What’s with these tiny wipers?
source: CarsDirect I mean, look at the area these things actually clean…it’s a joke. Sure, some people will say that rear view cameras, giant screens, and beepers make a rear window of any kind superfluous today. To that I say shut up the fuck up, Elon. I think MOST people want to look out through the backlight, and through more than just some dinky little arc when it’s raining/salt spray covered.
One option is to add more little wipers like on the windshield of an old MG or a Toyota FJ Cruiser:
Sources: ebay and The MG Experience Or for a rear window, the Toyota Cressida wagon went all-in with twin wipers:
source: Japanese Nostalgia Car Still, these are kind of clunky solutions. I want a big wiper that covers most of the window. Imagine never having to squeegee the backlight at a gas stop ever again. So I looked at the mechanisms that are used INSIDE rear windows, for window shades and cargo covers. You’re familiar with the scissor-type things that lift the rear window shades on fancy ass cars.
source: ebay So the wiper would work the same way. I’m thinking two wiper arms that would sweep inwards like a Renault Alpine, but the arms would attach to the wiper “beam” in tracks so the beam would stay parallel to the window. Pretty simple mechanism, and it pushes down so heavy snow would have gravity on its side, and the ‘beam’ would park in the upper lip/duck bill most cars have above the window. The unit could utilize standard wiper blades in standard sizes…just whatever two or three across standard sizes would fill the space (maybe overlap to eliminate any lines). It MIGHT need internal springs or something to center the wiper – remember the sunshade will self-center because it is a roll. But see below how it cleans all visible opening on the window:
Another idea for this would be a cable system like that one used on power cargo covers. These things work with an overlapping parallel cable thing that lowers and raises the cover with a motor mounted below that tailgate threshold.
source: 5series.net Pretty clean and slick BUT I know how it works ONLY because an identical vehicle is in my garage now and it has broken…twice. Now, if Toyota did this instead of Munich, it might be better. Still, for outdoor use, with tracks that could fill with ice… I think the arm system might be better. So, could either kind of mechanism create a full width rear window wiper? I’m a nerd but not an enginerd so I need your help! Tell me in the comments here if this is viable and deeply important or just madness! I guess you’d leave them in ‘deployed’ mode at the top of the glass when off, that way the shaft could recess in the tailgate …or the industry could look at using self cleaning glass and an effective water based washer system. The idea of the “roll” up shade is interesting but it’s the opposing motion with opposing forces. There forces exerted in the shade are always the same, there known and fixed. With a wiper it could be rain snow or ice. There is almost an infinite number of variables depending on what the weather is dictating on the rear screen. This idea seems theoretically could work, but there is a calculated rate of failure that you would have to be willing to deal with. The cost of a current arc style broken wiper blade is reasonable. It would seem failure on the push down would not be the blade but the mechanism. And most of us have probably been unfortunate to find out the cost of replacing a window mechanism. Eager for DTs input. Or even a car designer on how it just mess with the fung shui of his design is completely thrown off by logic. Both styles of wiper are essentially a very large, very slow, very simplified focal plane camera shutter — the wiper bar with arms is similar to the high speed shutters in virtually every current camera, and the roll mechanism more like a Speed Graphic. Drum-style cloth shutters like the roll-up wiper are very easily knocked out of their tracks on hitting an obstruction. I can only imagine this tendency would increase as you sized up the mechanism, since the lever action exerted by an obstacle which skews the shutter blade and derails it would compound massively. Metal or plastic blade shutters opened and closed by a pivoting arm tend not to fail by getting knocked out of their light trap guide channels — the arm keeps on powering through the obstructions and its attached blades just straight up break. So my sense is that it would be easier and more reliable to strengthen that pivoting arm mechanism and have replaceable wide blade wipers rather than make a beefy turbo drum and cable mechanism, which would also be much heavier and more internally complicated to maintain. I also would like to see David tackle this. Reclining second rows are an acceptable substitute, however, and give me hope, but they’re still all too rare and limited in their functionality. The Prius doesn’t make me sacrifice cargo space for rear visibility.
