Yaris Cross - Consdensation

[HelloWorld]

Hi all,

I got a brand-new Yaris Cross in November 2023 and have been absolutely loving it (that fuel economy!!!). However, in the past few days I've been having an issue with condensation. We've had VERY low temperatures here, as low as -16C, and whenever I get in the car, there's condensation that's frozen onto the inside of the windscreen. I mean thick and frozen to the point where I've had to take an ice-scrape to the inside of the car. I put on the AC, use outside air, turn the heating to max, and put on the front and rear windscreen demister. Despite that, it takes absolutely ages, 15-20 minutes plus, for the ice/condensation to clear enough to drive.

Any ideas on what I can do to speed up the process? I don't have the option of parking in a garage.

Thanks!

[hind]

Do you have rubber floor mats? If no, buy them. It's so much easier to get the water (from snow and ice collected from shoes) out from them rather than drying the regular ones. 

Second thing, you have to get that moisture out of the car. It takes longer drive so the interior heats up and sucks the water from the seats and other places where it can accumulate. When it's warm inside, continue driving for a few minutes, than stop, open the doors wide and let that warm air escape. Wait for a minute, close the doors and continue. The logic behind this is that the warm air can collect much more humidity than the cold one. When it does, you throw it out of the car and let the cold one in, which - after heating up from the interior - can absorb more and lower the overall humidity. This unfortunatelly takes time and I'd say it's impossible if your daily commute is around 10 km.

Third thing are the moisture absorbers, put them under the windshield (on the inside), they might help a little but they won't solve the problem.

Fourth way to solve the issue is to cool down the interior prior to stopping for the night. If the temperature on the inside and on the outside of the windshield is equal, the water won't condense there. Leaving window a little bit open might do the trick too as it will provide the draft needed to circulate the air.

[Hybrid21]

Hi, the fact that it is freezing inside the windows would suggest that the windows are wet or misted up inside. Have you noticed this when you leave the car ?

Being badly misted up inside can be caused by things like a water leak somewhere, or even in wet weather water lying on rubber mats from wet shoes. 

[HelloWorld]

3 hours ago, hind said:

Do you have rubber floor mats? If no, buy them. It's so much easier to get the water (from snow and ice collected from shoes) out from them rather than drying the regular ones. 

 

3 hours ago, Hybrid21 said:

on rubber mats from wet shoes. 

I do have rubber floor mats, but have never considered shaking the water outside the car when leaving. That should help reduce the water levels, thanks!

3 hours ago, hind said:

Third thing are the moisture absorbers, put them under the windshield (on the inside), they might help a little but they won't solve the problem.

Will a moisture absorber have any effect at all? Might be worth the investment.

3 hours ago, hind said:

Fourth way to solve the issue is to cool down the interior prior to stopping for the night.

This I'm definitely going to try! I'll open the windows a few minutes before getting home and leave the doors open for a few minutes before locking.

If all the above doesn't work as a preventative measure, is there a faster way of clearing the windscreen in the morning?

[hind]

2 hours ago, HelloWorld said:

is there a faster way of clearing the windscreen in the morning

Using remote control from Toyota app to start it 10 minutes prior to departure might help 😉 Today we got -8 oC in the morning and there was a thick layer of ice on the outside. 10 minutes was enough to get rid of it. 

2 hours ago, HelloWorld said:

Will a moisture absorber have any effect at all?

It's debatable. Personally I don't believe they would have proper effect. They remove the effect, not the cause. Of course if the problem is serious and you need to get as much of the humidity removed as possible in a short time, they might work. Should not be a problem to try them out, especially the reusable ones which can be microwaved for a few minutes to heat them up and release the collected humidity. 

2 hours ago, HelloWorld said:

is there a faster way of clearing the windscreen in the morning?

When I was driving 2002 Yaris which had a lot of issues with damaged window and rear lamp seals (to the point that the trunk was always wet and there was water coming down somewhere on the floor too) I got the inside of the windshield frozen too. Quick fix was to spray the Sonax windshied defroster. Designed to be used from the outside it was working just fine on the inside 😛 I also got a windshield cleaner with microfiber (with a handle) so I can reach far to the base of the windshield as I had to get rid of the sprayed defroster and ice.

Additionally, during the days when it was more than zero degrees outside, I extended the cord through the window at home to the car and plugged in the electric dehumidifier (the kind you can use to speed up clothes or wall paint drying or help with the flooded basement etc) and fixed it between the front seats. I left it running for a few hours. With the small space of the cabin, it was working really fast, dropping humidity to something around 30%. The effect persisted for a few weeks (or more possibly to the next big rain 😉 ).

  

2 hours ago, HelloWorld said:

but have never considered shaking the water outside the car when leaving

get a rag, use it when stopped (do not be tempted to put it when you are driving, it's dangerous to have anything which might block the accelerator or brake pedals) to wipe the water, take it home and dry it there. 

[Mojo1010]

Would say that is quite normal with temperature like that low. Even without using the car for 3 days recently and temp 5-7c, had condensation on inside windscreen, took about 5 mins with the engine on to clear enough to safely drive off. 

Maybe put a cover outside over the screen or a large cover over all the windows. Use a microfibre cloth to wipe the inside once ice had been scrapped off. Preheating the car will help if yours have the option. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Try closing the dashboard air vents when parked.

When demisting using the air conditioning/heater, lower the sun visors, which should trap some of the heated, dehumidified air against the windscreen for longer - rather than the air travelling above the windscreen straight away.

