# Why don't they put those defroster wires on the front windshield? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845 "2007-04-12T19:37:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/21 "2007-04-13T13:37:46Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] LR was doing it before Ford aquired them, so BMW must do it too… [/QUOTE] Some BMWs might, but I don’t think our X3 has them (it does, however, have heated front seats and steering wheel; things I thought were ridiculously frivolous, that I’m now hooked on). ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/22 "2007-04-13T13:52:43Z")
[QUOTE=Harriet the Spry] Do they defog as well as defrost? I loathe window fog with the heat of a thousand suns. [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t the heat of a thousand suns do a great job at defog/defrost? 🆒 I think you are overestimating your rage. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/23 "2007-04-13T14:10:28Z")
[nitpick pet peeve] Do you really need to describe the windshield by saying front? The windshield shields you from the wind. The wind comes from the front, therefore the windshield is at the front. The thing at the back is the rear window. It does no shielding. That is almost as bad as using the term ‘hot water heater’ for anything that does not heat air with hot water. [/npp] ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/24 "2007-04-13T14:36:44Z")
Unless you are familiar with terminology used in different countries, it isn’t a bad idea to say ‘front windshield’. There’s a bit more gray area here. It’s not like ‘hot water heater’. [Nitpick] Grammar police jumping in w/out adding value to discussion[/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/25 "2007-04-13T16:19:40Z")
Would embedded wires or some other kind of electrical heating work to deice planes? ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/26 "2007-04-13T16:30:09Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] [nitpick pet peeve] Do you really need to describe the windshield by saying front? The windshield shields you from the wind. The wind comes from the front, therefore the windshield is at the front. The thing at the back is the rear window. It does no shielding. That is almost as bad as using the term ‘hot water heater’ for anything that does not heat air with hot water. [/npp] [/QUOTE] The rear window is the “backlite”. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/27 "2007-04-13T16:51:04Z")
[QUOTE=AtomicDog] Would embedded wires or some other kind of electrical heating work to deice planes? [/QUOTE] I worked at Cessna years ago. The prop deicers were electric (using pneumatic boots there would be a huge engineering nightmare, at the least). I suppose boots on the leading edge of wings is preferred since they blast ice loose quickly. No reason in principle they couldn’t use electric deicers on the wings. I wonder how much power they would consume? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/28 "2007-04-13T17:31:08Z")
**Anaamika** , what kind of car do you drive? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/29 "2007-04-13T18:40:19Z")
I have a Ford Fusion with wires in the front. Clears the screen of ice/mist in about 1 minute. Beats the shit out of scraping ice off on a cold norning, not that we have a lot of ice these mornings anyway ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/30 "2007-04-13T19:01:04Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] I have a Ford Fusion with wires in the front. Clears the screen of ice/mist in about 1 minute. [/QUOTE] I built that car and didn’t even know that it was an option. Hell, I didn’t even know that front defrosters of this nature even existed, except for the windshield wiper helper defrosters like on Chrysler minivans (with the same ugly painted-on wires). ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/31 "2007-04-13T19:11:15Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] That is almost as bad as using the term ‘hot water heater’ for anything that does not heat air with hot water. [/QUOTE] But the water heater does heat hot water, it heats it even hotter. So it’s right some of the time. “Added bonus” and “my personal favorite” can still go to hell though. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/32 "2007-04-13T20:34:50Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] I built that car and didn’t even know that it was an option. Hell, I didn’t even know that front defrosters of this nature even existed, except for the windshield wiper helper defrosters like on Chrysler minivans (with the same ugly painted-on wires). [/QUOTE] Not [that](http://www.speedtv.com/_assets/library/img/large/89287_06fusion.ext1.jpg) Ford Fusion, the completely different [Euro model](http://www.esa.ro/ro/shop/imgprod/Ford%20Fusion.jpg) of the same name. My humble Ford Focus (Euro model, again) has the defroster wires too. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/33 "2007-04-14T01:18:46Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] I built that car and didn’t even know that it was an option. Hell, I didn’t even know that front defrosters of this nature even existed, except for the windshield wiper helper defrosters like on Chrysler minivans (with the same ugly painted-on wires). [/QUOTE] Painted-on wires? Really? Mine are embedded in the glass. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845/34 "2007-04-14T15:54:02Z")
[QUOTE=AtomicDog] Would embedded wires or some other kind of electrical heating work to deice planes? [/QUOTE] Yes, and it is in use in some airplanes. The Beechjet 400A (think Learjet-like business jet) uses eletrically heated mats to anti-ice the horizontal stabilizer (tail). The mats draw a tremendous amount of power from the generators, and the early versions were prone to overheating. Most jets use hot bleed air drawn from the engines for the majority of anti-ice duties. There is no “warm-up” time like a car, because once a jet engine is running you can tap 400 deg C air from it. The reason electricity is used on some parts (like the tail of a bizjet) is twofold. First, you are heating a relatively small area, so electricity isn’t terribly inefficient. Second, it saves you the weight and engineering complexity of porting very hot air all the way up to the tail. Running a wire instead of an air duct is much easier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-they-put-those-defroster-wires-on-the-front-windshield/399845.md?page=1)