[martinx1]

I must be doing somthing wrong with the wipers,every time i get in the car i have to press wiper button in to enable auto wipe with green light on, does this not defeat the point of auto wipe, hope im missiing something,

[Heathwood]

Well I think you prod the auto wipe button and a little LED comes on to say it's in auto mode.

In rainy South Wales I have found mine pretty good.

[martinx1]

yes have have done that but if i get out the car and lock it,when i come back and unlock the car i have to press button again for auto led to light up.

[The Beast]

And that is exactly how they are meant to operate...

[martinx1]

not realy automatic if you have to switch them on manually every time you get in the car.

[jmhumr]

Originally Posted by martinx1

not realy automatic if you have to switch them on manually every time you get in the car.

"Automatic" means that they adjust wipe frequency on their own, rather than the diver constantly adjusting the frequency. You still have to turn on the wipers.

The reason it isn't on all the time is to prevent damage from unintended wiper activation. For example, you don't want your wipers turning on in a car wash or before the ice on your windshield has defrosted.

[Pganders]

Originally Posted by jmhumr

"Automatic" means that they adjust wipe frequency on their own, rather than the diver constantly adjusting the frequency. You still have to turn on the wipers.

The reason it isn't on all the time is to prevent damage from unintended wiper activation. For example, you don't want your wipers turning on in a car wash or before the ice on your windshield has defrosted.

Interestingly VW/Audi automatic wipers are permanently switched on once activated which I think is what Martinx1 was expecting and I had assumed would be the case myself. And yes you do need to remember to switch them off in situations such as a car wash. It can be a nuisance sometimes so pluses and minuses either way. No doubt I'll get used to it when my X1 arrives.

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by jmhumr

"Automatic" means that they adjust wipe frequency on their own, rather than the diver constantly adjusting the frequency. You still have to turn on the wipers.

The reason it isn't on all the time is to prevent damage from unintended wiper activation. For example, you don't want your wipers turning on in a car wash or before the ice on your windshield has defrosted.

Precisely... that’s why I prefer them operating in this manner

[Douggie]

Originally Posted by The Beast

Precisely... that’s why I prefer them operating in this manner

Yeah, one day we'd wish we can have some form of REAL control over the car, even if it's just the wipers. So sad. Enjoy this while it lasts folks

[SkScotchegg]

I was thinking same thing. My last card was a Nissan Quashqai and that had this feature enabled all the time too.

Is this the same deal for everything else? Like stop/start at traffic lights and high beam assist? We have to enable these every time we get in the car?

[Monkeyboysteve]

That's annoying, ordering my X1 soon and assumed it would have automatic wipers like my Golf. My old Citroen DS5 had to have them switched on everytime as well and I assumed they were faulty.

Seems quite backwards having to turn them on everytime you want to use them, as presumably it will rain a lot more than the car will be icy (in most countries).

[KPD]

Don't quote me on this. But I read somewhere that BMW's logic behind this is to prevent any accidental damage when people go to an automated in-bay or tunnel car wash.

The chance of people forgetting to activate the auto button in wet condition is far less than forgetting to manually switch it off in dry conditions before going into an automated car wash.

Another theory I've heard is ice. They do warm up automatically. But it's not instant and takes a while. Having it on auto by default might put unnecessary strain on the mechanism when you start the car with a frozen windshield. Sort of makes sense more than the first theory I guess.

[CliveL]

I've found that the car remembers if you had the wipers on "auto" for a short while at least. For example when picking up my daughter from Brownies I've driven the car there in the rain with the wipers on "auto", locked up the car for 10 minutes, and then come back to find it has still enabled the "auto" wipers setting when I start up; the green light was on. However after leaving the car overnight they are not on the next morning.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that there is a period when the car isn't entirely powered down, maybe for 15 minutes or so, so this may be why it remembers for a short time at least. This "memory" period may be codable, but I don't think it's something you can set in the iDrive...

