Wiper Blades on 1/3 of UK Cars Defective, says Kwik-Fit

In the annoying sound stakes, it jostles for pole position with fingernails scraped across the blackboard. For thousands of motorists, all too many a winter journey is accompanied by the cacophony of wipers making their squealing progress back and forth across the windscreen, jarring our aural sensibilities while leaving us with a smeared field of vision. Yet Kwik-Fit rightly points out that this is a torture of our own choosing – the fast fit network’s research shows that one in three British motorists are driving with defective windscreen wipers blades and 56 per cent of us don’t check this easily and affordably replaceable item from one year to the next.

According to the Kwik Fit study, the main wiper blade faults can be grouped into four categories – streakers, squeakers, soakers and scratchers. Streakers, as the name suggests, involves streaking – although not the public activity that enjoyed brief popularity in the 1970s. Our streaking refers to the smears left by blades across the windscreen; some 5.4 million UK motorists, 16 per cent of the total, view the road ahead through a smeared windscreen. Squeakers are those blades that make the abovementioned objectionable noise; 4.5 million motorists, or 13 per cent of the total, drive with this irritant. A million motorists have soakers, windscreen wiper blades that fail to clear water away properly. And one per cent, or 200,000 motorists admit their vehicle’s wiper blades are scratchers; in such bad condition they actually scratch the windscreen, risking permanent damage

Motorists under 25 years old are the age group most likely to have worn out wiper blades, with 58 per cent reporting a problem. Conversely, older drivers aged 65 and over take the best care of their wiper blades, with 72 per cent reporting they’re in perfect condition.

“It’s easy to overlook worn wiper blades or just wait for them to be replaced at the next service or MOT but in poor winter weather when conditions are already tough the last thing motorists need is impaired visibility,” commented Kwik-Fit chief executive Ian Fraser. “The extra workload placed on wiper blades this time of year can quickly finish them off but replacing them is cheap, quick and potentially life saving.” Kwik-Fit encourages motorists to have their vehicle’s wiper blades check and points out that any Kwik-Fit centre can do this free of charge. The fast fit network adds it stocks a full range of standard and flat blades.