Windshield Wipers in New York

[Joel Hauser]

Based upon an email that I received from NYS Department of Motor Vehicles, I believe New Yorkers are allowed to use manually operated wipers, like the ones that clamp to the top of the windshield wiper frame. For those of us who don't intend to use the car in the rain, and don't want to invest in electric wipers, this information might be useful. The following is the correspondence I had with DMV:
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Thank you for using the DMV's Ask a Question service. Here is a summary of your question and our response.

Subject
I am building a homemade Factory Five Cobra roadster kit car. Will a manually operated windshield wiper pass inspection, or do I have to install an electric wiper. The car does not have a roof. VTL 375 only says the car shall have suitable wipers.

Response By Email (Technical Services) (01/26/2017 09:36 AM)
Dear Customer,
A manually operated windshield wiper is acceptable. The wiper control must be within the reach of the driver (in the normal driver seating position).

Mark Shimkus
Technical Services Bureau
Mark.Shimkus@dmv.ny.gov
(518) 474-5282 (select option #4)
Customer By Service Web (Joel Hauser) (01/23/2017 08:16 AM)
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Have you had a chance to review my kit car/windshield wiper question? Since the Law says that cars only need suitable wipers, I would argue that since the car doesn't have either a roof or convertible top, and therefore will never be driven in the rain, manual wipers will be more than suitable.
Thanks
Joel Hauser
Customer By Service Web (Joel Hauser) (01/14/2017 12:24 AM)

[wareaglescott]

FYI you wight get more visibility on these posts in the roadster section vs posting in the build thread section.
That is good info. I am not in New York but spent some time trying to track down what the official answer for my state was. Im sure New Yorkers will find this useful.

[Joel Hauser]

thanks for the input; I'm kind of new to posting, and quite frankly get confused every time I try using it. I'll try posting it in the roadster section
Joel