As the colder weather draws in one of the first things you’ll notice while driving is the build-up of moisture on your car windows and windscreen. In small amounts it can be harmless enough – during a quick drive or when the temperature isn’t too low – but too much of it can pose danger to a driver as it affects a driver’s vision due to the excess fog on the windshield. So how can you prevent the spread of condensation within your car?
Condensation that occurs inside your car while you’re driving is caused by discrepancies between the temperatures inside and outside of the car. Whilst driving your car creates a cold blast of air, but you’ll most likely have your heaters on full so that you don’t feel the chilly effect it causes. It might even be something as minor as having a conversation with your passengers that causes the warm water vapour which, within the car, will stick to the colder surfaces – ie the windows and windscreen – thus cooling it down and causing moisture. This can make for a tricky drive if nothing is done to prevent it, and can be very risky in extremely cold temperatures if the moisture reaches freezing.
Condensation can be prevented by restoring the balance between temperatures inside and outside the car. Try blasting the heater to warm up the fog on the windows – in colder weather it’s something you’re bound to do anyway just to try to heat up!
It can be a much trickier problem if condensation affects your headlights – as the moisture builds up on the inside it can reduce the effectiveness of your headlights and cause problems on the road. In this case there will generally be a space within the headlights or on top of the casing – a small crack perhaps –that will allow air to get in and heat up against the glare of your lights. It will require some extensive examination to find the root of the problem, but can be easily solved by an expert.
Most of all if your car gets too drastically affected by condensation have it looked over for any potential problems!
