Heated wipers makes windshield more icy

[asmusndsu]

Hey wondering if anyone experiences this or has a suggestion. This year I upgraded my Ascent to the Touring. I live in an area that gets quite cold (sub-0 F) I’ve noticed anytime it’s reasonably below freezing and snowing/sleeting when the heated wipers melt the snow and spread the moisture that almost instantly freezes making the windshield progressively more icy losing visibility with every wipe. Very dangerous when on a highway. Only solution is to spray mad amounts of wiper fluid to melt the frost or ide be pulling over every few minutes to scrape it off. The tricky part is it’s tied to the rear defrost so if I don’t use it then I can’t defrost the rear.

 

[Ecmbuster]

That is the result of "super cooling". Heated moisture / water that is swiping / accumulating onto a windscreen because of the heated wipers and the glass being as cold as the ambient temperature, will freeze quickly.
The best option is to either remove that "upgrade" or enable the defrost at the front glass at a maximum rate (that is debatable).

Other models and not so sure about yours, has an electrically heated glass to lessen that effect.
The heated glass is enabled via outside temperature sensors and at times, those heated systems can be on both front and rear glass.

Even warm air that exits the opening of hood and front glass, can freeze the moisture / water quickly when in liquid form onto the cold glass.
Best practice is to remove the snow / ice from the opening of hood and front glass, not relying on the heated wipers.

 

[asmusndsu]

That is the result of "super cooling". Heated moisture / water that is swiping / accumulating onto a windscreen because of the heated wipers and the glass being as cold as the ambient temperature, will freeze quickly.
The best option is to either remove that "upgrade" or enable the defrost at the front glass at a maximum rate (that is debatable).

Other models and not so sure about yours, has an electrically heated glass to lessen that effect.
The heated glass is enabled via outside temperature sensors and at times, those heated systems can be on both front and rear glass.

Even warm air that exits the opening of hood and front glass, can freeze the moisture / water quickly when in liquid form onto the cold glass.
Best practice is to remove the snow / ice from the opening of hood and front glass, not relying on the heated wipers.

Thanks for the response. It makes sense and is interesting because i previously had a premium edition and never had this problem so with the Touring I wouldn’t have expected this problem.

 

[Ecmbuster]

Another option and in the correct weather conditions, install a switch and relay with fuses that can handle the current load.
That will offer the "use-as-needed" option and keep the investment. You will require a wiring schematic to correctly enable-disable the heated feature.