1. driving during a minor snowstorm the windshield wipers on my 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe failed while driving at highway speed. 2. I could not see clearly and had extreme difficulty navigating the roadway. 3. as the vehicle was covered under warranty, I took it in for service at a local dealer. That dealer informed me that the wiper transmission was bad, though this would not be covered under warranty. I purchased a new wiper transmission and had it installed by my local mechanic, who informed me that the linkages are made of plastic and driving in inclement weather, such as snow, might cause failure. I feel this is a dangerous situation, whereby windshield wipers are supposed to operate in inclement weather, and if the underlying components are of inferior quality, it should be replaced by non-problematic materials. The servicing dealer claims that the failure was due to my not cleaning the area surrounding the wiper arms. But this is not correct, as I did clean this area. I should be able to operate this vehicle during a storm without having to pull off the highway to manually clean the wipers and surrounding areas. If the linkages are unable to handle snow at highway speeds, then they must be upgraded.

- Staten Island, NY, USA