[exar0815]

Not really. Windscreen heating is quite common in the industry, and the patents lie with the glass suppliers (No Vehicle Company builds their glass themselves). Most common techniques are thin tungsten wires or a heatable thin metal layer which additionally acts as IR-reflection.

[hnlmorg]

You say it’s common but it didn’t used to be. It was common on Fords but no other vehicle manufacturer had it. Rear window heating, sure. But not front windscreen.

Moreover, Ford dealerships (in the U.K. at least) would boast that they owned the patent.

Looking online, I can see lots of references on car enthusiast sites talking about Ford owning the patent but any documents on the patent I find states it’s owned by an independent window manufacturer (like you suggested it would be).

So that leaves me wondering if either Ford had the patent but then sold it (unlikely in my opinion), or if they simply bought exclusively rights?

[cjrp]

Surely Volvo had it? Feels like a very Volvo feature.

[_yb2s]

The VW egolf had it in 2015 or so…

[hnlmorg]

Yeah, I’m talking a good few years ago now.

The patent would have long since expired — never mind any deals between patent holders.

[cnity]

Do you have a link? The patent I could find was filed by Ford and expired in 2015: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5824993A/en

Actually that patent looks different to what I'm describing.