Front screen frosting up

Faults and Technical chat for the Mazda CX-3
NeilMarshall
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Post by NeilMarshall »

Is anyone else having an issue with their front screen freezing up on the inside. Never had it on any of my previous cars and i have started having issues with it freezing up when its frosty or wet when its cold
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Strangways
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Post by Strangways »

It's really annoying. I get it all the time in the cold weather.
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zoylander
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Post by zoylander »

The most likely cause is dampness inside the car, which condenses onto the screen and freezes in sub zero temperatures.
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Deleted User 1511

Post by Deleted User 1511 »

a lo of modern cars suffer this, partly, I believe, due to the prevalence of air con systems

I close the air vents if it will be freezing overnight which significantly reduces the freezing inside
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HouseSpider
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Post by HouseSpider »

I've never had the problem (or noticed it yet as a problem). And I don't either switch the AC off or close the vents.
I wonder if it is related to the length of journey, i.e. the AC hasn't had time to take all the moisture out the cabin on short journeys.
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st3v3cx-3
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Post by st3v3cx-3 »

CX3fan wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 9:25 am a lo of modern cars suffer this, partly, I believe, due to the prevalence of air con systems

I close the air vents if it will be freezing overnight which significantly reduces the freezing inside
I would have thought having air con on will reduce the amount of moisture in the air circulating inside. I have mine on 100% of the time with the vents on the recycle setting.
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jtonline
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Post by jtonline »

The topic of condensation on the windscreen keeps cropping up on this forum and the CX-5 Owner's Club Facebook group.
Without doubt, keeping the air con. switched on will help reduce the problem because it dries out the air to some degree.
Keeping the inside glass surface clean will help with the demisting process (that on my car is abysmally slow, not helped by the fact that Mazda, in their infinite wisdom, didn't make the windscreen air vents reach right across the full width of the dashboard, coupled with the fact that the air takes a while to warm up).
Having one of those bags of silica gel (or a sock full of cat litter!) in the car will help remove moisture, but will need drying out in the microwave from time to time.
There are anti-fog treatments you can put on the inside glass surface, but from what I've seen on YouTube, an application of cheap and cheerful shaving foam will do the same job.
Check the footwell carpets and boot for any signs of dampness.
If you get condensation on the inside, there's not much you can do about it freezing, unless you can stop the glass from getting so cold. An insulated frost cover or hessian sack on the outside may help in this respect. That said, without either of those things so far, even when my screen has frosted up on the outside, it has never frozen on the inside, but it does mist up.
Julian.
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Deleted User 1427

Post by Deleted User 1427 »

Yes, as a new CX3 owner this has also happened twice this past week. NEVER in the ownership of 40+ cars have I ever experienced this problem. Although I've read many of the suggestions here and on the other 'Windsreen Condensation' posts...why are we having this problem at all? I don't spend £25K on a new car and expect to buy cat litter for it. :roll:
Beezageoff
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Post by Beezageoff »

Yes, a perennial problem this! I also have had many cars in my life time, but have never, ever had the problem of the inside of the windscreen misting up in cold weather. It cant be down to wet carpets or the like. I wonder what Mazda have to say about it????
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jtonline
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Post by jtonline »

My sister's VW Polo is just as bad. It's physics; If the temperature of an object falls below the dew point temperature for a given relative humidity of the surrounding air, water vapour from the atmosphere condenses into water droplets on its surface. Perhaps thickness and lamination technique of glass has a bearing on it?
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