We’ve had some pretty bad weather here recently, with snow and freezing rain and everything that comes with that. Specifically in this case, the “everything that comes with that” means frozen windshields. As you may already know, there are two major schools of thought when it comes to ice-covered windshields that result from a car being left outside overnight in cold, inclement weather: raise the wipers or leave them down.
Wipers up or wipers down. It’s the sort of question that has torn families apart for centuries. There are pretty valid reasons for either choice, I think, but I think fundamentally it comes down to personal preference. And that brings us to the ethical conundrum I was recently informed of by a friend of mine. This person lives in a place with a good-sized communal parking lot where the tenants of the complex park. On one of the recent nights where we got snow and ice, they noticed a neighbor walking from car to car, raising people’s wipers off their windshields.
My friend is not someone who subscribes to the wipers up school of thought; they’re a wipers down person. And while nobody doubts that the motives of this wiper-raiser were anything other than altruistic, the act of raising those wipers was nonetheless not a welcome act to my friend, nor would it be to many people. Some people may appreciate it, but overall, I have to ask: automotively, is this ethical?
I don’t think the actual details of wipers up versus wipers down really matter here; the question is whether or not doing something one firmly believes to be beneficial to a car you don’t own is okay or not. The wipers up/down example is a good one because it’s not universally agreed upon; even if the unbidden wiper-lifter believed he was saving people the hassle of freeing their frozen-to-the windshield wipers and protecting them and their wiper motors from damage, others believe that he could be exposing the wiper arms to more damage.
For example, I have several old cars with fragile or finicky wiper setups, and someone unfamiliar with them lifting them up could cause damage. Lifting people’s wipers, I think, is a fundamentally presumptuous act, one that blindly assumes that your own methods for dealing with an icy windshield are the best. There’s an arrogance to the act at worst, and an ignorance at best.
In this case, I think it’s wrong to mess with someone else’s car, even if your intentions are good.
That said, personally, I’m not someone who is particularly fussy about my car being touched or anything like that. If someone thinks my car has an interesting detail and runs a finger along it, I don’t mind at all, but I know people who do, so, generally, I try and treat people’s cars with the assumption that their owners are fussier than I am. But I do think if there’s a situation where you can provide a clear and unquestionable benefit to someone’s car by physically interacting with it, you can and maybe should.
The most invasive example I can think of may be if you’re walking by, say, an older car with open wind-up windows, and a heavy rain starts. If that were my car, I would be thankful if someone opened my door and rolled up my windows. But what about an open convertible in the rain? That’s a worse situation, but I do not think I’d be comfortable putting up someone’s manual convertible top, simply because that’s an operation that may be significantly more complex than rolling up a window, and has more possibility for me to break something. But if I had a tarp, would I throw it over the open car? Probably?
It’s a pretty murky area. Now, if a car’s parking brake popped off and a car started to roll away, I think most of us would at least see if a door was open to try and get the car stopped, right? That’s a much more dire situation than a wet interior, and comes with some public safety risks.
So where’s the line, there? Is it ever okay to mess with a car that’s not yours if your intentions are good? I’d love to know what we, as a community, are thinking. If you saw an Autopian sticker or badge on the car, would that change things? Let’s think this through and show our work here; this is more of a subtle problem than it seems. Except maybe for the wipers guy; I think that dude should just leave his neighbor’s cars be unless asked.
Here, you can pick a stance in this poll before we get into it in more detail in the comments:
Normally I’d say no, but in JT’s example of someone who left their window rolled down, yeah I think I’d save them. No one would have intentionally done that or desired their interior to be rained on.
I’ve stepped in front of a runaway shopping cart about to hit someone’s car.
I’ve shoo’d a pigeon off the hood of a stranger’s clean car.
I’ve picked up a loose screw in a parking lot so it wouldn’t give someone a flat.
Note that in none of these situations did I lay my grubby hands on another person’s automobile.
After reading through the comments I suggest what is the proper response to someone lifting up your wipers. Some people here have huge issues with sharing. Start with but them a gift, politely thank them, ask them not to touch your car, punch them in the face, or shoot them
Leave other people stuff alone unless there is an emergency that requires intervention or if left in the state would create danger.
I’m a “don’t touch other people’s cars!” person, but I voted ‘complicated’ based on a single personal experience. Back in college, there was a particularly nice Cherokee (XJ) that started showing up on campus. The owner had added a magnet to the back hatch; one day, I saw a passer-by remove the magnet and rotate it in such a way that it changed the intent of the magnet. Once they had gone on their way, I moved the magnet back to where the Jeep’s owner had placed it.
I’m also a ‘wipers down’ person, mainly because one of my Jeeps (the ZJ) has its wiper arms mounted so far under the hood that they can’t be raised.
Same here, my ZJ’s wipers won’t go all the way up, and if you try, you’ll scratch the hood.
Read an article the other day. Spray bottle 90% isopropyl and 10% water. Remove loose snow spray liberally scrape ice off other windows and by the time you are done the mixture has removed the ice and freed the wiper.
