is anyone else greeted by fogged windows after leaving their prius in the parking lot in cool weather (mid 40s) all day? november here is about the same as the average march, and we sure didn't see this happening in march. and it didn't happen in my old car last winter. i just moved the car from the BFE parking lot to right near the lab complex where i work and every window was completely fogged! it sat by itself for 10 hours. this isn't the first time it's done this either. (and to you smart ones, this has no relation to the sex-in-a-prius thread :lol does rain-x anti fog take care of the problem? i'm not thrilled about this, because before i leave i'm going to have to either wipe the windows off and leave nasty streaks that will drive me nuts till i clean them, or i'm going to have to let the car warm up for a while and that's a hit to the gas mileage.
What was your climate control setting? If it was not on AUTO the inside air was not de-humidified. Quote from: http://www.denso.co.jp/AR-e/1998/TW/climate.html Warm cabin air has a high moisture content. So, simply recirculating the cabin air would fog up the windows. The new system sends recirculated air out at foot level. Drier fresh air flows near the windows, which prevents moisture from condensing on the glass.
Was the fog on the outside or inside? Outside can be easily explained by a significant temperature drop -- warm air holds more moisture and when cooled, fine condensation is formed on windshileds similar to dew. I have had this happen when climbing a hill and reaching a temperature change with elevation. Instant "fog" on the windows right before my eyes. Inside would be a different story.
LOL! And I was just going to ask if you and your hubby were IN the car when it was parked and the windows fogged.
Stop breathing. Problem solved. Galaxee, I've noticed a similar thing now that temps have dropped here in Denver. Anytime there's another adult in the car with me it seems that the winders fog up more easily. If I've just played hockey then everything is steamed up. Can't see the bloody road unless defrost is on. I don't remember my civic suffering from the fogging like the prius has. Maybe there were more leaks and drier air was seeping in. Who knows.
I would have to say my Prius is a bit more fog prone than other cars. I recently switched from auto/AC to vent/defrost on the climate control panel (picked up that idea on PC thank you) and it does seem better.
I was *trying* to use recirc as much as possible myself recently, thinking that once I'd warmed that little body of air then I shouldn't just blow it out the back vents and bring in *more* cold air. But that definitely fogs things right up, especially if it's at all wet outside and you have any water on you, or even if two people get into the car and keep talking, etc. Fresh air, punctuated occasionally with a touch of the full-defrost button to clear the windshield faster if needed, is necessary. Oh well, so much for trying to treat the prius like a superinsulated ski lodge... . _H*
Leave it in AUTO. It'll automatically recirc the air. Our climate control is two-tiered. It'll recirc the lower tier and blow fresh air to the upper vents. This way, you warm up faster with the recirc but keep the windows clear.
We haven't yet established where the windows were fogged -- inside or outside? She left the car unattended and upon her return found the windows fogged. It seems like most responses are how to avoid interior fogging while driving.
It's usually the most common. The outside rarely fogs up. It does happen but the interior is the most common, that's all, hence our responses.
I have been using AUTO and experimenting. Either it's really really good timing or whenever I disengage AUTO my ICE shuts off. This leads me to think that using AUTO runs the ICE more. And since my MPG has been dropping lower and faster than I expected, I was trying anything short of no heat to keep the MPG up.
wow, thanks for all the replies! i've finally got some time to catch up with this one... busy day. so the windows were all fogged on the inside. it took a good 6 or 7 minutes with vent/defrost and outside air coming in (even rolled down the windows to speed up the process) for anything to be visible when i went home. i just found it strange since my car was the ONLY one in the parking lot that was so fogged up! like i said, i left it there for about 10 hours, noone and nothing inside it. it was already fogged up when i got in it. i've never seen a car so fog prone! and what makes me worry is that when we move back up to the cold, snowy north that the fog will freeze right on to the inside of the windshield and take forever to get rid of. thanks again for all the replies. i'll try putting some rain-x anti fog on when i have a chance and let you all know if it helped.
I think the Prius is much better sealed then any car I've owned. On recirc we can drive by cow fields and not smell a thing. I leave the car parked with recirc ON, but I'm not sure if this has any effect. In rain, fog and high humidty driving I use either recirc with the A/C ON or no recirc and A/C off. If you try to recirc with no A/C the windows will fog.
In the owners manual it states that when the cabin air filter gets dirty that the windows will fog up real easy. My wife found the entry. We changed the filter and it fixed the problem.
Not only is it fog prone, but the outside air vent setting really doesn't bring in very much fresh air.. Even before the winter, on a cooler fall night, driving in the rain (so that the humidity was extremely high) would result in the windows starting to fog up unless the A/C was running.. On my old Corolla, just opening the outside air vent was and turning up the fan was sufficient to deal with this (good thing too as the A/C on that car no longer worked the last 4 years I had it- lost all the refrigerant due to a leak in the hoses from corrosion, although the compressor was still fine).. I think part of the reason is that the climate control always recycles some amount of interior air and opens and closes dampers automatically, another part is that due to the aerodynamic design, the system simply is not able to pull in a large volume of outside air.. I can say without doubt that this is the single most annoying thing I find about my Prius.. I've said it many times and I'll say it again: I *hate* the automatic climate control system with a passion.. Although it does the right thing for the battery and does keep the passenger compartment comfortable, it also sacrifices fuel economy to do this (by requiring A/C for optimal performance) and this is a decision that I'd rather make myself..
