Deadly windscreen wipers... Skoda. Simply Stupid.

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Originally Posted by brad

If they gave a warning note about every possible eventuality then the manual would be like a Sydney phone book & nobody would ever read it.

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There's a fair amount of evidence on this forum to suggest that not too many read it now.

Fair dinkum, don't we get enough of our cars treating us like imbeciles as it is? Every time I get out it insults what little intelligence I've got by telling me to look at the owners manual to see how to lock it up. We shouldn't need to be told that the car shouldn't be driven with the wipers in service mode, and the blades removed, anymore than I need a little tag on an electric toaster cord saying, "Do not use in water".

My point is that it wouldn't matter if there was another message or another switch. There is no such thing as "Idiot Proof" engineering. A good idiot will outsmart a good engineer every time. No offense to the OP.

And then I think of all those that aren't aware of service mode & try & change their wiper blades with the wipers in the park position.....:(

Sorry to hear Ausspace. This is something that could catch a lot of people out if they didn't read the manual "replacing wipers" part of the manual, so thanks for the warning (I know it could well have been me). I'd be annoyed too given the amount of damage it has done. We have a saying in the IT industry (RTFM - Read The F...... Manual), however we also know that people rarely do - its just a way to cover our arses!

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Originally Posted by brad

And then I think of all those that aren't aware of service mode & try & change their wiper blades with the wipers in the park position.....:(

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Meh, better than ending up with a cracked windscreen just because the car tries to be "clever".

Oh, no, no, the car doesn't try to be clever, it is clever, some can even park themselve better than some drivers can. :)
But, I feel with the OP, anyone can forgot, even if you read about it in the manual, all it takes just a moment of distruction and before you realize the damage is done. :(
Though, I wouldn't blame the car.

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Originally Posted by Diesel_vert

Meh, better than ending up with a cracked windscreen just because the car tries to be "clever".

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Yes, I'm sure scraping all the paint from the edge of the bonnet is much preferable. The rust 5 years down the track would be thrilling as well.:confused:

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Originally Posted by Transporter

Oh, no, no, the car doesn't try to be clever, it is clever, some can even park themselves better than some drivers can. :)

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On your command, yes.

It shouldn't, and doesn't, decide autonomously that it'll park itself (well, maybe in the future!).

Same philosophy with the wipers. Did the programmer really think we'd be daft enough to drive off with the wipers in the service position?

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Originally Posted by Transporter

But, I feel with the OP, anyone can forgot, even if you read about it in the manual, all it takes just a moment of destruction and before you realize the damage is done. :(
Though, I wouldn't blame the car.

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Yep. Skoda have covered their bases, so no room for complaints. But you can always rant to get it off your chest. :P

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Originally Posted by brad

Yes, I'm sure scraping all the paint from the edge of the bonnet is much preferable. The rust 5 years down the track would be thrilling as well.:confused:

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Hmm... not being the owner of an Octavia, I take it the wipers are of the "hidden" variety and sit well below the windscreen or something.

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Originally Posted by Diesel_vert

Hmm... not being the owner of an Octavia, I take it the wipers are of the "hidden" variety and sit well below the windscreen or something.

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yep. That's why you need the service position. It would be near impossible to change wiper blades without making them vertical first.


I'll stress again. I feel sorry for the OP & have full empathy for him. He had a brain fart. I have at least one of these a week. Oddly, the world doesn't stop turning & life goes on.

Does this only happen with auto wipers then?

My ambiente Octavia doesnt have auto wipers. I use the service position all the time (when washing the car) and here was I thinking "Gosh, how clever is this car - when the wipers are in the service position, I can get in it, start it and move the car and THEY DONT MOVE!"

When I am ready for them to move from the service position, I simply touch the stalk down (single wipe function) to return them home. (This is what the manual tells me to do - BTW - I read the manual about the wipers just because one day I came to change the blades and gathered it was impossible with them stowed - hence looking in the manual....

I havnet tried to drive at speed with them in the service position.... only driveway/carport speeds, so to speak... but I gathered from the OP post that this probably happened with ignition on rather than actually driving?

Anyway, sorry to hear about peoples bad experiences... I have only had good ones with my octavia so far :-)

He was moving the car.

Here's a thought - maybe the rain sensor came into play as well?