[zbgirl]

My 2016 cx-3 just came off warranty in October, ha. Yesterday was a high humidity day, here on the wet coast, but it wasn't raining nor did I have wet clothing or items left overnight in my car.

Yet when I had to scrape in the morning, I found the scraper wasn't clearing away all the frost....because I had a thin layer of frost on the inside of the glass, both at the bottom and the top of the windshield.

This blows me away, as I've never in all the years of car ownership had this particular issue. I called Mazda to ask about it and the service ppl wondered had I had an accident involving the membrane, or left a window open overnight...nada.

Since they sub contract out to a glass company I'll probably venture out to get it tested but wonder if anyone else has had this issue. The only thing I need to mention is that I have the cord of my dashcam stuffed up under the molding of the body near the top of the frame.

Anyone?

 

[SlyCoopers]

Dashcam cables shouldnt be effecting this in any way, can confirm on my 2016.

I had a similar issue happen on a relatives nissan sentra. It turned out being that there was a small puddle of water from the rain/snow/slush buildup left over from boots on weathertech mats which does not get absorbed like how carpet mats do. This evaporated and led to inner windshield condensation mostly near the upper area. Theres a good chance that usually when interior moisture happens in a car usually something similar may have happened or the door may have been left open too long when exiting the vehicle for just enough humidity to enter the inside and remain inside especially if you werent using heat/defogger during drive, even a bottle of water with the cap off can contribute to this.

This is just pure speculation but it has also occurred from improper sealing in-channel rainguards on a window which let a spacing of air in. No car is going to be 100% sealed because you would probably suffer from lack of oxygen but usually really high humidity/wet days tend to get moisture in but we dont notice it because usually its not icy the morning after.

There might be nothing wrong with your car but I would just suggest to monitor this and see how often it repeats itself. If its not an actual defect that was noticable before it could just have been the extreme temp shift from day to overnight to morning time which made it really noticeable.

--

A little side note I noticed on my final warranty trip to a mazda service shop, they usually have like 1 or 2 master mechanics which are the slightly more experienced/knowledgeable ones while the other guys do basic jobs reading off of mazda service book. I have asked my service techs both basic and supervisors questions which I knew the answer to but wanted confirmation and they didnt seem to know much about what I was talking about considering it was directly related to the job they were suppose to do which was disappointing. Moral of the story, dont always trust tech's wisdom because they speculate anything to get you to bring the car in and then they 'investigate' what it might be. They end up making you more paranoid and worry about things that may be ok or something else.

 

[SlyCoopers]

Using high heat in a car also created moisture one time in my previous car because I always left it on max heat in the fall/winter and by the time I left the car the vents were practically burning and when it got colder expecially if it was wet outside, they would create interior condensation. I have learned by lesson since then lol

 

[zbgirl]

Thanks Sly, great comments. I did find the passenger window not "fully" closed the next day when checking all the windows. It would have been 1/4 inch and within the seal limits, I think.

I was paranoid, as I've owned a 78 Celica that had a water issue....somehow the bottom of the chassis would admit enough water that the carpets would soak. A friend's Toyota Versa would have similar issues, no technicians could find the leaks.

Now I'm waiting for another freeze!

 

[SlyCoopers]

Yea past water in car experience is something that would make you paranoid for sure. My previous car was a 2010 hyundai genesis coupe and all of them until like 2016 had this factory design issue where the gasket behind the rear left tailight would not seal because of the shape of the sheet metal behind it and water would run from the top of the car, around the trunk lid area, and completely drain into the rear tailight area which emptied into the trunk lower compartments which couldnt be seen unless you stripped the entire trunk area to bare metal. First time I found 4"+ standing water there was truly something I never want to see again haha.

 

[anchorman]

Condensation occurs under certain climatic conditions where one side of the glass is cooler than the other. If the temperature drops quickly, it will get condensation on the glass and then all it needs is to plummet to freezing and you’ll get frost on the inside. It’s probably something we’ll see more in modern cars as the interiors are better sealed and insulated.

I wouldn’t worry about it.