The reveal of Ferrari’s first electric vehicle gave the world plenty to be riled up about, but you haven’t even seen the beginning of it. CarBuzz has just found a new patent that shows the Luce’s wipers, which were parked on the windshield Cybertruck-style at the reveal, could actually be much, much worse.
Those Upright Wipers Could Be Downright Wipers
Ferrari Wiper PatentFerrari
How could it be worse than parking the wipers like a broken 2006 Honda Civic? Ferrari was recently granted a patent called “Motor Vehicle With Windshield Wipers Having A Rest Position On The Hood.” No, not under the hood, like most modern cars. On the hood.
The parking position is where the wipers sit when you’re not using them. Nearly every vehicle on the market since wipers were invented puts them lying flat at the base of the windshield. They may sit exposed, or they may sit below the trailing edge of the hood where they are slightly hidden. The Luce’s wipers are parked fully upward, so they’re always clearly visible and subject to the elements. But they may not stay that way.
Ferrari’s electric vehicle has a very unusual hood design, where the main bodywork is elevated above a lower panel. With several inches between the two layers, someone at Ferrari evidently thought it would be the perfect place to store the parked wipers, out of sight.
The patent shows Ferrari’s wiper problem. The design of its hood and windshield allows for an uninterrupted flow of air from the hood over the surface of the glass. In the wind tunnel, it’s great. But parking windshield wipers in a traditional horizontal placement where glass and hood meet hurts the airflow. On an EV, that’s bad. But putting the wipers straight up is ugly, or as Ferrari puts it, “the exposure of the windshield wipers significantly jeopardizes the overall aesthetics of the front portion of the motor vehicle.”
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And it’s time to see whether the world will buy anything with a Ferrari badge, or whether there are some things even a prancing horse can’t sell.
So, in Ferrari’s mind, at least one of these issuesneeds to be eliminated. The patent reveals a solution – but it may be the most baffling automotive engineering decision since the Cybertruck’s massive single wiper blade. Here’s why.
Ferrari ‘Solves’ Two Problems By Creating Another One
Ferrari Wiper PatentFerrari
So why not swipe the wipers into a position pointing straight down when they’re parked? It wouldn’t work on almost any other vehicle on the market, because the mechanism of the wiper arm would crash into the hood. Even if that worked, the wipers would be sitting on top of the hood, another ugly solution that still leaves the wipers prone to damage, never mind damage that could occur to the hood.
With the double-decker Ferrari hood, though, the wipers point straight down into a pocket where you can’t see them. They’re out of sight and out of the airflow, so Ferrari solves both problems with one swell swoop. The linkage doesn’t need to be fancy, and unlike most wiper systems, Ferrari is using one motor for each blade instead of a separate linkage that only needs one motor for both.
Problem solved, right? But the under-hood of the Luce is shiny and black. We don’t know the material yet, but it looks like the same piano black trim you’d find in the cabin of a modern car. No matter what the material, wipers dragging anything over a black surface like that will at the very least create instant, visible streaks. At worst, the surface will be scuffed up in no time.
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There’s nothing in the patent to show what Ferrari plans to do in order to stop the hood from looking like absolute garbage once the vehicle is in service. So they might just stay parked upright all the time. Or, maybe a clear paint protection film might be added, something to change at regular intervals since there are no oil changes to tend to. Gotta keep those lucrative service schedules happening, after all.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
We understand the need for aerodynamic performance and the need for a Ferrari to look like a Ferrari. As it sits, the Luce’s wipers do neither. If this patent sees production, it might improve the aero and the aesthetic as long as the wipers aren’t used. Maybe straight up isn’t so bad. After all, Koenigsegg does it.
Patent filings do not guarantee the use of such technology in future vehicles and are often used exclusively as a means of protecting intellectual property. Such a filing cannot be construed as confirmation of production intent.
Source: US Patent & Trademark Office
