be popular with the motorist in front of me!

[TonyHSD]

That’s actually a very well thought extra and useful particularly for people who doesn’t pay attention and forget to turn on the lights when driving in the rain. Highway Code plus for our own safety. If it’s raining ☔️ lights should be ON , especially when you are on the motorway. 

[Cyker]

Mine seems to do that but I think it's just because when it's raining it gets dark enough to trigger the lights, so not sure if the systems are actually linked or if it's just a coincidence!

 

[forkingabout]

My various previous Peugeot's have automatically turned the dipped beam lights on if the automatic front wipers either started wiping continuously OR you went over a certain speed.

They also cancelled the auto wipers when the ignition was switched off - next time you switched the ignition on you would have to move the wiper stalk out of auto then back again to reactivate them.

Stopped damaged Wiper Blades / blow motor fuse if they where frozen to the screen.

[Cyker]

I was about to say that's dumb, but your last paragraph makes it smart again!  

I wonder if I narrowly missed damaging mine, as I usually take the time to free the wipers when the car's been snowed on and usually just leave it in whatever mode it was in when starting the car...

 

 

[50p]

1 hour ago, 50p said:

not  heard of that before. Why would you need it? I was out today and constantly cleaning the front screen, if the headlights flashed each time I'm sure I would not be popular with the motorist in front of me!

I can see this being useful when it's raining but what happens in the scenario I made above?

[Hybrid21]

The auto headlights on my RAV4 often don't come on when I would like them to,  eg poor visibility due to slight fog, mist, etc, and I have to put them on manually.

But I am a great believer in better to be seen than not, probably coming from my cycling interests 🙂

[forkingabout]

I'm not sure if any vehicle manufacturer has managed to get there automatic headlight sensor to detect fog / mist - yet.

It would be a bonus if fog lamps activation could be made 100% automatic, take that function away from the driver. 

[TonyHSD]

Any automatic functions like auto climate control, lights, wipers, cruise control, lane assist, etc in the cars except automatic transmission is to supplement drivers input and help with vehicle operations not to fully take control over the driver.
We are still away from the times where the “driver”-( passenger) will seat in , recline the seat , steering will hide into the dashboard and the car will take him to its destination, we are getting close though but not there yet. 

 

[Corollanutter]

11 hours ago, 50p said:

I can see this being useful when it's raining but what happens in the scenario I made above?

I had this feature on two VW Passats and found it worked very well. The lights only trigger with more persistent rain - and certainly not when just using the screen wash. 

[AndrueC]

My last car (Honda Jazz) did that as well. The lights only came on if the wipers were operating above a certain frequency so didn't come on in light rain.

But talking of auto wipers the best I ever had were those in my 2nd Jazz. I set the speed at a single position and from then on they always swept as/when I needed them. Cars since then (the ones that use a camera it seems) do automatically wipe but often at the wrong frequency so I have to keep fiddling with the speed.

Either the rain detector changed or the logic did. Perhaps the earlier Jazz operated the wipers when the water density on the screen reached a threshold determined by the speed control whereas newer vehicles just switch the wipers on when they detect water and they operate according the speed control.

Another thing my Jazz did which I don't think the Corolla does - automatically operate the rear wiper when reverse is engaged. I can't remember if it was a single sweep or it went into intermittent sweep mode.

[AndrueC]

Something else the Jazz did - and I don't know if the Corolla does - was to put its headlights on on cold, clear mornings. I think that might have been an attempt to predict mist/fog but could also have been an attempt to counteract a low sun. It only did it on those rare, beautiful cloudless winter mornings.

[Corollanutter]

21 hours ago, AndrueC said:

Something else the Jazz did - and I don't know if the Corolla does - was to put its headlights on on cold, clear mornings. I think that might have been an attempt to predict mist/fog but could also have been an attempt to counteract a low sun. It only did it on those rare, beautiful cloudless winter mornings.

The sensors aren't normally that smart!! :-)   The light sensor is normally pointed upwards so as to measure the level of daylight. On winter mornings when the sun is very low, the sky directly above is often quite dark - possibly triggering the light sensor.

[Cyker]

Yeah, they operate on a fairly simple system so I reckon it was just the light difference that triggered it.

I must admit I much prefer operating most of these things myself - I have them automatic in the Yaris, but they just annoy me, like how I can't stop the headlights turning on at inappropriate times, but at least with the wipers I can turn them off. Today they were just randomly doing a sweep for no apparent reason, maybe someone ahead of me used their washer jets or there was some super light drizzle or something, but I was glad to be able to turn it off to stop it doing that.

BTW, mine does activate the rear wiper, a single sweep, when I put it in reverse but not always - I guess it must use the rain sensor on the front to decide when to, as I've had it NOT do it, despite the rear windscreen being totally obscured, but other times it has swept a completely clear rear screen  

(This is mostly moot tho' as the rear visibility is so bad in the Mk4 I almost always use the rear camera instead   Now I wish that had a washer jet or something tho'! It gets so dirty...!)

[AndrueC]

Yeah the Jazz rear window sweep on reverse only occurred when the front wipers were active. But it was immediate when the gear was engaged even if the front wipers were 'between sweeps'.

On the subject of wipers one thing that irritates me about the Corolla is that mine doesn't seem to have a no-return valve in the rear washer. When I use the rear washer it takes a couple of seconds for the fluid to come out by which time the blade has swept the glass twice.

The water should either be simultaneous with or even better, ahead of the wipers.

[Gerhard_Corolla]

I would say that the Corolla has a sensor capable of reading water density, irrespective of the droplet's size, at least that was the case before we had to change the windshield: the automatic function had no issues at all and would work in the speed selected accordingly to rain intensity. Today that's no more the case, I don't know if someone sneezed on the sensor or the inside of the windshield was dirty before the installation, but now the system just works with big or normal sized droplets; when you enter the realm of mist or very tiny droplets, the system does not activate the wipers, you have to manually select a higher  automatic velocity and then the system "restarts" itself and can continue reading water density...

 

It's unbelievable how delicate these systems are when they have to be tampered outside a controlled factory environment!

 

Moreover, nowadays a "simple" task, like changing the windshield, implies meddling with cameras, sensors, radars, etc, all adding to higher costs and the feasibility of something going wrong...

 

😬

[Cyker]

Does anyone actually know how they work? Maybe by sensing changes in capacitance or some sort of impact sensor??