Windshield wiper on driver's side of Hyuandi doesn't work -

I recently had the same problem of the drivers side wiper not working. My boyfriend (a mechanic) took the windshield cowl off and looked to see what was going on. He originally thought that maybe something had slipped off. I'm going to describe what he found in layman's terms. When you take off the wiper blade arms from the wiper transmission assembly unit there are these silver colored nubs with grooves on them (one for each wiper). What he found was that on mine the grooves were stripped so that the wiper on the drivers side wouldn't catch and go across the windshield while the other wiper worked fine. What we think that happened is that I left the wipers on when I shut off the car and since we had a huge snowstorm the wiper transmission bound up and stripped the nubs when I turned on the vehicle the next day and let it warm up. I had tried for the past week to find a used replacement wiper transmissions assembly but was not successful. I just ordered the part from my local Hyundai dealer at a cost of $180. I will at least save on the labor, as my boyfriend can handle that part. If you try to get the part used, be careful. There was a product change mid-year. Prior to June 2004 (If I remember correctly) is one part number and Santa Fe's manufactured after that date is a different part. I needed the earlier Santa Fe part. You can look at the body panel between the front and back doors on the driver's side for the production date of your vehicle there is a metal decal with the vin, your color codes, and other information. I recently had the same problem of the drivers side wiper not working. My boyfriend (a mechanic) took the windshield cowl off and looked to see what was going on. He originally thought that maybe something had slipped off. I'm going to describe what he found in layman's terms. When you take off the wiper blade arms from the wiper transmission assembly unit there are these silver colored nubs with grooves on them (one for each wiper). What he found was that on mine the grooves were stripped so that the wiper on the drivers side wouldn't catch and go across the windshield while the other wiper worked fine. What we think that happened is that I left the wipers on when I shut off the car and since we had a huge snowstorm the wiper transmission bound up and stripped the nubs when I turned on the vehicle the next day and let it warm up. I had tried for the past week to find a used replacement wiper transmissions assembly but was not successful. I just ordered the part from my local Hyundai dealer at a cost of $180. I will at least save on the labor, as my boyfriend can handle that part. If you try to get the part used, be careful. There was a product change mid-year. Prior to June 2004 (If I remember correctly) is one part number and Santa Fe's manufactured after that date is a different part. I needed the earlier Santa Fe part. You can look at the body panel between the front and back doors on the driver's side for the production date of your vehicle there is a metal decal with the vin, your color codes, and other information.