[FTM1]

Don't know what category to put this question in.
But we are getting freezing rain this mourning here in Washington, DC metro & Baltimore area. It's probably also up Pennsylvania and other places as well.
The temps here yesterday were in the teens and 20s for most of the last few days so ground and everything else was frozen the freezing rain sleet mix moved in early mourning.
So how is this New Feature To G2 Ridgeline working G1 Ridgeline models did not have rear defroster. G1 rear window is kind of tucked in protected a bit G2 is out and straight upright. So with this being an all new feature to Ridgeline in it's first winter season just wondering.

 

[Tidewater BE]

Rear defroster works great on my truck.

 

[Mr. Black]

I use it all the time. It clears the back window in a couple minutes.

The other nice thing is, if you use the remote start it automatically puts the truck into a full defrost mode without messing with your settings if that makes sense.

 

[FTM1]

I use it all the time. It clears the back window in a couple minutes.

The other nice thing is, if you use the remote start it automatically puts the truck into a full defrost mode without messing with your settings if that makes sense.

So what your saying if you auto start the defrosters will come on at that time & I am assuming it's a temp thing in winter like A/C would be for summer. Then it's not set to on when you enter vehicle and do actual engine start?

 

[Mr. Black]

Correct. When you get in the truck and put foot on the brake and start button the engine stays running but the dash immediately reverts back to where ever you had all your settings at your time of the last drive.

I cannot verify if it does the hot in the winter and cool in the summer. I assume it does. When we picked ours up the warm weather was already gone around here. Literally don't even know if the AC works. kidding of course I'm sure it does.

 

[eurban]

I've owned a GenI for 10 years in the Mid Atlantic area. I can't think of one instance where my rear window was iced over or fogged over (and the others weren't). If my windows fog over, the front defroster with the AC on (its default setting) clears them all very quickly.

Basically the added cost and complexity of a rear defroster seems (rather than designing the window to be more out of the weather) seems to be a poor design choice particularly since they cheaped out and made the sliding rear window only a feature on the mo$t expensive models.

Perhaps it was a mandated feature?

 

[eurban]

I use it all the time. It clears the back window in a couple minutes.

The other nice thing is, if you use the remote start it automatically puts the truck into a full defrost mode without messing with your settings if that makes sense.

What are you clearing from the back window? Fog? Ice?

 

[Mr. Black]

Ice/frost this time of year.

I will say that it seems to clear a bit faster than the front and front side windows but overall I say if you use the remote start feature it does a fantastic job if you are lazy.

 

[eurban]

Interesting. The new design clearly exposes the rear window to the "weather" more.

I have scraped ice from the windshield, and side windows on my GenI plenty of times. I have NEVER had to scrape the rear window assembly.

Maybe if we got freezing fog?

 

[oarnold]

Last year I experienced my first issue with an iced-up rear window on my Gen 1. Wet snow in the bed was blown up onto the window at highway speeds. A sudden drop in temperatures froze it solid. But I don't think I've ever had frost.

 

[Ross Swenson]

Just curious after reading this thread... the G1 does not have a rear window defroster? I find that very odd, even the cheapest Autos had them years ago.

 

[eurban]

Just curious after reading this thread... the G1 does not have a rear window defroster? I find that very odd, even the cheapest Autos had them years ago.

No rear window defroster. How many pickups have them? Like I said it is not needed on the GenI.

Autos have them and may need them. It may (Likely) even be a mandated requirement. In the past, trucks haven't had to meet some of the requirements that cars have. Hard to say whether Honda thought it was a necessary item with the new design or whether it is a requirement.

 

[Mr. Black]

Our 10 year old GMC Sierra 1500 company truck has a rear window defroster factory.

 

[Mr. Black]

Rear window of our G2 as of about 10 minutes ago. 24 degrees outside.

 

[hawk71959]

My 2003 Avalanche has Rear Window defrosters and they are GREAT for the ice and snow that gets swirled back on the glass when driving in the winter. The Freezing rain we had this weekend it took care of the frozen glass in about 10 minutes. Not bad for a window that can be removed in total like on the avalanche.

Be curious as to how the G2 is with snow swirled from a cover over the bed.

 

[Mr. Black]

Be curious as to how the G2 is with snow swirled from a cover over the bed.

It does exactly that. It's kind of entertaining and a distraction at that.

 

[Ross Swenson]

We have had a lot of snow and very cold weather over the past week. -28F yesterday. I have the OEM Honda Tonneau. No problem at all with frost or snow on the rear window and snow on the tonneau just blows off. Also happy to report the G2 started right up during yesterday's massive cold streak. No squeaks, rattles, groaning or other unpleasant noise. Well, other that me complaining about the cold constantly.