Front & Rear Heated Windscreens Not Working

[HousePlantParty]

Hey all!

Got a bit of an annoying issue (or soon to be anyway!) where both my front and rear heated windscreens don't work. Upon pressing the buttons in the cabin. neither light up.

I've only had the car about 2 months, and only last week needed to use the feature, just to find out it wasn't working!

The car is a 2013 Titanium X Fiesta - 1.6 Diesel

I've been reading up and heard it could be a battery issue since the heated screens draw a lot of power and perhaps the car has a failsafe to not allow them to turn on in case the battery is running low. Due to current circumstances, the car only gets a decent run about once or twice a week, so I'm not sure if that'll be hindering this issue at all.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[anon]

Might sound basic but if you haven't already done so, find the correct fuses and relays involved in the window circuits and check them first. Each switch should make something go click. Where you can, get onto the power feed to each with a meter  and see what you get. If the elements are stuffed, it won't clear of course so you need to know if the power is getting there in the first place. 

[pcaouolte]

38 minutes ago, HousePlantParty said:

I've been reading up and heard it could be a battery issue since the heated screens draw a lot of power and perhaps the car has a failsafe to not allow them to turn on in case the battery is running low. Due to current circumstances, the car only gets a decent run about once or twice a week, so I'm not sure if that'll be hindering this issue at all.

You are probably on the right track with this. Give the battery a full charge and see if that fixes it. 

[Luke4efc]

1 hour ago, HousePlantParty said:

the car only gets a decent run about once or twice a week, so I'm not sure if that'll be hindering this issue at all.

I'd place my bets on this. You'll also have no end of trouble with the DPF if you can't even keep the heated windscreen working due to short journeys.

It's very unlikely that both screens have developed issues at the same time.

[HousePlantParty]

Just thought I'd update for anyone having similar issues who might find this thread.

 

Took the car to my local garage and they tested the battery and found it to only have 58% charge (no idea how old the battery was as I'd only had the car a couple of months) so I got that replaced and both front and rear heated windscreens started working thankfully!

Must be the cars way of protecting the battery by limiting those functions as they suck a lot of power from the system. Worth pointing out that the heated seats still worked however which I found to be a bit odd, but we move!

So for anyone with this issue I'd definitely recommend testing your battery!

That failing, the mechanic also mentioned it can sometimes be an issue with the master key, but since we never explored that option, I wouldn't know much about that fix!