Our new 2018 EX was out in some typical early springtime patchy rain around here, and for the first time since 1999, I had intermittent wipers. (I bought a CIvic EX in 2001, but that was the one year of 7th gen Civic EX's that did not have the intermittent feature. Our GE 2009 Fit also does not have the feature).

I put on the wipers but had a hard time figuring out what kind of delay I was getting. Sometimes, it would pulse with a several second delay but not change significantly when I rolled the stalk collar up to the three raindrops ("most frequent") setting. Other times, it would actually start to run continuously at that setting.

"Hmph," I thought, "time for a warranty repair even before I hit 500 miles." This was very disappointing until I realized the intermittency was being modulated by the rainfall density as it struck the windshield. Apparently the Honda Sensing camera watches the rainfall and adjusts the intermittent frequency, and that adjustment seems to be much wider than what the stalk collar control provides.

That is so cool! I'm also not quite sure I like it. I wish there was some way to override the Honda Sensing guidance (I guess there is, by just using pulse-low-high). I do know I'll get used to it eventually.

This experience makes me less inclined to mourn the fact that I don't have the auto-dimming headlights added to the 2019 models.

 

I don't think the wiper speed is moderated by the rain levels.

What I have noticed, however, is that when the wipers are in intermittent mode, if you come to a complete stop(i.e. red light), then the wipers slow down. And as soon as you start moving again, they speed back up. This could be what you were noticing

 

The wiper algorithm is messing with your mind if it's responding to what the computer thinks is the appropriate amount of wiping, but you don't.

 

It's got Speed sensitive variable intermittent wipers.

Wiper swipe interval delay time decreases the same as one 'click' on the stalk dial as you go above a certain speed threshold (example, maybe 8 MPH), then swipe interval delay time increases again as you slow down below a certain speed (maybe 4 MPH or so)
And when stopped or crawling, the wipers will swipe when you take your foot off the brake so they clear the glass as you take off from the stop.

If you set it to shortest interval then start driving, the differences should be quite apparent.



Full auto wipers aren't offered on Fits. So far.

 

My observations coincided with spotty rainfall, but also with a number of stops and turns, over about 10 minutes and 2 miles. Not a lot of time. I wasn't paying close attention to the correlation between speed and frequency, but I will now. I'll be interested to see how this works on rural Interstate in light rain.

Agree with the mind-messing part, it is definitely unnerving when features don't work as expected--even if they're improvements.

TBH on my 2009 I considered the mod with the CR-V stalk with one wire to the underdash panel, but the access difficulty wasn't worth it. Regular intermittent and one-time were satisfactory. (I remember my parents' 1964 Impala had only one wiper speed, which bothered me even at age 6).

Another observation I've had on all Hondas going back to the 2001 Civic: If you hold the stalk in the one-swipe position, the wipers will switch to high-speed.