Headlight Washers

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lthough in Sweden, headlamp washers are a legal requirement and have been for some time, for the United Kingdom they’re often used by manufacturers to distinguish the high end models from the low end models. All Saab 9-3s of Chef’s generation come with headlamp washers and for me, it’s a nice little addition to the specification list. The later 9-3 Sports Saloon has a high pressure washer system.

Pull the 9-3’s right hand stalk towards you and the car squirts water at the windscreen whilst wiping away. You probably won’t see it, but at the same time the Saab is also squirting water and wiping at the headlights.

Now you may see this if you do it at night, catching the wipers across the headlights.

The 9-3’s headlamp washer unit operates as an extension of the windscreen washer system, using the same washer pump. The headlamp wiper mechanism can fail to return to the rest position; the next time you see a 9-3 look to see if the headlamp wipers are where they should.

Because the headlamps have a wash feature, the 9-3’s washer reservoir is huge.