Car question: my windshield wipers self-activate

Factual Questions
1

I have a 97 Dodge Caravan with variable speed wipers. Intriguingly, about 2-3 times per year since the car was purchased, the wiper motor will self-activate and drive the wipers for 2-5 cycles before regaining its composure. Otherwise, the wipers work perfectly and I haven’t had any other electrical problems with the car. Also, I haven’t noticed any clear association with other events.

The problem is neither a nuisance nor a hazard, so not wanting to be branded a raving lunatic by my Dodge dealer, I haven’t brought it up. But I’ll be damned if I’m not perplexed by the extremely intermittent nature of the problem.

Has anyone else had similar problems with this car and (more importantly) can someone propose a mechanism that may be responsible for the malfunction?

2

I had a (vaguely) similar problem with my '97 Mazda B-Series pickup when it was new. It has variable-speed wipers, as well. The wipers would occasionally start on their own; turning the switch to “on” (past the intermittent settings) and then back to “off” usually stopped them.

I mentioned it to the guys at the dealer in passing while I had it in for other service. Turns out the problem was a crappy connection in the on/off switch. The replaced the switch (for free under the warranty), and the problem went away.

The switch itself is the first place I’d look.