[spitpilot]

Originally Posted by martinx1

I must be doing somthing wrong with the wipers,every time i get in the car i have to press wiper button in to enable auto wipe with green light on, does this not defeat the point of auto wipe, hope im missiing something,

I've had "rain sniffing" aka auto wiper set ups on both BMW and Audi/VW vehicles in the past and all required you to turn on the auto function B4 the sensor system would take over control. Wife and I feel that Audi's system seems to be more in tune to our definition of "clear windshield"..BMW's (at least in our E90 328I and X1) seems to let too much rain on the glass B4 wiping..even when set at "highest" auto function.

[SkScotchegg]

Guys, thats not all...I was talking to my friends and family tonight and I explained to them that it appears each and every single time I get into the car I have to press 5 buttons...ok the first one doesn't count because that's the one that starts the car!

But the following buttons I have to press:

Traction control button - press to enable
auto wipers - press to enable
stop/start - press to enable
high beam assist - press to enable

then I normally press sports mode button after that, so guess I'm pressing 6 buttons every time before I even start my journey. But this car has profiles? So why not save all 5 options to profile 1?

No idea why these things aren't on by default! :-s

[KPD]

Originally Posted by SkScotchegg

Traction control button - press to enable
auto wipers - press to enable
stop/start - press to enable
high beam assist - press to enable

Traction control - this is ON by default in every car manufactured since the 90’s. please read the manual before messing with safety features. You’ve basically been driving without traction control since you got your car... in winter!! Your insurer will crucify you if they find out.

auto wipers - only needed when it’s wet.

stop/start - also ON by default, as clearly stated in the manual. The reason yours isn’t working is because you keep turning it off every time you get in the car!

high beam assist - only needed at night and outside the city. It won’t work when city lights are detected.

[The Beast]

Originally Posted by SkScotchegg

Guys, thats not all...I was talking to my friends and family tonight and I explained to them that it appears each and every single time I get into the car I have to press 5 buttons...ok the first one doesn't count because that's the one that starts the car!

But the following buttons I have to press:

Traction control button - press to enable
auto wipers - press to enable
stop/start - press to enable
high beam assist - press to enable

then I normally press sports mode button after that, so guess I'm pressing 6 buttons every time before I even start my journey. But this car has profiles? So why not save all 5 options to profile 1?

No idea why these things aren't on by default! :-s

Really, have even attempted to read the manual?

[SkScotchegg]

Originally Posted by KPD

Traction control - this is ON by default in every car manufactured since the 90’s. please read the manual before messing with safety features. You’ve basically been driving without traction control since you got your car... in winter!! Your insurer will crucify you if they find out.

auto wipers - only needed when it’s wet.

stop/start - also ON by default, as clearly stated in the manual. The reason yours isn’t working is because you keep turning it off every time you get in the car!

high beam assist - only needed at night and outside the city. It won’t work when city lights are detected.

Originally Posted by The Beast

Really, have even attempted to read the manual?

I think you guys miss understood, or I didn't explain correctly...

This has been cleared up now in another thread, this guy replied to me and helped explain whats going on:

Originally Posted by CliveL

The X1 provides Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) by default, and this will be enabled every time you start the car without having to touch anything at all. There are no additional lights on the instrument panel for DSC, it's just on and working in the background to try and provide the best stability and traction control it can.

If you briefly press the "DSC Off" button as you've seen, the word TRACTION appears in the instrument panel. This is actually taking you a step DOWN the safety ladder as it were, turning off DSC and enabling what BMW call DTC (Dynamic Traction Control) instead. This apparently allows more wheelspin and is actually the recommended setting for driving in snowy conditions, but not for general driving. To quote the manual, "driving stability is limited on accelerating and cornering" when DTC is selected (rather than the default DSC)

Pressing and holding the "DSC Off" button for a few seconds turns DSC off. This is probably not what you want for general driving...

In short you shouldn't need to touch the "DSC Off" button for general driving. You certainly don't need to press it every time you get in the car!

So it appears I was confusing the matter by calling the button "traction control" when he says it's called DTC (Dynamic Traction Control).

When I used DTC in the snow Saturday night it really helped stopping the wheels from spinning and the car drove great.

Also, everyone on this forum keeps saying "read the manual" or "did you even read the manual?" but thats not very helpful, and I have referred the manual dozens of times, I've only had the car 6 days and I'm new to driving so I find some of this stuff confusing even after reading the manual.