[johnjack11]

My parents drive a Ford Mondeo (between contour and taurus) in Ireland.

When I was home last Christmas I noticed a button for a front screen heater. I checked it out and it melts snow/ice in a few seconds.

When you look at the glass at a certain angle you can see little cells in it, like little honeycombs, I assume that is how they transfer the heat through the entire screen.

Has anyone ever seen that option in the US, or in a VW. It would be nicer than scraping a 1/4 inch of ice off in the mornings...

Jack

 

[Altair 4]

Don't some of the minivans have this? The one's that have that funny, sorta orangish tint to the windshield?

 

[ice_man]

Contour = Mondeo

 

[Coyote]

I remmber doing a mod on my very first car - a MKII Ford Escort.
I got heated water through my windsscreen washer jets by getting a long piece of tubing and wrapping it round the top rad hose and connecting it between the pump and the jets - nice warm water on the screen in winter really helped stop it re-freezing while driving once the engine warmed up that is. Also in the summer,hot water gets rid of the dead flies more easilly. That was a 1975 car way back in about 1982. Iv'e still never had heated washer jets since that day.

 

[YetAnother20V]

Are you serious? You actually used warm water on cold glass? I am surprised the glass survived the sudden thawing.

 

[geordie]

I had a Mondeo when I was in the UK in March, no real need for the defroster then. The heated front screen actually uses thin wires that zig-zag up the screen. They are about as fine as a hair and a few mm appart. One down side is that they considerably reduce the range of radar detectors and the UK fuzz are very keen on sneaky speed traps.

I used to defrost the car with warm water from the tap, just a little above body heat, nothing bad ever happened. In the UK 20F would be a really cold night, 10F is about the coldest it ever got in Newcastle.

 

[johnjack11]

Don't think the Modeo is the contour, they may be similar but the Modeo I was in seemed a lot bigger than the contours over here.

I don't think you can buy the contour new in the US anymore. They may have been the same car for a while but I think Ford changed it quite a bit in europe. Not that it really matters I suppose.

But the heated screen just seem to make sense for the US, especially in the mid west, with our crappy winters.

I was wondering if they were testing it in Europe first...

 

[2.8lB5]

The new passat has that feature. Check out passatplus.de for retrofitting information.

Here is the direct link.
http://passatplus.de/umbauteile/scheiben/frontscheibe.htm

Enter that into Alta Vista, or Google translators if your German is rusty.

Edit: I thought it was available on the 2004.5, but it is not listed on the VW website. I am pretty sure I have heard it is on the U.S. models though.

 

[LIVE4SPD]

New Land Rovers have this feature too.

 

[Coyote]

Are you serious? You actually used warm water on cold glass? I am surprised the glass survived the sudden thawing.

It was only warm rather than hot and it was only small quantity out of the jets. Don't think that would be enough to cause trouble. Used it that way for a about 2 years before moving on to my next car.

 

[harthouse]

Doesn't Subaru offer some type of windshield heater. When I had a 97 Outback and had to replace the windshield and someone mentioned that the windshield for the 98s were more expenses because they were heated.

 

[ms12339]

Yes , Subaru Legacy does.

 

[proxo]

I owned a Ford Mondeo before my Passat, and the heated screen is one feature i really miss on my passat. The mondeo also had heated windscreen washer jets and heated door mirrors. I was quite suprised to find all these missing on my passat, considering it is a fairly high spec model ('98 2.8 v6 syncro).

 

[grhdylan]

proxo said

The mondeo also had heated windscreen washer jets and heated door mirrors. I was quite suprised to find all these missing on my passat, considering it is a fairly high spec model ('98 2.8 v6 syncro).

Hi there, you should have heated mirrors if it's UK spec . (i think you will find that on a 98 passat they come on with the rear heated window)......well mine do !! Later passats have a joystick control on the door & the middle position is the heated mirrors. If you have the "winter pack option" then you get heated washer jets.
P.S. I wish i had heated windscreen / windshield

 

[geordie]

The Contour and Mondeo I were identical bodies. Unfortunately the Contour didn't survive to take the Mondeo II which is a much better vehicle. I don't keep up on UK vehicles now but the Mondeo I had in February felt every bit as well put together as the Passat and drove well too.

 

[Coyote]

I had a new Mondeo hire car from work just before I bought my Passat about 18 months ago. The Mondeo was a very well put together car and good to drive.
Don't think it is as tough as the Passat though, so may not last as well.