Windshield Wipers Quit Working

[Briggsy]

Dangerous. It’s happened 3 times on our new Palisade
Problems as I see it…
1) The rails on the roof make it very difficult to remove the snow, when we applied brakes a small amount of snow pushed forward, down the windshield WIPERS QUIT!
2) Below freezing today, a very small amount of ice built up below the wiper arms and froze solid. WIPERS QUIT!
3) Driving down road slow, snowing heavy. Snow built up below wipers. WIPERS QUIT!

Dealer will not service the problem.
Caution this car is dangerous.

 

[elp_jc]

My immediate question would be if other vehicles do the same under those conditions. The wiper motors are never that strong, so I'd be extremely surprised if any motor could overcome heavy ice. One feature that should be present is the bottom of the windshield being heated; is it? Another helpful thing would be to heat up the windshield before driving (defrost mode), so at least ice doesn't form on the windshield. But yes, no wipers is dangerous under those conditions.

What I'd do if I was faced with those conditions, and with ANY vehicle, is remove excess snow from roof and hood, and heat up the cabin/windshield before driving. That way you'd get rid of #1 and #2 above, if not of all 3.

 

[Briggsy]

My immediate question would be if other vehicles do the same under those conditions. The wiper motors are never that strong, so I'd be extremely surprised if any motor could overcome heavy ice. One feature that should be present is the bottom of the windshield being heated; is it? Another helpful thing would be to heat up the windshield before driving (defrost mode), so at least ice doesn't form on the windshield. But yes, no wipers is dangerous under those conditions.

What I'd do if I was faced with those conditions, and with ANY vehicle, is remove excess snow from roof and hood, and heat up the cabin/windshield before driving. That way you'd get rid of #1 and #2 above, if not of all 3.

I love your response coming from El Paso Texas. Obviously the car was meant for your weather not ours.

 

[elp_jc]

My response was out of common sense, not experience . Was just trying to help, but now I see I just wasted my time. Oh well. But yes, my vehicle hasn't seen a spec of snow. And wipers have only be used twice... and that was while on 2 trips. Good luck. I'm out of here.

 

[Briggsy]

Thank you for you honesty.
Believe me my beef is not with you.
I have tried many options to solve this but it is a poor design flaw for winter driving and scary when it happens.
Having owned at least 15 vehicles prior, this problem is unique.
Thanks for your response.

 

[cnemond]

Thank you for you honesty.
Believe me my beef is not with you.
I have tried many options to solve this but it is a poor design flaw for winter driving and scary when it happens.
Having owned at least 15 vehicles prior, this problem is unique.
Thanks for your response.

Dangerous. It’s happened 3 times on our new Palisade
Problems as I see it…
1) The rails on the roof make it very difficult to remove the snow, when we applied brakes a small amount of snow pushed forward, down the windshield WIPERS QUIT!
2) Below freezing today, a very small amount of ice built up below the wiper arms and froze solid. WIPERS QUIT!
3) Driving down road slow, snowing heavy. Snow built up below wipers. WIPERS QUIT!

Dealer will not service the problem.
Caution this car is dangerous.

I too have had this issue multiple times this winter. The only way to correct it is to pop the hood to get all the snow off the wiper end that meets the vehicle. This is a poor design where there is a pocket of space to collect snow. I agree this is extremely dangerous. I’m not even sure how they would correct this issue to be honest. With that said, it 100% should be a safety recall.

 

[Aggie76]

Spouse and I are looking seriously at both the Palisade and the Telluride. We live along the Canadian border in northern Minnesota and see quite a bit of snow, ice and temps below -40 degrees every year, in fact we had light snow yesterday which is very normal here. Just got off the phone with a Palisade owner of a Calligraphy trim and he shared this exact issue with the wipers stopping if there is any build up under them. He's had the care for just a few months, about 10k on it and its his biggest frustration as well. Dealer had the solution that he just needed to stop frequently and clear it out. He's not had a similar issue with any of his other vehicles so it seems unique to the Palisade. We'll have to think long and hard about this and see if we can find other owners up here and see what they have experienced.

 

[cnemond]

Spouse and I are looking seriously at both the Palisade and the Telluride. We live along the Canadian border in northern Minnesota and see quite a bit of snow, ice and temps below -40 degrees every year, in fact we had light snow yesterday which is very normal here. Just got off the phone with a Palisade owner of a Calligraphy trim and he shared this exact issue with the wipers stopping if there is any build up under them. He's had the care for just a few months, about 10k on it and its his biggest frustration as well. Dealer had the solution that he just needed to stop frequently and clear it out. He's not had a similar issue with any of his other vehicles so it seems unique to the Palisade. We'll have to think long and hard about this and see if we can find other owners up here and see what they have experienced.

I am from Manitoba and believe me, it sucks! In order to clear under the wiper you need to pop and open the hood for clear access. The answer should not be “stop frequently”

 

[pieceofchum]

I am from Manitoba and believe me, it sucks! In order to clear under the wiper you need to pop and open the hood for clear access. The answer should not be “stop frequently”

I just bought a 2020 Palisade Limited I live in New England and hope I have better luck. I do use my gloved hands to remove the snow from my windshield on my cars as this is the only way I have found to get it really clear and I usually warm up the vehicle for at least 10 mins before trying to drive. I have seen this issue with Subaru Foresters, it is not as uncommon on vehicles over the last 5 years or so but it shouldn't be a problem ever anyway and the manufacturers should test this before selling these vehicles.

The following might help a little: Windshield Wiper Hack

Something else that might be helpful: Heated Wipers