[Dale]

We here all the time about vehicle safety,when is GM going to wake up,For the first one why don't they have the Wind shield wipers go the other way.when it wipes the wipe would end on the other side not in the Drivers line of sight.It does make a differents in heavy rain.And the other thing is the Hi-Low blinker switch,I'm sure some one can come up with a new design that you don't have to take your hand off the wheel to do this.It might only be for a short time ,but if you blew a front tire out at that time ,you would be in trouble.Sure some people have large hands ,but not all the women have large hands.I know people that live in the big citys don't use them very much,but when live out of town they use them more for dodging deer.Just my opinion.

 

[rbarrios]

interesting about the wipers.
I dont know-- they must have a reason that all cars wipe in the same direction...
Except the ones that have 1 large wiper and the ones where the wiper on the drivers side operates like they do today-- and the passenger side wipes in a similar fashion-- so they wipe from the center and both end up on the sides both blades pointing up.. my 64 Chevy truck does this...
Ive seen a few recent cars do this.....

But I wonder if the traffic safety people--- would think that in severe weather- where you cant see--- you would end up looking at the right of the road and follow the white line-- like when youre blinded by headlights.....
Anyone know why they all wipe in the same direction? they wipe in this direction in foreign cars where they drive on the other side?

I have small hands- and I dont have trouble with the hi/lo
Ill have to retest on the Traverse--- but my Trailblazer was the same--- and I remember on some twisty roads in Mexico... I was using the hi-low's all the time.... (On trailblazers-- you turn on hi's.. the Lows GO OFF). if you wanted ALL 4 lights-- you had to PULL AND HOLD THE stalk.
On the Traverse you turn on highs.. and the LOWs stay on- so you get 4 lamps all the time. (I think thats right)...

But the way I do it on twisty roads is my thumb on the left hand kind of hugs the steering wheel.. my other 4 fingers-- especially the middle finger are used to pull or push the hi/lo stalk.

 

[Toddzilla67]

Had a 94 Buick Regal that had wipers that both wiped away from the center--hated them.

I do have one gripe about the Traverse wipers--actually it's not so much the wipers as it is how high the cowl panel is. If you're ever driving in a real snow storm and snow is accumulating (not melting) on the windshield, alot of snow and ice buildup at the cowl occurs very quickly and the defroster cannot keep up. These wipers stop at the very bottom of the windshield and right at the cowl whereas most vehicles I'm used to driving have at least a couple of inches between the cowl and the wiper.

 

[AA/78U-Blue Gold]

Dale,

I consider our Lambda based vehicles to be very safe. My 07 Acadia was rear ended at a dead stop and the other vehicle slammed into us traveling at 40 mph. There was zero intrusion into our vehicle while the other vehicle had to be towed away. There are many stories of Acadia owners that have had high speed head on collisions, roll overs etc and the vehicle took all the abuse while saving the passengers inside from any serious harm.

Now then, the wiper issue you describe; IMO; isn't an issue for me.

As far as switching from high to low beams; your hand is off the wheel for less than a second. I do remember back when the switch used to be on the floor of certain vehicles and I kind of like that idea. You can keep both hands on the wheel and still operate the high low function.

Overall; our vehicles are very safe and I thank GM for engineering a vehicle that can take such drastic abuse and still allow the occupants to walk away

 

[medicrxdoc]

The wipers are in this design because the driver has more of a cleared view. If it were reversed, there would be a large uncleaned area in the left upper corner area.

As for the high beams, I don't have a problem, but used to work in an ambulance that had one of those foot switches to toggle them. That was great.

 

[bigbluetraverse]

Yes the wipers are also offset to to the left so a long blade can be used to clear a larger space on the drivers window.

The wiper is nothing of an obstruction.

The large pillars are way worse. I have had entire cars disappear behind them in parking lots.

 

[AA/78U-Blue Gold]

The large pillars are way worse. I have had entire cars disappear behind them in parking lots.

Yes I agree; also the blind spot on our vehicles can definitely hide cars :-\

 

[odypilots]

No wiper complaints here. I find the single outlet for the windshield defroster my main visability complaint. Separate outlets for both sides would allow driving to begin sooner.