So, What’s Up With The Black Dots On Your Windshield?

Photo 37007505 © Kianlin | Dreamstime.com

Smartphones have the notch, pill, or hole-punch. The equivalent for cars are the little black dots that bleed into the edges of some windshields and on rearview mirrors—you see them but don’t really notice they’re there. They’re functional too, in case you’re wondering.

The black dots are called frits, and they’re actually baked into the surface of the windshield glass, Richard Reina, product training director at CARiD.com, tells Travel + Leisure. These spots, made of enamel, help replace the clunky metal that used to frame windshields in the 50s and 60s, CarBuzz explains.

The ceramic dots form a protective layer between the windshield glass and frame, which are held together by a long-lasting urethane adhesive.

Since the painted area keeps the glass and frame securely bonded, you might be wondering—why use dots, and not a solid patch? Well, a full black layer would be quite distracting, so designers devised a halftone pattern that gradually gets darker, creating a subtler effect.

Further, the glue used to adhere the frame to the windshield is more effective on bumpier surfaces, and the 3D texture offered by the dots will help keep them together, CarBuzz reports. This stops the glass from moving while the car is in motion, too.

The enamel frits also provide shade to fend off the sun’s UV rays, which could melt the glass. In a similar vein, the gradient pattern, from dark to light, evenly disperses heat across the windshield. 

[via Travel + Leisure and CarBuzz, cover photo 37007505 © Kianlin | Dreamstime.com]