Useless rear wiper?

Is it just me or is the rear wiper absolutely useless. My 22 seems to clean the rear glass but the path and swipe barely cleans the glass. Is this a known problem? First time Toyota owner

 

Mostly useless, mine usually makes things worse. Only helpful in a bad storm when the rain is already moving off the back window pretty fast anyways.

 

I think I've been with Toyota too long portion of my life so I might not know how good others are.

How I see it is,
1) on 4runner the rear spoiler thing covers lot of area so the glass doesn't get washed naturally and all the dirt get stick on to it with the negative pressure of the boxy 4runner. So I have to use the rear washer when the glass gets dirty.

2) having just 1 rear wiper it can only clean a limited area of that big glass unlike front having 2 wipers to clean.

Personal preference- I do like how discrete the rear wiper on the 4Runner is compared to other Toyotas I had in the past where the wiper is visible.

 

It works well clearing the snow off the rear glass

 

Most SUVs have 'em, but they are about as useful as those tiny wipers some luxury sedans have on the headlights.

 

I just ceramic coat my all my windows and the rainwater just repels right off no need for a wiper on the rear window

 

Rain-X is probably cheaper. That sh*t is magic.

And, yeah. The rear wiper sucks, but it is better than nothin'.

 

When driving these square back trucks you'll get in the habit of carrying a spray bottle of window cleaner and paper towels or microtowels in the drivers side passenger door.

 

It’s meant to give you a section to see. I don’t think there’s a rear wiper on any vehicle that wipes the entire glass.

 

Thanks everyone. My wife told me she thinks it’s broke. Was driving it yesterday and it was raining and I turned it on and totally understood what she was talking about. It’s pretty much useless

 

Does it not wipe away the rain water?

 

Better than my wife's Jeep Wrangler.*











* soft top = no wiper, plus yellow, scratched plastic...

 

I don't think it's meant to wipe the rear glass so perfectly that we can see everything very clearly.
I think it's more so to wipe snow, dirt, etc.. while driving to have some "vision" of what's behind

 

Works as well as any other rear wiper I've ever owned! I never have it fully to the "on" position, just maybe intermittent for 30 seconds here and there but it clears the back window as much as I need to feel like I can see. Coming from a Tacoma with zero rear defrost or wiper, it's worlds better.

One feature I'd have liked would be the auto wipe when the front wipers are on and you go into reverse. My old Fiesta ST did that and it was a very nice simple creature comfort.

 

Rear wiper blade is harder to replace than the front blades due to a shit desgin.

 

I agree. I don't use mine for rain. I use it when I literally can't see anything out the back window, like built up snow, salt, dust, or mud. For that, it works quite well. That said, when I first bought my truck the rear wiper completely stopped working for a few weeks, then magically started again.

This is what I use my rear wiper for. Prior to using it I couldn't see out the back...

 

Meant for rain not cleaning the damn thing because you didn't wash it for couple weeks.

 

It's not. Just pull it up and rotate the wiper on the arm.

 

No it does BUT the path it take’s really isn’t helpful

 

Same as mentioned above

+1

Mine works fine, aside from only cleaning a small area. I don't bother with it in the rain, but it works fine for clearing a little snow or a splash of muddy water off.

 

I'm not even sure when I used it in the rain since I can still see if someone is there.

 

I am really confused. I think it works just as well as it has on every other SUV I have owned. What is your rear wiper not doing that it should be? Sure the path is small and the rest of the windows is easily covered, but that is the nature of the beast.

Steve

 

Someone mentioned theirs stopped working for a few weeks. About a month ago, on our drive south, I tried to use it a few times and didn’t work at all. A couple days later, I was going to see what’s up, and it worked like nothing was wrong. I’m glad I checked it again before taking it to the dealership and then having them tell me it’s fine.

but anyways felt this was a good time to use this

 

Just make sure the window is all the way up.

 

Didn’t check that, but great advice

 

It gets a lot of people. It also disables the rear defroster.

 

Not a "problem" , it's just that the size wiper can only clear so much.

I was behind a new Escalade the other day in the rain, same exact thing with that vehicle, rear wiper was on clearing just a small part of the actual window.

 

wiper sort of clears more passenger side but works reasonably well in my opinion. I was driving in blowing snow today and wiper kept my rear window clean enough to see cars behind me. Without it I couldn't see anything.

 

First world problems

It works as well as any other SUV rear wiper

 

Rear wiper?!?!?! There's a rear wiper??....oh wow There iS a wiper!