Does My Volvo Have Automatic Rain-Sensing Wipers?

Volvo started adding rain sensing windshield wipers to many models starting in the mid-2000s.

What are rain sensitive wipers?

Volvo's rain sensitive wipers are basically a replacement for the intermittent wiper feature.  When you activate the rain sensing feature, the wipers only swipe when enough rain is detected.

When active, the intermittent interval setting wheel on the wiper stalk becomes a rain sensor sensitivity adjustment.

Rain sensing wipers use an infrared sensor to detect moisture on the windshield and swipe the wiper blade automatically.   Once you turn it on and adjust the sensitively to where you like it, you really shouldn't need to touch the wiper stalk again unless it stops raining.

Does my Volvo have rain sensitive wipers?

The rain sensing wipers on some Volvo models is much less obvious and you might not even know your car has this feature.

In this article, we will try to help you determine if your Volvo has this feature and how to use it.

The easiest way to determine if your car has them is to look for the rain sensor just below the rear view mirror (see images below.)

The other is to see if you have the activation button on the wiper arm stalk (see image below.)

On some models, you have to activate the rain sensitive mode each time you want to use it.  It defaults back to the normal intermittent wiper mode when the ignition is cycled.

On most Volvos, there is a little indicator icon that lights up on the instrument display to indicate that the rain sensitive mode is active (see images below.)