Dearborn, Michigan – Ford Escape models can be equipped to help drivers eliminate the winter headache of maintaining a clear windshield. No more wiper blades covered in chunks of ice. No more wiper blades freezing to the glass. And the funny-looking parking lot ritual of pulling wipers off the windshield and pointing them to the sky will be a thing of the past.
Escape is the first Ford Motor Co. SUV in the United States to offer a windshield wiper de-icer, part of a Cold Weather Package that is standard on Titanium models and an option on SE models. The 2017 Escape is due in showrooms this spring.
“The windshield wiper de-icer is a great solution to one of the more nagging problems of winter,” says Jennifer Gauthier, Ford fixed glass engineer. “Escape drivers in the U.S. are going to wonder how they ever got along without it.”
Much like traditional rear window defrost systems, the base of the windshield where the wiper blades rest is equipped with a local heating element. The system is designed to clear light snow and ice from the wiper blades in less than 10 minutes at minus -18°F.
Drivers can activate the windshield wiper de-icer system from their smartphone as part of the FordPass experience. SYNC Connect allows owners to start, lock, unlock, and locate their vehicle from virtually anywhere using a smartphone.
Source: Ford Motor Co.