As regards the moisture absorber, one of the larger dehumidifier bags (eg. 1kg or larger) should provide some help. Left in the car overnight, and treated regularly to dry out. For example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/GADLANE-Reusable-Dehumidifier-Eliminates-Windscreen/dp/B083V36BGL/ref=sr_1_8_sspa

Also see the following topic:

 

[Parts-King]

I'm a particular fan of using AC all year round, mine is never off, I rarely have misting up issues with my CHR, even though some people on here have had issues. In my own experience customers often turn off AC and blower motor because they don't like air blowing on them, if you do that, the car WILL mist up with no air flow 

[Hybrid21]

4 hours ago, HelloWorld said:

 

I do have rubber floor mats, but have never considered shaking the water outside the car when leaving. That should help reduce the water levels, thanks!

I have rubber mats and with the weather up here in Scotland they are in the car most of the year.

I always carry a roll of kitchen paper towel in the boot and if it's really wet I dry off the rubber mats (usually only the front) before locking up.

You don't need to lift the mats out and only takes a minute.

Also seems to keep the mats cleaner 👍

[hind]

1 hour ago, Parts-King said:

mine is never off,

Enabled doesn't mean running 🙂 In 0 degrees and lower it might not start to avoid freezing the evaporator.

 

  

1 hour ago, Parts-King said:

In my own experience customers often turn off AC and blower motor because they don't like air blowing on them

Yeah, my mom did this in her Hyundai i10 II to save on fuel because one of her friends told her that the A/C increases the fuel consumption. She was driving like this for almost a year only to discover that in summer the A/C barely works. Apparently the lack of usage (and oil circulation inside the A/C gas system) damaged the seals and she had to pay for refill much more than her "savings" 😛  from then on she never shuts it off 🙂 

[Cyker]

Yeah, the fuel economy of these new ones is insane!  

But the best bit is you don't need to drive like a grandma to get that fuel economy - Even with full bore launches and hauling people around at this time of year, I'm still averaging 60+ mpg per tank, and even that I consider awful, as I was nudging into the 80's in summer - Ain't many cars that can get 80mpg in the real world without cheating or serious hypermiling abuse!

 

As for the condensation, I found when I first bought mine it misted up like crazy on the inside, so much even using the dedicated button to clear the windscreen struggled to do so.

I eventually realized it's the off-gassing from the new plastics, as at some sun angles I noticed an iridescent film on the windscreen. The best thing to do is get a decent glass cleaner - Many here swear by Autoglym Fast glass, but anything like that is fine - and some microfibre cloths and just keep cleaning the inside of the windscreen.

For the first 8-10 months I just integrated it into my regular car checks (Check oil, coolant, washer fluid, tyre pressures, clean dash, and now windscreen  ), and that stopped it misting up on the inside overnight completely.

Now that the off-gassing has pretty much finished, I don't bother so much, but after e.g. I hit up the local chippy or pizzas or some other horribly greasy food, I still find I need to wipe it down now and then, otherwise it eventually starts mist up more readily again.

 

[jthspace]

Cheap cat litter.  Obtain nylon stocking or similar. Fill foot, cut and tie. Place on top of dash.  Make it as long or short as you like.

B&M £4.99 silica gel cat litter 5 litres

[Countryside]

On 1/8/2024 at 3:44 PM, Mojo1010 said:

Would say that is quite normal with temperature like that low. Even without using the car for 3 days recently and temp 5-7c, had condensation on inside windscreen, took about 5 mins with the engine on to clear enough to safely drive off. 

Maybe put a cover outside over the screen or a large cover over all the windows. Use a microfibre cloth to wipe the inside once ice had been scrapped off. Preheating the car will help if yours have the option. 

Did it start ok after 3 days no use ?

[Countryside]

19 hours ago, Cyker said:

Yeah, the fuel economy of these new ones is insane!  

But the best bit is you don't need to drive like a grandma to get that fuel economy - Even with full bore launches and hauling people around at this time of year, I'm still averaging 60+ mpg per tank, and even that I consider awful, as I was nudging into the 80's in summer - Ain't many cars that can get 80mpg in the real world without cheating or serious hypermiling abuse!

 

As for the condensation, I found when I first bought mine it misted up like crazy on the inside, so much even using the dedicated button to clear the windscreen struggled to do so.

I eventually realized it's the off-gassing from the new plastics, as at some sun angles I noticed an iridescent film on the windscreen. The best thing to do is get a decent glass cleaner - Many here swear by Autoglym Fast glass, but anything like that is fine - and some microfibre cloths and just keep cleaning the inside of the windscreen.

For the first 8-10 months I just integrated it into my regular car checks (Check oil, coolant, washer fluid, tyre pressures, clean dash, and now windscreen  ), and that stopped it misting up on the inside overnight completely.

Now that the off-gassing has pretty much finished, I don't bother so much, but after e.g. I hit up the local chippy or pizzas or some other horribly greasy food, I still find I need to wipe it down now and then, otherwise it eventually starts mist up more readily again.

 

What the most miles you have had from a full tank ?

[Mojo1010]

51 minutes ago, Countryside said:

Did it start ok after 3 days no use ?

Yes no problem. 

My previous gen3 Yaris start after 8-9 days in autumn no problem when on holiday, though that had a Yuasa Battery, which is better than the Turkish Mutlu currently in the gen4. 

[Cyker]

1 hour ago, Countryside said:

What the most miles you have had from a full tank ?

I'm normally around 400 miles, but I also tend to refill at about a quarter tank remaining, which usually lets me put in around 26L-28L.

My highest recorded was 520 miles, but I think I was seeing how low I could run the tank (Chickened out and only got in 29L so still nowhere near empty!)