VW apparently have some ‘climate screen’ with a thin layer of silver which heats up and is supposedly not visible to the driver, unfortunately my lease vehicle doesn’t have this.
1 Like
Indeed - even my fairly primitive and minimalist Caterham Seven has a effective heated windscreen (when I choose to fit it); the fine filaments (or ‘mesh’) are quite hard to see and certainly not an impediment to driving.
Can’t say the car gets left out in the freezing cold very often, but it does work ok for moderate ice (and clears regular frost or mist very quickly).
I think maybe different people experience this differently - I have had several cars with heated windscreens and generally not had any problem. But on some days it has been noticeable. So I am not sure you can conclude that because you don’t have a problem nobody does or could
2 Likes
I think that’s true. Sometimes you can be oblivious to something visually, but once you’ve seen it it can be difficult to suppress and ignore. Other factors including angle of incident light/brightness, night/day driving and I suspect corrective glasses can also contribute to the conspicuity of the wires. Plus we’re all different!
1 Like
While we may all differ, it’s actually incredible what our brains do filter out to concentrate on visual or audible stimuli.
Sometimes I see lots of filamentous ‘floaters’ - it often depends on the lighting type/direction and background colours. Similarly for audio I’m often surprised how intrusive fans/hard drive whirring can be at times but are seemingly ‘filtered out’ at other times.
Pretty clever the old brain!
This thread reminds me of an old joke:
Q: Why do Ladas have heated rear windows?
A: To keep your hands warm while you’re pushing them.
4 Likes
Heated front screens are an excellent invention - only takes a minute for mine to clear on a frosty morning.
We have 3 Focus (Foci?) in the household, MK2, Mk3 and Mk4. Over time Ford have improved the design so that the elements are now less visible. On the older car the elements are only really noticeable/distracting when driving into the sunset - I do find that keeping screens clean inside and out helps reduce this. On the newer cars it does not seem so noticeable.
Ref cars that are fitted, originally it was FoMoCo group cars so Fords and available (usually an option) on Jaguars, Landrovers and Volvos - not sure about Astons! I sold Mazdas for 8 years - at the time also part of Ford. Interestingly the Mk2 Mazda3 was the only UK spec car (Sport trim + possibly MPS) to come with a heated screen - no idea why the others did not.
Ref the Mini, I remember it on an early cabriolet we had traded in which I thought was odd given its roofless/summer use nature. I never saw it on any others we had in.
Didn’t I hear that Ford had the original patent on the concept? ISTR it was for 20 years, so Ford were the only company offering heated screens until the patent expired.
1 Like
Quite possibly, which is why it surprised me to find the feature in a 2006 BMW Mini - especially as no other BMWs had the feature at the time!
Probably got it from Land Rover which was owned by bmw at the time
Heated garage is nice.
Use a Webasto.
Remove your wet clothes.
Breathe with your nose.
Use your AC.
Open a window to remove the humidity.
The windshield should be clean.
My Morgan Plus Four ( incidentally the very worst car I have ever owned ) had a heated windscreen .
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.