Plug-In Prius: real winter driving

Have you guys never driven in cold weather before??? Having frost on the inside of the windshield is nothing new in these parts.

 

And these parts are where???

You may want to update your profile.

 

Yea, but, not many people live in Antartica!

 

I'm not sure my car ever really gets warm since my trip is so short (0.7 miles to work, 1.7 home [due to inconvenient one-way roads]). Even when I am on longer trips that require me to use HV mode, I almost never turn on the heat. I don't mind it being cold and actually I prefer that over being warm in the car. Occasionally I will need to turn the fan on with the temp set to LO and I've been using the defrost/foot airflow setting if the windshield gets foggy when I am driving. But that does absolutely nothing for removing fog/frost in the morning.

I'll try the door/hatch thing for a couple of days. I can park and open the doors, plug in, run up to the mailbox to fetch my mail, and see if that helps at all.

 

I have lived in PA my entire life, and at my current location for 7 years, and I have NEVER had frost INSIDE my car until now. So yes, this is completely new for me.

 

you're not saving anything by not running heat when in hv mode, so throw on the front defrost button when you need it and crank up the temp.you can run it intermitantly if you get too warm.

 

I'm not doing it to save anything... I just prefer to be cold because I get carsick easily if I am too warm. But if I am shooting myself in the foot somehow by not using the heat, then I'm willing to give it a shot if it means I don't have to scrape frost off the inside!

 

better to be carsick than in an accident because you can't see, and i think the windshield will clear before the car gets too warm and then you can shut the heat/defrost off. you can always open a window!

 

I actually had this happen the other day to me as well and was meaning to post. Now, since it's never below freezing, it was water rather than frost…but still insane. Massive condensation on the inside, and ONLY on the windshield, and I have NEVER seen something like this in over 7 years of driving in NJ and CA.
So Stacey, please do keep us posted on what ends up working for you.

 

I'll definitely keep you posted. The frost was so bad this morning that I gave up on scraping and walked to work instead. I cracked the windows so the moisture could escape while it warmed up in the sun. Might go check on it at lunch.

I think it might be worth starting a new thread to keep the discussion all together for anyone else who ends up fighting with this issue. So my next update will be the new thread and I'll point back to the start of the discussion in this thread.

Thanks to everyone for all of their suggestions so far.

 

Driving back early this morning: temp was 34 degrees in the Hotel Garage. No frost, but I had quite a time keeping the condensation off the inside of windshield. Tried everything. Max fan, Front defrost Heater, turned temp lower, then AC came on, could not get inside air unless defrost heater coil is off, turn that off and window starts clouding up again. The fact that is was dark did not help either. Normally The car is parked in my garage which is much warmer. So conditions make a big difference. I finally was satisfied with the clarity about 25 miles down the road, by then it was also daylight. I think Toyota missed the boat on thier defrost system, it can be difficult to get the balance just right. It was the same thing on the Gen 2, I remember that I was constantly having to make adjustments. I think basically the flow of air is insufficient at the windshield.

 

I attached a telltale to the inside of my windshield and discovered that without the front defroster on, the amount of air going thru is min to none. However if you max the airflow and turn the defroster element on, the air will really blast thru. So driving in EV and having a clear windshield on cold days may not always be possible, ( depending on conditions ). Telltale was made from a thin strip of toilet paper and attached with scotch tape.

 

Full defrost air = defrost switch on, &/or AC SWITCH ON = Engine warm-up = drop in mileage. Totally contrary to the Hybrid Synergy concept. I believe all the other cars I have owned always had air flow at the windshield if desired and that was with heat or no heat. This was a incredible design goof by Toyota, especially since thier main aim is high MPG.

 

Above post is a direct challenge to all Prius Chatters to prove me wrong. If you cannot, this is a legitimate complaint to be brought up to the Dealerships when bringing the car in for service.

 

Which "vents" are you refering to? When I choose Defroster, I have found that is not always true. Even if I set it to LO (fan & temp) immediately after starting up (before the 10 second "limit") the ICE will fire up. Mind you it's averaging around -10 C here now and that could be why (remember the magical -10C temp point that causes the ICE to run more).

 

But where should I direct the air? I want to try it out just to keep the windshield clear and use defrost. The seat heaters keep me warm but the windows fog up.