No on the wipers but questionable on the other stuff based on death possibilities
If it is your neighbor and you’ve seen them do it themselves, sure. Otherwise don’t be touching people’s stuff.
Just like dogs, I never mess with ones I don’t know them and the owner.
When, I was living in an apartment. A really sweet looking 64 Falcon convertible showed up in the parking lot. It was there for a couple weeks and I kept looking out the window hoping to see the owner so I could pester them about looking at the car. It was parked under a pine tree and I noticed sap was getting on the paint. I mentioned it to a new guy and asked if it was his. It wasn’t. A few more days and my curiosity got the better of me and I started looking closer at the car. It was unlocked and the sap was really doing a number on the paint.
So, I opened the door and looked in the glove box. The registration was in there and I got the name and address, looked them up in the phone book(!) and called the number. Turns out the car was stolen from a parking lot. Gave them my name and number and told them where it was. Feeling pretty good about my self until the owner and a couple of his buddies showed up along with the cops. At that point, I began to wonder if I was going to get my ass whipped, thrown in jail or both.
Thankfully, the ruckus got all the neighbors outside about the time my wife began bowing up to cops and the bubbas.
Remember, no good deed goes unpunished.
I’m not really possessive of my car, I don’t really mind other people touching it, it’s not like they’re gonna mess anything up or whatever, but I can’t shake the feeling that the wiper thing would really bug me. So let’s think about it in a non-car way.
I have a coworker who’s really nosy, and likes to think of himself as an expert in everything. Most times when he walks past another person at work and doesn’t actively have a task in his hand, he gets himself involved in whatever they’re doing. He sometimes helps, sometimes makes things more difficult, but the point is that he always thinks he’s helping.
And I think that’s the key to understanding why the wiper thing would be annoying. It doesn’t really help or hinder you either way, but whoever does it thinks they know better than you.
I am a friendly coworker. I always like to help my coworkers out. I am so much smarter than everyone no matter the subject that anything I do helps the dim coworkers. I think it is makes me even more loved when I improve the situation even if the dim coworkers don’t realize I do it for their own good.
Just kidding
It’s sticky because you don’t have all the information and there could be unintended consequences. Maybe their gas cap is open because the latch sticks, as an example. If it’s a friends car you can tell them about it, but I would err on the side of don’t touch someone else’s stuff.
The only time I touch someone’s car is to put the top up in a Miata if it has started to rain, or to turn headlights off. The headlight issue isn’t that common any more, but I’ll pass tales of people leaving their lights on to my children.
As someone whos seen a wiper blade rip in half, I was a wiper up kind of person until i had the giant monoarm on my 190E freeze fully erect for over a day.
Now im wipers down, let the heater take care of it as the car warms up kind of person.
As for messing with someones car, ill leave a note if i see a flat tire or call out if someones at a light with a filler flap open. But im not forklift certified to save someones car from a flood and anything less Id be real leery to touch a car.
Helpful tip once one wiper is damaged it’s best to replace the pair. However only throw out the damaged one and keep the good one under your seat for the next time. Even one emergency wiper can come in handy.
Don’t touch my wipers or anything else on my car. First of all, on both of our cars, the arms won’t extend away from the windshield unless you set them to a “service position” from within the car (i.e., via infotainment menu) … meaning, if you try to bend the arms to a position away from the windshield while it’s just parked normally, you’ll hit the hood and probably damage both the wipers AND the hood if you try to move them.
Second, if they ever do stick, a heat gun + extension cord and/or room temperature washer fluid is like 10 steps away. I’m not a heathen … don’t assume I am and I won’t assume you are either.
I have tersely told my otherwise very nice older neighbor that parking a literal inch away from my bumper was unnecessary, excessive, and improper on a suburban street. So maybe I’m not the right persona to ask questions about a non-owner touching my car without permission.
I’m going with “chaotic neutral”: passenger wiper down, driver’s wiper up, tasty frozen treat like an It’s-It tied to it with a bow.
I’m from California. The non-snowy part. I don’t know how any of this works.
man, I love It’s-Its. I can’t get them out here!
If you’re desperate, they will ship:
https://www.itsiticecream.com/products/ice-cream
Considering it would probably be overnight shipping with dry ice, I’m sure it’s not cheap. But my boss did it once for his daughter who went to Cornell for her undergraduate degree and was missing that particular hometown treat.
Sorry. I love them so, so much. If you find yourself at SFO and have a bit of time to kill, the factory store is only about ten minutes south in Burlingame.
My favorite ice cream sandwich. The Costco near me has the minis but I am in California not far from the home of Its-It.
You’re a true ethicist, adroitly balancing maleficence and beneficence, waxing poetically and then ending with a hard shrug that passes the dilemma right back at the inquisitor.
I’ve never heard of them, but will try to find them tonight! Thanks.
“Never mess with someone else’s car” is an unwritten rule that is being forgotten. Maybe in certain situations if it belongs to an immediate family member, but other than that I’ve knocked on neighbors doors to let them know they left the car running, or let a store page the owner.
Much related question: What do you do if you see someone’s trunk or hatch left open? Do you close it?
