Mazda 3 Owners Manual: Windshield Wipers

Turn the wipers on by pressing the lever up or down.

With intermittent wiper

Variable-speed intermittent wipers

Set the lever to the intermittent position and choose the interval timing by rotating the ring.

With auto-wiper control

Auto-wiper control

When the wiper lever is in the
position, the rain sensor senses the amount of rainfall on the windshield and turns the wipers on or off automatically (off— intermittent—low speed—high speed).

The sensitivity of the rain sensor can be adjusted by turning the switch on the wiper lever.

From the center position (normal), rotate the switch downward for higher sensitivity (faster response) or rotate it upward for less sensitivity (slower response).

NOTE

• Switching the auto-wiper lever from the to the
  position while driving
  activates the windshield wipers once, after which they operate according to the rainfall amount.
• The auto-wiper control may not operate when the rain sensor temperature is about -10 °C (14 °F) or lower, or about 85 °C (185 °F) or higher.
• If the windshield is coated with water repellent, the rain sensor may not be able to sense the amount of rainfall correctly and the auto-wiper control may not operate properly.
• If dirt or foreign matter (such as ice or matter containing salt water) adheres to the windshield above the rain sensor, or if the windshield is iced, it could cause the wipers to move automatically.

  However, if the wipers cannot remove this ice, dirt or foreign matter, the autowiper control will stop operation. In this case, set the wiper lever to the low speed position or high speed position for manual operation, or remove the ice, dirt or foreign matter by hand to restore the auto-wiper operation.

• If the auto-wiper lever is left in the
  position, the wipers could operate automatically from the effect of strong light sources, electromagnetic waves, or infrared light because the rain sensor uses an optical sensor. It is recommended that the auto-wiper lever be switched to the position
  other than when driving the vehicle under rainy conditions.
• The auto-wiper control functions can be turned off. Refer to Personalization Features on .