If there’s one thing that has become crystal clear over the past few months, it’s that we are a nation divided. It has gotten to the point where everyone thinks they’re right about everything, and is unwilling to listen to what the other side has to say. Things can get heated. Angry tweets are sent.
We are, of course, talking about the position you put your windshield wipers in when you park your vehicle before or during a storm.
Some brief context:
Back in February, we ran a weekend post on winter windshield wiper position, noting that there are two sides to this divisive issue, and then shared the stance of Kevin Williams, a writer at Car Bibles—who is firmly against winter windshield wipers standing at attention.
Fast forward to this week, when The Drive (the site where we first saw Williams’ take) attempted to end the wiper wars by interviewing engineers from Bentley on the up-versus-down debate. Long story short, according to the experts, it doesn’t matter how you position your windshield wiper blades during a winter storm. Here’s why.
Why windshield wiper position doesn’t really matter
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Though you might expect car professionals—in this case, engineers that design and test wiper blades—to have strong opinions on the subject, the ones The Drive spoke with at Bentley did not. Specifically, their position was: “Doesn’t matter, mate, purely a personal decision.”
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You can read the article, written by Jonathon Klein, for the full details, but here’s his summary:
The crux of what they told us is that wipers, their mechanisms, and everything involved within the system itself are torture-tested beyond what a consumer will ever encounter in the real world. According to the Bentley boys, the brand’s wipers start by going through 10,000 cycles at -20 degrees, are then frozen to the windshield and then pulled off by hand, and the mechanisms and windshield are packed full of snow ensuring that the wipers and mechanism can withstand the weight of said precipitation.
They test the rubber itself, too. They do so by examining how it reacts to repeated icing over, wind, rain, hail, sleet, and dust and debris. If it fails at all during the process, they make a new iteration of the product. And as they pointed out, all of these steps are industry standards.
In other words, your car’s windshield wipers should be able to handle almost anything that could happen to them when your car is parked outside in winter weather—regardless of their position.