Quote Originally Posted by Kaiser
It stopped being profitable to sell refill-style blades versus complete assemblies. Very few people would think about it as saving money if they only saved a dollar or two versus the cost of an entire assembly. Besides, most assemblies after at least 1990 have no easy way of installing new wiper refills anyways.

The wave of the future is coming though, and you can see it on new GM vehicles. Euro style blades that ARE the complete assemblies. Instead of the complicated metal linkages it's just got one rib that forces the blade against the windshield as well as cuts through the air. These work better under high-wind or high speed conditions, and are supposed to last longer because it presses evenly across the whole blade rather than at several points from the assembly. Bosch has been selling these style wiper blades for a bit now, and they're just going to become more common.
i assume your talking about the bosch icons, they are great. its like water was never on the window.