I was wondering if the drive on a highway on a rainy day with wipers on constantly would automatically set the AWD in action and there by increase fuel consumption and transmission wear and tear. They do mention that one of the factors that triggers AWD is the use of wipers (others being, road incline, low temperature, wheel slippage, wheel turn angle, etc). There is even a you tube video from Australia on off road cx5 driving where the guy has the wiper on during the whole climb even though there is no rain in sight. Is he forcing a AWD in action?