I've always felt there was something weird with the intermittent wiper control in my 09 Prius, and after recently driving an 08 Prius, it hit me: the wiper control is reversed in my 09! Setting the indicator to the thickest part of the white arrow (i.e. turning the knob clockwise) increases the frequency of the wiper movement - opposite the effect on the 08, and every other car I've driven! The 09 manual does indicate that turning the knob indicator towards the thickest part of the white arrow increases the wiper frequency, so it's obviously intentional. I wonder if this is some kind of signature variation from Toyota, to mark the end of the line for the Gen 2...
Weird.... I did notice that the 2009 had the new updated symbols. In other words, both the "off" positions for the headlights and foglights are marked by an "o". In our 2005, the headlight is marked by an OFF and the foglight switch is marked by an OFF.
Strange, then the 2004 must be reversed as well... here are the 2008 and 2009 directions for the wiper - the 2008 indicates that the thick end of the white arrow is the highest wiper interval (i.e. slowest frequency), while the 2009 says that it is the fastest frequency.
I'd have to check the stalks to see how they're marked, but that was the one difference I noticed between my 2007 and my wife's 2008 - which direction the ring was turned for faster/slower intermittent operation. Maybe it's something that changes back and forth from year to year?
Or maybe Dobey just got one that was originally destined for Australia (you know, just like how toilet water, when flushed, swirls in the oposite direction south of the equator from what it does up north here in the USA). Ken (in Bolton,Ct)
Curious. My European spec car which turned up in Feb this year does this the conventional way. Shorter interval at the top of the stalk band (thin line) longer at the bottom (thick line). The only time I've ever seen anything work the other way was on an Opel Vectra with automatic, rain-sensing wipers. On that the control adjusted the sensitivity of the rain sensor, thin line = lower sensitivity = longer wipe interval and damned confusing it was too until I worked out that it was effectively operating bass-ackwards.
Shortly after trading my '05 on my new '08, I noticed I was always turning the intermittent control the wrong way. I'm almost certain the controls worked in opposite directions, however I couldn't check because I no longer had the 05. When I was at the grocery store on Sunday, I saw another SPM Prius and talked to the owner for a while. He said that they also had an 05. I asked him if the intermittent controls on their two cars worked the same way. He said they worked in opposite directions, but I didn't think to ask which way each worked. I just went out to check my 08. Turning the ring clockwise (toward the thick end of the arrow increases the frequency (wiper cycles about every 3 seconds). Turning clockwise (thin end) decreases the frequency (every 10 seconds). My wife's 08 is the same as mine. I notice that the figure in the manual shows the letters "INT" on the control ring. Our cars do NOT have "INT" on the ring, but instead have a symbol for a wiper with 3 dashes over it (see the small figure at the top of the 09 manual page posted by Dobey). Is it possible if the ring has "INT", turning clockwise (wide end) increases the interval, and if it has the wiper symbol, turning clockwise increases the frequency? I wonder if Toyota buys Wiper Stalks from two different suppliers, and they work differently.
