They could be stuck, possibly from snow, ice, or other types of precipitation.
Turn the wipers off, pull the wiper arm off, and replace it in the correct down position.
The windshield wipers are not automatic... the lever that controls the wipers have three positions and you will have to pull the lever down to the off position. The position below off is for mist. If you pull the lever to that position and let it go, the lever will go back to the off position.
The wiper motor has a switch inside of it. When they are turned off and the wipers go to the down position it trips the switch in the motor that tells the computer they are in the down position. If that switch in the motor is faulty, the wipers are repositioning until the switch is tripped to the off position. THE FIX.... Replace the wiper motor.
If the windshield wipers work when pushing the lever down but not when they are turned on all the time, the problem could be in the wiper motor relay switch. There are two different relay switches for the windshield wipers, so that if the one fails a person can still clear the windshield manually.
You can detailed instructions on how to reset your wipers on youtube.com/watch?v=KFBLtlnkpuI
What type of vehicle?
Sometimes there is a racket system and the wipers have slipped. Used to happen all the time in my 1998 Buick. Always had to take them apart and put them back together.
when u turn wipers off they stay at up position. while in up position remove wiper arms from vehicle then place wiper arms at down position and renistall on wiper motor shaft. that should fix the problem
bad parking relay in motor
You must remove the arm of the wiper and move it down
The motor shaft and the wipers are'nt connected properly(the timing is off), just disconnect the wipers from the motor. Turn your car on and cycle the motor and it should be back at the home position. Pull your wipers back down and reconnect and all should be fine.Thats if you put in a new wipermotor. If not, maybe the wiper switch is bad.
If there is no other mechanical problem the wipers tuck under the hood by pushing the wipers under the hood. Sorry if you already know this, but they have two settings one for winter (which I'm assuming you are talking about) and one for nonwinter time (under the hood position). It will actually snap down into position under the hood.