Windshield

The windscreen ( windshield also ) is a sheet of glass that allows the driver of a vehicle forward visibility and it protects against wind, weather and particles in the air stream. It is usually made ​​of laminated glass. The change from toughened safety glass (ESG) into laminated safety glass led to increased safety of the occupants. The requirements for windshields or windscreens are higher than the requirements for all other slices. This is partly because the front wheels have to keep the airbags and thus affect the protection of passengers in an accident significantly. The requirements for the glazing adhesives are particularly high in windshields, so often polyurethane adhesives are used.

Assembly

The windshield is attached to the windshield frame with rubber profiles floating or in modern vehicles on or glued or rarely screwed. It contributes significantly to the torsional stiffness of a vehicle then in making it a load-bearing part of the body.

Design

The curvature, size and tint of windshield also provide an important design element; they are restricted by legal requirements and the manufacturing process.

Cleaning

One has to distinguish between the cleaning of the outside and cleaning the inside of the windshield. On the outside, the cleaning is often done while driving. In the rain mostly satisfy the wipers to (largely) to keep clear the windshield of water and to ensure the driver's visibility. For drizzle, when driving on wet roads and in wintry road conditions is used to clean the disk, the default today screen wash. This can also be used in dry weather for cleaning the pane of dirt, dust, dead insects and bird droppings. Other ways to clean the windshield from the outside offer while refueling stop by wash water, sponge and squeegee and within the general exterior cleaning of the vehicle, eg in a car wash. The removal of ice is usually done before departure using a ice scraper.

The cleaning of the windshield from the inside is usually required less frequently than from the outside. On the inside of a windshield is formed with the first time a barely visible " fog ", but may increase over the course of a few weeks to the extent that he leads with low sun in backlight to a significant visual obstruction. Simple countermeasure is the occasional, best precautionary wiping the inside of the window (preferably not while driving) with a clean, dry cloth. If heavily soiled, you can also use a glass cleaner.

Fogging

To prevent fogging by moisture, the windshield may be a flow of hot air. Even better can be kept fogging the windows with the air conditioning. In some car models, the disc can be heated electrically. This is done either by an electrically conductive coating on the glass or in the laminated film inserted very fine wire. In older vehicles, which often had a not so powerful ventilation, heating or air conditioning system, also cloths or sponges with antifog were used.

Antenna

On some models, an antenna for the car radio in the windshield is integrated.

Repair

When laminated glass smaller rockfalls can, in contrast to the single-layer safety glass, often repaired in an authorized workshop.

Wear

Little known is that windshields are subject to wear. Especially for cars, which are often driven and over long distances at high speed, the outer side of the disc turns with time in a microscopic craters. The cause of cratering is in the dust and sand grains that are located in dry weather in the air and in the disk, the " strike " according to the vehicle speed. As long as the extent of crater formation still remains relatively small, the effect is usually not even noticed by the driver. In more severe cases, but the cratering leads to disturbing stray light effects, especially when driving at night and in backlight with low sun. In extreme cases, may be useful or even necessary, replacement of the windshield. Repair options for does not exist. A far-reaching renunciation of " High-speed operation " may reduce or delay the effect.