{"id":474676,"date":"2010-03-24T16:51:07","date_gmt":"2010-03-24T20:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.caranddriver.com\/?p=17564"},"modified":"2010-03-24T16:51:07","modified_gmt":"2010-03-24T20:51:07","slug":"gearbox-surplus-e-blade-emergency-wiper-blade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/474676","title":{"rendered":"Gearbox Surplus: E-Blade Emergency Wiper Blade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"E-Blade<\/a><\/p>\n

As I mentioned earlier<\/a>, a lot of stuff gets sent to my office. Some of it, like the E-Blade, leaves me and my co-workers overwhelmed with confusion.<\/p>\n

The E-Blade contends to be the first-ever emergency windshield wiper blade. The premise is that if your wiper blades go bad or if one should break, the E-Blade provides a one-size-fits-all solution to keep your windshield clear in a pinch. Except that it doesn\u2019t fit all cars, just the ones that have 18- to 24-inch wiper blades. Don\u2019t worry, Mini owners, you\u2019re not missing out.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

So nobody thought of this before? Maybe that\u2019s because the emergency wiper blade is such a mind-numbingly flawed concept that it still makes me dizzy six hours after the E-Blade arrived in my office (or maybe that\u2019s the diablo hot sauce from lunch). Wiper blades rarely, if ever, fail catastrophically\u2014there\u2019s going to be some warning that you need a replacement. If you do not pass the basic car-care test of recognizing when your wipers are worn, are you really likely be the type that plans ahead and buys an emergency wiper blade?<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a>This brings us to the second, more gigantic error in the E-Blade idea: if you\u2019re buying a back-up wiper blade, why wouldn\u2019t you just buy the proper size for your car<\/em>? It\u2019s not difficult. Every auto-parts store I\u2019ve ever been to has a book or computer that helps you find the correct replacement blades for your car. If that\u2019s too intimidating, you can use your words to get a store employee to help you. Plus, in my experience, traditional custom-fit wiper blades don\u2019t leave a disgusting black silicon residue on my hands like the E-Blade did (see photo at right).<\/p>\n

Oh yes, there\u2019s more stupidity: the E-Blade costs more<\/em> than a normal wiper blade. The website that offers the E-Blade for $9.99, www.thewiperstore.com<\/a>, also sells \u201clifetime\u201d Tripledge wiper blades ranging from $7.49 to $8.49 for the 18- to 24-inch sizes that the E-Blade covers. The budget line of wipers on the website (Classic Edge) \u00a0is even cheaper. What the hell? And the E-Blade instructions say it\u2019s only for temporary\/emergency use.<\/p>\n

\"E-Blade<\/a>There is one redeeming quality to the E-Blade, and that\u2019s the cigar cutter included to help you trim the wiper to size. I found a similar cigar cutter on Amazon<\/a> for $3.59. Unlike the E-Blade itself, the cigar cutter is useful, but that\u2019s still no reason to buy this package.<\/p>\n

Related posts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Gearbox Surplus: Top Gear’s “Where’s Stig” [Book Review]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As I mentioned earlier, a lot of stuff gets sent to my office. Some of it, like the E-Blade, leaves me and my co-workers overwhelmed with confusion. The E-Blade contends to be the first-ever emergency windshield wiper blade. The premise is that if your wiper blades go bad or if one should break, the E-Blade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6412,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-474676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mobile","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}