PHEV Window Heater

[Micheal]

Hi, apologies if this if a repeat post but I couldn't find a similar thread.

I bought a 22 phev last week and it's a savage car. There's one thing that annoys me, the rear window defogger is terrible. It defogs approx 2mm either side of the wires and decides that's enough. It doesn't seem to turn off, but doesn't do any more either. Is that normal?

In contrast the 17 diesel It replaced could defog even a totally frozen window!

Thanks

[Paul john]

18 minutes ago, Micheal said:

Hi, apologies if this if a repeat post but I couldn't find a similar thread.

I bought a 22 phev last week and it's a savage car. There's one thing that annoys me, the rear window defogger is terrible. It defogs approx 2mm either side of the wires and decides that's enough. It doesn't seem to turn off, but doesn't do any more either. Is that normal?

In contrast the 17 diesel It replaced could defog even a totally frozen window!

Thanks

Not normal no.

[Nick72]

19 minutes ago, Micheal said:

Hi, apologies if this if a repeat post but I couldn't find a similar thread.

I bought a 22 phev last week and it's a savage car. There's one thing that annoys me, the rear window defogger is terrible. It defogs approx 2mm either side of the wires and decides that's enough. It doesn't seem to turn off, but doesn't do any more either. Is that normal?

In contrast the 17 diesel It replaced could defog even a totally frozen window!

Thanks

Yep that's definitely wrong. Works fine on mine until crystal clear.

[Micheal]

Thanks both. That's what I hoped to hear! Any ideas what might be up? 

[Paul john]

2 minutes ago, Micheal said:

Thanks both. That's what I hoped to hear! Any ideas what might be up? 

Probably a broken wire due to over enthusiastic cleaning. 
not much you can do other than replace the screen.

there are “fixes” available like “thermal paint” or “stick on metal” but these are temporary solutions and look ugly imho. 

[Micheal]

8 minutes ago, Paul john said:

Probably a broken wire due to over enthusiastic cleaning. 
not much you can do other than replace the screen.

there are “fixes” available like “thermal paint” or “stick on metal” but these are temporary solutions and look ugly imho. 

It doesn't seem to be broken though cos it does heat a small bit. I've seen broken wires on a previous car and it's just the broken strip that doesn't heat. This seems to heat all of them. Slightly! 

[Paul john]

1 minute ago, Micheal said:

It doesn't seem to be broken though cos it does heat a small bit. I've seen broken wires on a previous car and it's just the broken strip that doesn't heat. This seems to heat all of them. Slightly! 

Try looking with a magnifier tbh. Sometimes breaks are tiny. 

[Micheal]

23 minutes ago, Paul john said:

Try looking with a magnifier tbh. Sometimes breaks are tiny. 

Will do, thanks v much! 

[ColinB]

Is it still covered by the warranty, worth checking with the dealer? Sounds more like that there is some fault with the supply to the heated screen, rather than the screen itself, resulting in a reduced heating effect. 

[Mike2222]

If you bought from a dealer (of any kind, not just main Toyota brand/chain) I believe uk consumer law is that any problem identified within 6 months (not certain of exact timescale, so that would need fact checking, but is in that ballpark) of purchase is assumed in law to have been present at the time of sale, and the onus is on the supplying dealer to remedy satisfactorily, warranted cover or not. 

 

If you purchased privately, then caveat emptor unfortunately, and will depend on whether Toyota new car warranty (which should still apply) considers it to be a fault or user-inflicted damage, tho you may be on the hook for a diagnostic charge until they determine which. 

[Micheal]

4 hours ago, ColinB said:

Is it still covered by the warranty, worth checking with the dealer? Sounds more like that there is some fault with the supply to the heated screen, rather than the screen itself, resulting in a reduced heating effect. 

It is, I was just wondering if anyone had seen it before. I was at the dealer today for a different warranty issue but it was sunny so I forgot to mention it!  The dealer I bought it off is out of my way so I was hoping to figure how long I'd be there when I go back to him. Or if it's an easy one to fix at a dealer closer to me. 

[philip42h]

14 hours ago, Micheal said:

I bought a 22 phev last week and it's a savage car. There's one thing that annoys me, the rear window defogger is terrible. It defogs approx 2mm either side of the wires and decides that's enough. It doesn't seem to turn off

I suspect that you need to update your profile ... 😉

You describe it as a savage car - I suspect that you meant salvage (?) but salvage from what? What do you know of its history?

Where on earth are you that your rear window needs defogging at this time of year? 🙂 No, ignore that question ...

The rear window defogger should turn off automatically after about 15 minutes (which should be long enough to get the job done). Why do you say that it hasn't turned off? And have you left it for the requisite 15 minutes?

I can think of two possible explanations - either it is turning off early (for some unknown reason), or it is delivering less that 12V to the rear window heater so that it is simply not heating up as much as it should.

(There are probably many more possible explanations that I cannot think of!)

[Micheal]

I

14 minutes ago, philip42h said:

I suspect that you need to update your profile ... 😉

You describe it as a savage car - I suspect that you meant salvage (?) but salvage from what? What do you know of its history?

Where on earth are you that your rear window needs defogging at this time of year? 🙂 No, ignore that question ...

The rear window defogger should turn off automatically after about 15 minutes (which should be long enough to get the job done). Why do you say that it hasn't turned off? And have you left it for the requisite 15 minutes?

I can think of two possible explanations - either it is turning off early (for some unknown reason), or it is delivering less that 12V to the rear window heater so that it is simply not heating up as much as it should.

(There are probably many more possible explanations that I cannot think of!)

I did mean savage, as in it's brilliant! And the one or 2 things that annoyed me are turning out to be things that are wrong rather than design issues. But that's what I came on here for! 

Profile updated now. 

It's a June 2022 PHEV with 39k km/24000 miles on it. And full dealer service history. But I live rurally whereas I suspect the previous owner was urban.

So, why does it need defogging? I live in a wet humid area in Ireland so back window does fog up when it rains. Most days these weeks! So my thinking is, if it's a fault, then I need to get fixed before frosts come in September/Oct.

I based that it hasn't turned off on the fact that the light is still on. Not that that means anything tbf. But I hadn't turned it off either. So it either stops or isn't delivering the voltage. I'm actually starting to suspect the former because it looks like it starts defogging OK but doesn't make any further progress!