Five problems related to windshield wiper/washer have been reported for the 1997 Ford Explorer. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
While driving in cold/ icy weather the windshield wiper arms froze, causing the windshield wipers to be inoperative, which could cause visibility problems and an accident. . Et.
I saw a tv report about Explorer owners complaining about wipers. Mine don't work in cold or damp weather. They only work after the SUV has been driven several miles. Dealership has no clue on how to fix problem.
Freezing rain the night before a trip occured, wipers stopped working 20 miles into a 130 mile trip and refused to work rest of trip. Requested an appointment with roth Ford in petersburg, wv to enlarge windshield wiper storage area drain hole. Dealer refused, said that at least 20 people had call in with wipers frozen. During the remainder of the trip, I tried to get the wipers to work. They would barely move, but would not operate. After vehicle sat in airport parking lot for 10 days, wipers worked. I saw an article in a recent newspaper about this malfunction, so even though I did not prusue it with the local dealer or with the original dealer, I wanted to inform NHTSA that it is probably more of a problem than the 35 incidents mentioned in the article.
Rear windshield wiper failed.
Windshield wipers intermittently become inoperable in rainy weather conditions. Please give any further details.