I bought a new 2008 Legacy 3.0R for my wife in November of 2007. Twice during that winter, the windshield wipers either came on by themselves and would not turn off, or would not turn off when turned on manually. Once they stopped on their own and once the car had to be turned off. The issue has not recurred since. More recently, the dash, map, radio and/or AC controls will flicker, blink, or not come on at all in some kind of random pattern. The radio will be playing or the AC will be blowing but the display will be dark and the controls unresponsive. Since it's an intermittent issue we've not yet been to the dealer and I can't find any problem reports of these issues anywhere on the web. Any clues or suggestions? I've tried disconnecting the battery ground for a few minutes but the issue persists. :-\

I would suspect the wiper problem is due to a problem with the park switch inside the wiper motor.

 

The other issues sound like there is a connection problem in the main power buss somewhere. I would check the panel under the hood first. Tapping lightly on suspected areas with a screwdriver handle may help find the trouble.

Also check for a bad ground, common to the dash. Also possible a bad wiper control arm with a hot wire that ocassionally contacts gound would cause problems like this. Electrical issues are the worst for me hate em.