I have a couple of potential issues with my ET and I am hoping somebody here can share how their car behaves, or how mine is supposed to behave.

1) Windshield wiper position: I have the heated sections on the windshield for my wipers, however when the wipers are in the parked position they sit almost completely above the heated area (only one corner of one wiper rests in the area). I first saw this feature on a Subaru Impreza, and on them the wipers sit in the middle of the heated area, not above it. I don't recall specifically checking on other ET's whether the wipers stop in this area or above it, but I was hoping somebody on here could tell me where their wipers park, and if mine are in the correct position?

2) The rear hatch: I had the dealership enable speed sensitive door locks on my car, so once I pass ~20-24km/hr the doors all lock automatically, however the hatch does not. The hatch does properly lock if I use the lock button on the door or arm the alarm, but I would have expected that it would also lock with all the doors when I reach a set speed. Is this correct?

I called the dealership about this and they basically said "Well, the manual only says DOORS not DOORS AND HATCH" but I didn't get the impression the person I was talking about knew what they were saying, because I did have to read them the entire section of the manual before they understood it was possible to have the car lock it's own doors when you reach a set speed.

3) The middle seat belt on the back seat: Should this retract all the way in? If I unbuckle the second latch on the bottom and try to retract the belt into the seat it will only go half-way in, leaving ~18" of seat belt dangling on the seat (or on the floor when I fold down the seat). Is this right?

 

Hello Zero10,

1) For the heated wiper, mines seems to rest just over the heated area, not above. But there is maybe some angle going from one side to the other. I mean, it rest on the bottom area on one side and on the upper area on the other side for each wiper. Hope you understand what I mean!

2) I don't have automatic door lock.

3) Didn't look at it yet.

 

1) Windshield wiper position: Can you post any pictures? The wipers shoudl be on the area heated but the wipers are not totall level so a portion may be higher than the rest. It's hard to say without seeing them.

2) The rear hatch: My question is, how do you know the hatch doesn't lock at speed?

3) The middle seat belt on the back seat: Yes, it should retract, however, you may have to pull it out slightly to have it retract.

 

1) I'll try to get a picture up a bit later tonight. There is 10% or less of the wiper resting on the heated area, so it sounds like something is wrong with my wiper park position.

2) After a drive, I pulled up to let my wife in the car and she was able to open the hatch without me unlocking anything. This doesn't seem right to me.

3) I have pulled and let it run back in probably 20 times now, it will not go any further in, it still leaves ~18" sticking out of the seat. I'll take a picture of that as well to make sure I am explaining it correctly.

 

I'm quite sure that I have over 80-90% of my wipers resting on the heated area.

I'll try to take a picture tonight.

 

I went to take a picture the other night and the problem has partially corrected itself. The driver's side wiper sits directly in the middle of the heated area, but the passenger side is all the way at the top (although still in the heated area by ~1/8").

Could somebody tell me, when the wipers are bolted on, is the shaft they are attached to splined, or is it cone-shaped and held in place using friction? It sounds like it is the latter and the nuts holding my wipers down may be loose allowing them to move back and forth, occasionally parking in the correct position.

 

Well, after looking carefully at the passenger wiper, I have the same setting
as you. OK on the driver side, but maybe ~10% of the passenger wiper is sitting on the heated area.

At least, it's not the opposite!

 

Well, like I said before, mine sat almost entirely OFF the heated area, only the very tip of the driver's side wiper (near the hinge) was on the heated area at all. I guess I should just be happy it fixed itself =/

As for the middle seat belt, just to be clear, I am talking about once you use the key to unbuckle the second latch (i.e. when you are going to fold down the rear seat), only then the seat belt does not retract all the way into the seat itself, instead it leaves ~18" hanging out of the seat.