We bought our Odyssey in Tennessee a year ago. We are now in North Dakota. Yes, it's freezing here, but I expect that the de-icing system in a Honda is engineered well enough to keep my windshield from icing up to the point of being dangerous. After driving in the snow and low temps today, I am very frustrated with the Odyssey. I will make an appointment to see if there is a malfunction in the system, but I doubt it, the heat seems to be more than adequate! The problem appears to be that the windshield wipers sit lower than the discharge ports for the defrost, and there are not heating elements [like on the back window]. Maybe Honda needs to start testing their vehicles in extreme cold conditions where it is snowing heavily and there are cars in front throwing up snow onto your windshield if they haven't been. Or, re-engineer the windshield and defrost system to work effectively in an extreme cold, snowy environment. What can we do for now? I guess pray and whiteknuckle it everytime we go out since we cannot see out of our windshield. This is very, very disappointing and life threatening.

Dear unhappywinterdriver,
I have a 2003 Odyssey and had a similar problem last winter. My mechanic (who is not a honda dealer) found that the filter up inside the dashboard that cleans the air for the windshield was plugged with pine needles & pollen etc. because I park under these trees at home (can't be avoided).
I never new this filter existed.
I've had no problems this winter and I will check it every year from now on.

Hope this helps!

Hi guys, no problems for me and my touring '06, and I leave in Montreal. The only tiny issue is when I start my car at -20 degrees celsius, the nav take time to be visible and working well. But my bottom is quickly toasty with heated seats! :D

The Ody doesn't have a "deicing" system. However, it does have a defrost setting on the HVAC controls. :)

I too would suggest having your cabin air filter checked out. If it's clogged, you'll have reduced air flow and your defroster wouldn't perform as well as it should.

The cabin air filter should be easy to get to. I have an '05, so these instructions may not work as well if you have a different year. However, it should be somewhat similar. Open your lower glove box drawer. There are two tabs that hold the drawer up so that it doesn't rotate all the way to the ground. Put your fingers on the outside of those tabs and pull inwards. The glovebox should now rotate all the way down. If you haven't already taken all your stuff out of your glovebox, they're all over the floor now. As you're looking inside the big opening left from lowering your glovebox drawer, you'll see a long horizontal tray (the cabing air filter tray) with tabs on either side of it. Pull those tabs inwards and slide the cabin air filter tray out towards you. The filter just lifts right out of the tray. Make note of the arrow along the side of the filter, as it shows the airflow direction. That's the same way you'll install the new/clean filter. Reinstallation is the opposite of removal. After getting the glovebox drawer back into place, pick up all your crap from the floor and return it to the glovebox.