Black dots on your windscreen have an underrated effect that hardly anyone knows about
By now, most of us have probably spent a fair bit of time sitting in the front of a car - whether that’s as a passenger princess or the designated driver.
And once you’ve done something so often, you tend to not notice the mundane staples, like those little black dots on your windscreen.
Yeah, sure, they’re nowhere near as exciting as some car features nowadays like seat warmers and massagers or surround view camera systems and Apple CarPlay, but they have an underrated effect.
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Hardly anyone really pays attention to the little dots, but I bet at some point you’ve questioned their purpose.
Well, the little black circles - known as dot matrix or the frit to those in the know - are vital for your whip.
Especially important now that it feels absolutely Baltic outside, the dots help to distribute temperature evenly across the pane of glass.
This effect reduces optical distortion or lensing while you're on the roads, making for a smoother and safer journey.
Experts at Autoglaze explained that this vision-bending phenomenon occurs when 'the frit band (the solid black one) heats up much faster than the windscreen's glass'.
This creates an optical distortion 'that makes either straight lines look curved or bowed inwards toward the centre'.
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The 'gradually sinking' black dots dissipate the heat and spread it out evenly, lessening the potential of a warped view of the roads for motorists.
And very importantly, they basically keep your car in one-piece. Yep those little dots literally hold it together.
They help to ‘preserve the urethane sealant used to bond the glass to the frame', which keeps your windscreen firmly in place.
As well as this, they serve as a 'contact point between the glass and car frame'.
Autoglaze explained: "They create etches on the surface, making them rougher so the adhesive can stick better to the glass.
"Frits are also there for aesthetic purposes. If you look closely, the contrast between the dark band and the transparent glass can look too obvious even when viewed from afar.
"Creating a halftone pattern or dot-matrix allows a gradual decrease in size, making the transition much more subtle and easier on the eyes."
The good people of Reddit weren't ashamed to admit they had no idea what the black dots were for and many were blown away by the answer.
One said: "That is brilliant and simple. So simple that it isn’t believable but so believable that it can’t be that simple!"
Another said: "I am stunned at the amount that I have learned about frit today."
And someone else chimed in: "To adhere and protect. Sounds like a good life purpose!"
Well, you learn something new every day, right?
Jess Battison