Windscreen wiper servicing on Polo 6c GTI

[Penarth Blues]

I cleaned the car yesterday and went to pull up the drivers side wiper blade to clean the muck out from under it but where it hinges it fouls the underside of the bonnet so you can't hinge it away. I've never seen this on any other car and was confused as to how I'm meant to change the wiper blade, etc.

A look in the handbook reveals that you have to move the wiper blades to a 'service position' to change them. This is done in a quite obvious (not...) way:

1. Turn the ignition on and off.
2. The press the wiper stalk down (as for intermittent wipe) which moves the wipers to vertical on the screen.
3. Do whatever you need to do to the wipers
4. Remember to turn the engine back on and briefly press the wiper stalk down again to return to wipers to the parked position.

There, nice and logical... I'm going to make sure I don't lose the handbook for this car...

[RUM4MO]

It does seem to be the way of the world now on quite a few cars.

I first came across that strange/stupid design error on a 1991 VX Cav GSI 4X4 - it did not have the option of "service" position, so you had to switch on wipers, switch on ignition, switch off wipers at the correct time! That lasted all of a few years until VX seemed to have solved that issue by fitting cranked wiper arms - a quick trip to parts dept, ordered a set, fitted them - job done!

Back to VAG and this issue, I seem to remember that daughter's late 2009 Ibiza caused her problems, ending up, as you would expect, with a chipped edge of bonnet, which I have since touch'd up. I wrote roughly what you wrote in your opening posting and got very nearly flamed for that comment - I seem to have enraged all of the Ibiza 6J community, so maybe you need to prepare yourself for that. The claim at that time that this feature, not issue, was a brilliant idea from VAG to lower the drag, ie wind resistance of the car!

[steve91]

Took me ages to figure this out when I first bought the car. I know its so it looks sleek when the wipers are down but its hardly practical!

[Ricmondo]

Designer was probably frightened by an ink jet printer when young!

[Penarth Blues]

Designer was probably frightened by an ink jet printer when young!

It took me a while...