To think pouring water on your icy car is just selfish?

[7hup]

Just fell on my face outside a neighbour who must have done this early morning.

So a stream of ice running across the pavement to the road which I didn't see

I fell hard. Am OK but if I were elderly or more fragile I could have bad injuries.

At least salt the pavement after!

@HexagonalBattenburg you can’t leave it until Christmas! Nothing says “I love you” more or Valentines Day than a windscreen scraper brush.

"When I traded in my ford for a new car last year I asked the dealer and he said only Ford had the patent for the Quickclear .
Don’t know if other makes have something similar under a different name"

Yes, this was true - Audi have something similar. But I think the patent has run out now so some other cars are starting to have them, I've seen comments about VWs, Fiats, Mercs and even Hyundai with it.

"One day, just wait, chances are it will."

What exactly ARE the chances then? You know, with scientific evidence, not just scaremongering? It DOESN'T happen!

Yet a few weeks ago a poster was blasted for running her car for 10 minutes to clear the icy windows and told by numerous people to pour water on it. That said, Op, that must have given you a nasty shock and I understand your upset.

"When I traded in my ford for a new car last year I asked the dealer and he said only Ford had the patent for the Quickclear

I’m surprise Ford could patent a heated windscreen!

I'm not normally one to post things like this but please, please, if you must use de-icer/antifreeze, use it as carefully and responsibly as you can. My beautiful 2-year-old cat died horribly last year from antifreeze poisoning, and she didn't just drop dead, she really suffered. Cost me way more than I could afford just before Christmas, too, basically just for the vet to confirm what it was. There are other ways to de-ice your windscreen.

Of course don't throw buckets of water over your car, either, where people will have to walk. I wonder how people manage to get back to their houses sometimes, with the sheets of ice that run from some people's front doors into the middle of the road.

I’m surprise Ford could patent a heated windscreen!

They did though - or the manufacturer who made it did and Ford bought the licence.

(it's about the only good thing about Fords - no, I don't have one, because I don't like Fords, but it;s the only reason I would consider one. I also don't use water on my windscreen, nor deicer due to it being cat poison - I scrape and wait)

Dh insists on making hot water bottles half cold water, half boiled water and it drives me potty.

It would me too. I'd be a tad concerned about his mental health tbh.

I have not one but two huge, extensible snow brush/ice scraper devices in the car at all times. I had one break on me once and now I always have a backup. Where I live a typical winter is four to six feet of snow, so they get a lot of use.

Also someone who'd not considered this.

I agree, OP. A couple of years ago a man slipped outside the house of one of my neighbours and broke his ankle. The pavement was a sheet of smooth ice and absolutely treacherous.

i genuinely thought all modern cars had heated windscreens! and I'm not stealth boasting as have had crappy second hand old cars all my life and done the scraping with credit cards and cd cases etc, but for the first time I have a nice car as it belongs to work - by nice I mean one which isn't falling apart - and it has heated front and rear windscreens which defrost in seconds. I thought this was standard on nice cars which I'm sure many people on MN have.
I am going to boast about the heated front seats though! OMG such luxury. it was minus 6 in the car this morning but my arse was toasty warm

My heated windscreen is a godsend. I love my Ford for so many reasons.

Heated front seats make me feel a bit queasy, they are nice in very cold weather though.

Loads of cars have them now.
Ford had a patent but it ran out years ago.

the heated seats are so lovely if you have a sore back. I have to prize my elderly arthritic mother out of the car sometimes! she's made me promise never to apply for another job as i will have to give the car back!!

Heated seats are awesome. However, the cooled seats are a little weird and bizarrely make me think I have a damp arse.

They didn't patent the heated glass per se, it was the fine (barely visible) grill. If you look closely you can see it, but you have to focus hard.

Dickhead next door must have poured gallons of water over his car this morning, big ice patch down his drive and over the pavement. He then left for work.

He must have also thrown gallons over his son's car half on pavement/road as some sort of nice gesture to his sleeping son. I left an hour later as his son was leaving the house to discover his car had turned into a huge ice cube of frozen water with a big ice patch around it to make it harder to defrost.

I use room temperature water. The 500ml bottle sits next to my kitchen door overnight and is enough to do the whole car. I worry about the impact of antifreeze on animals, it's poisonous to cats.

That said my drive isn't tarmac, so has natural soakaway, slopes up to the road so there's no chance of an ice patch on the public highway and we don't have any pavements where I live.

@GalacticChickenShit

Invest in one of these. Stops the inside misting up.

www.lakeland.co.uk/24575/Dashboard-Dehumidifier

The cold weather package on my Subaru comes with the heated front seats and electric deicers. The seats are the bomb.

I bought an extendable brush and scraper gadget from Costco (brilliant for the roof too) and a bag of ice/grit stuff.

My windscreen freezes inside too, it's a pain in the arse , blows cold air until it eventually relents to heat .

Might buy a cover this weekend ,,,

i worry about the impact of antifreeze on animals, it's poisonous to cats

It’s poisonous to everything. Any living creature that has more than an accidental lick is at risk of death.

I'm very confused. Is this really a thing? I'm originally from northern Europe where we get proper winters every year and I've never heared of this. Doesn't really seem good for the car or the surroundings.