I think old cars from the past used to have manual wipers. The driver had to operate them manually, with some kind of lever from the inside. Anybody remember this?
I think some kind of back-up should be built into cars for things that fail regularly. They should have a manual backup on all cars, a lever the driver can use for windshield wipers, and a hand crank for balky starter motors. That’s my contribution today to modern car design.