I want to blame Ford

[jamaicandave]

On my BS, if it is not running or if I started it remotely, but have not hit the start button yet, I can freely move the wipers by hand up or down the windshield. Almost no resistance at all. Never had another car that did that. I have had others say this is not good for the wiper assy., but being in snow frequently, I do this all the time when cleaning off the wipers. So far (2 years+), no adverse effects. Most older wiper motor assy. used worm screw drives - which would be impossible to move by hand - would love to take one of these apart to see what it is doing.

I'd advise against moving the wiper arms manually, there's is a Ford service message advising against it as it may cause damage.

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[Mighty3]

I knew what Pic 4 was going to be by the time I got to Pic 3. Sorry that happened. You're not the first one to post the same kind of thing. It's kind of known/obvious that will be the result, but this is also the only vehicle I've ever seen built with such an issue.
Maybe if your dealer is nice they can comp you a paint pen? It's a deep gouge, but the paint is so thin these days, it's not like crazy deep. Primer and a pen. If you want to go nuts, I guess you could drop an edge protector on there too.

That edge protector idea...is a great idea. Something like those door edge guards that every auto store has. I keep the blades and arms parked but dig the snow out with gloved cold fingers. I am afraid a snow brush could nick that edge paint off pretty easy.

 

[Mark S.]

I'd advise against moving the wiper arms manually, there's is a Ford service message advising against it as it may cause damage.

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/i-want-to-blame-ford.10649/post-183324

 

[OuterBanks25]

I did something similar to this a while ago but not for the same reason. Being in South Florida in all, I don't have to worry about snow but I do wipe the blades off from time to time to improve their longevity. I realized that you can manually grab the wiper arm and both wipers move freely when propping them towards the windshield. And when you're done, you can either prop them back down yourself or prop them most of the way and tap the start button and the car automatically sets them in their normal resting position.

There was one day where I cleaned the blades as I was going around to clean all of the windows inside and out. I forgot to put the wipers back down when turning the car onto accessory mode and the wipers smacked their way back into position and just like your case, the right wiper arm hit the edge of the hood so hard that it chipped it. Thankfully I don't have a crack in my windshield but it is still a very bad design. Any manufacturer with wipers tucked under the hood obviously have never heard of ease of maintenance. I've noticed a lot of German cars do that and it's infuriating trying to clean either the cowl or the wipers themselves. I tried to clean the wipers on a Mercedes-Benz S-Class and the wipers are locked when the vehicle is off. Bad design.

 

[Rawah652]

I did something similar to this a while ago but not for the same reason. Being in South Florida in all, I don't have to worry about snow but I do wipe the blades off from time to time to improve their longevity. I realized that you can manually grab the wiper arm and both wipers move freely when propping them towards the windshield. And when you're done, you can either prop them back down yourself or prop them most of the way and tap the start button and the car automatically sets them in their normal resting position.

There was one day where I cleaned the blades as I was going around to clean all of the windows inside and out. I forgot to put the wipers back down when turning the car onto accessory mode and the wipers smacked their way back into position and just like your case, the right wiper arm hit the edge of the hood so hard that it chipped it. Thankfully I don't have a crack in my windshield but it is still a very bad design. Any manufacturer with wipers tucked under the hood obviously have never heard of ease of maintenance. I've noticed a lot of German cars do that and it's infuriating trying to clean either the cowl or the wipers themselves. I tried to clean the wipers on a Mercedes-Benz S-Class and the wipers are locked when the vehicle is off. Bad design.

Not a good idea to do this. The owner's manual calls out that you can damage the wiper motor by manually moving the wipers like this. You have to turn the engine off while the blade is out of the well if you want to maintain/replace the blade.

 

[Mark S.]

Not a good idea to do this. The owner's manual calls out that you can damage the wiper motor by manually moving the wipers like this. You have to turn the engine off while the blade is out of the well if you want to maintain/replace the blade.

Can you please share a page number? I looked but couldn’t find it.

Page 284 in my manual (2021 MY) shows the procedure for checking and changing the wiper blades. It says nothing about moving the wiper arms with the power off. It DOES say not to allow the wiper arms to drop onto the windshield unless without a blade installed.

 

[wireman]

US BL models do not have the feature.

I have a 2021 BL. Last year I had to have my windshield replaced. Original windshield was actually a heated wiper blade type.

The was no wiring connected to the windshield connectors. I guess they installed whatever was available parts wise because of the parts shortage.

The correct Ford part # was installed. There was a 2 week wait on getting the new Ford part.

 

[Dude]

Can you please share a page number? I looked but couldn’t find it.

Page 284 in my manual (2021 MY) shows the procedure for checking and changing the wiper blades. It says nothing about moving the wiper arms with the power off. It DOES say not to allow the wiper arms to drop onto the windshield unless there is a blade installed.

Page 297 (2022 MY) shows this:

Separately there is SSM 50200 2021 Bronco Sport Front Wiper Arm(s) Or Wiper Blade(s) Replacement Service Procedure Tips … if someone doesn’t want to look up the text it is posted here:

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/important-tsb-regarding-changing-the-wiper-blades.4298/

 

[Mark S.]

Page 297 (2022 MY) shows this:

Separately there is SSM 50200 2021 Bronco Sport Front Wiper Arm(s) Or Wiper Blade(s) Replacement Service Procedure Tips … if someone doesn’t want to look up the text it is posted here:

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/important-tsb-regarding-changing-the-wiper-blades.4298/

Interesting. Thanks!

 

[Caliope]

My '90 Ford Probe had a great feature that I think should be resurrected. The wipers on it were under the cowl in the off position also. The cowl was deeper than on the BS. However, there were two fuse sockets that controlled the wipers. In the "summer" socket, the wipers dropped under the cowl when the wipers were turned off. If you pulled the fuse and put it in the "winter" socket, the wipers stayed up on the glass when turned off. Since the the Probe was based on the Maza MX6, I believe that this was a Mazda idea and not Ford's.

 

[Pops Santini]

My '90 Ford Probe had a great feature that I think should be resurrected. The wipers on it were under the cowl in the off position also. The cowl was deeper than on the BS. However, there were two fuse sockets that controlled the wipers. In the "summer" socket, the wipers dropped under the cowl when the wipers were turned off. If you pulled the fuse and put it in the "winter" socket, the wipers stayed up on the glass when turned off. Since the the Probe was based on the Maza MX6, I believe that this was a Mazda idea and not Ford's.

I'm submitting you into the Thomas Dolby Hall Of Fame. You Blinded me with science. SCIENCE!

 

[Caliope]

@Pops Santini LOL

 

[RushMan]

I'm submitting you into the Thomas Dolby Hall Of Fame. You Blinded me with science. SCIENCE!

As a retired scientist, I second the motion.

 

[Bucko]

My '90 Ford Probe had a great feature that I think should be resurrected. The wipers on it were under the cowl in the off position also. The cowl was deeper than on the BS. However, there were two fuse sockets that controlled the wipers. In the "summer" socket, the wipers dropped under the cowl when the wipers were turned off. If you pulled the fuse and put it in the "winter" socket, the wipers stayed up on the glass when turned off. Since the the Probe was based on the Maza MX6, I believe that this was a Mazda idea and not Ford's.

Good feature, but it would be nice if they incorporated this into a winter/summer switch on the dash rather than having to move a fuse to make it work.

 

[CancunBadlands]

I know nothing about snow/ de icing neither, I live in Cancun, but should be nice to have some cold days here

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