This one is maybe more involved then the wipers, because now you’re not just trying to do a minor snow-favor, you’re potentially saving the person from theft of the contents of the car. Also, in an older car where everything isn’t microprocessor controlled, you might be saving the person from having a dead battery from the courtesy lights being on.
I know that I have both rung a doorbell at the house the car was parked in front of (owner turned out to be one house over, and was very grateful), and passed it by in a commercial space when things weren’t so obvious.
I’ve been in that exact scenario at a hotel, trunk was open a good half hour, I just informed the front desk, wasn’t going to close it myself
Yes, that’s an easier answer, since you give your plate number when you register.
If you close it, the P(keys were inside) increases to 100%.
Or, some crazy ex-policeman bomb-defuser rigged the car to blow up if the lights were turned off.
Saw it in a movie: LightSpeed.
True. In fact to combine things here, a friend had a sedan where if you closed the trunk with the keys inside, it would pop the trunk. So then if say your hands were full and you didn’t notice as you shut the trunk with your elbow as you turned around, you then had an open trunk with the light shining down on your wonderfully available keys. Joyride time!
My 135’s battery is in the trunk, which can only be opened electrically or by the kidnap handle inside. The hidden keyhole above the back plate went away a few months before mine was built.
Prius is like this, too. The fix is to jump the car from the contacts under the hood, turn the car on, then open the trunk/hatch to replace the battery.
Caution: jumping a Prius in this manner (a 2004 ) will automatically lock the doors! So, open door, jam something between door and car so it won’t shut.
You are probably wondering why I know this…
That’s supposed to work on the Bimmer as well. But if you have an intermittent full electrical drop…
I had this situation happen last winter, an older gentleman pulled out of the grocery store with his hatch wide open. (No clue how he didn’t notice, with the wind noise and the constant beeping from his Escape). People were motioning and even honking to let him know, but he was oblivious. I got behind him at a light, got out of my car, and hit the button to shut his hatch. I didn’t want to have all of his purchases end up on the road in front of my car, and he was appreciative.
The trunk thing is the one instance where I am tempted to close it. I forgot to close mine once after unloading groceries back when I was in an apartment, and my tool kit vanished.
I won’t touch someone’s wipers. How the Frostbacks were raised is none of my business. When I was a teenager it was common courtesy to open doors and turn off the lights on parked cars. Back then very few people locked their cars. A few times in my life I’ve run to intercept runaway shopping carts heading for a stranger’s car. Now I would have to stand there and say, “Ooh, that’s a shame.”
Oh yeah, lights left on! I’ve turned off someone’s forgotten lights before, and I’ve had it done to my car, for which I was grateful.
Especially in the current weather conditions.
Although my past cars could, the Vic can’t lift the wipers beyond enough to swap them out, but in general I’m not touching some stranger’s car.
I think a conclusive answer to whether it’s helpful to lift the wipers or not would be more relevant before I could decide on an answer. It’s just hard to think of an unrelated example of “I am doing something obvious and beneficial for your car”
Wipers up is the Fuel Shark of storm prep.
Lots of people buy it, but it accomplishes nothing.
It can be helpful when there has been freezing rain. You can start clearing the wipers while the windshield is still warming up to the point where you can work on it.
I disagree. I’ve had blades rip when trying to scrape the ice off the windshield. There are valid reasons to put them up.
Now would I do it to someone else’s car? Only with permission.
I’m sure it’s possible, but I have driven through several decades of winters with the wipers down and no damaged wipers.
It’s possible that I am extremely lucky. And that would be my luck – that the way I am lucky is in clearing iced windshields. That won’t help in Vegas.
You caused me to think deeper. Even if you flip up the wipers so they don’t freeze to the windshield you still have ice on the windshield. So what good is it to raise them if you still have to wait for the ice to thaw before you can even drive away?
Yes. The windshield where the wipers would be sitting will be covered in ice.
I assume people are worried that the ice will glue the wiper blade to the windshield and cause the rubber to tear when lifting the wipers to scrape ice from the windshield.
We don’t usually wait for the ice to thaw. Everyone on the northern US will have a snow brush / ice scraper in the car. The scraper end is like a plastic putty knife for scraping ice and frost from glass.
Only in the more extreme situations, like a child or pet stuck in a hot car with all the windows up, would I consider messing with another person’s vehicle.
Otherwise, leave other people’s cars alone!
Don’t touch people’s cars.
One time at a pharmacy when I was younger, I was sitting in the car while a parent ran in quick. While they were in there, some older person used the hood of our car as support as they stepped off the curb around the store.
It bothered me at the time, but I’m not so sure anymore.
On the other hand, maybe that’s more of an infrastructure problem if the curb didn’t have a ramp for a smooth descent.
Never. Touch. My. Car.
Seriously, anyone with thoughts that strong about wipers up is a f’n moron. It accomplishes nothing, and it’s certainly not important enough to override the right to not have you touch my car – especially if I don’t know you.
I am not allowed to key ‘meddling jackhole’ onto your driver’s door. You’re not allowed to do tiktok snow preparation ideas on mine.
It’s not ok because it makes the recipient look like a huge dummy who’s never seen snow before.