Washer fluid MUST have some form of anti-freeze.
Even in California many areas get below 32 degrees.

I'll like to see the official rules.
I'm sure it's just a certain kind that is no longer used.

FYI alcohol ( any kind ) IS anti-freeze!
Cheers!
-John

 

Something else a little OT, but related to freezing, a trick my dad taught me many years ago. Should have done this in the fall, but take some spray silicone on a cloth/paper towel and rub along all the weather stripping on the doors, & trunk/hatch. Helps keep it softer (longer?) and helps with doors sticking/freezing in the winter.

 

...a good point!

 

It may depend on what the State of California is defining as "anti-freeze". Are they talking glycol or another specific types of anti-freeze ingredients, or is it any and all types of products that prohibit freezing? There may still be some ingredients in wiper fluids that are preventing freezing, just not a certain few that are disallowed by the law.

 

I expect the new regulation prohibits certain chemicals that are used in low temperature windshield wiper fluid because they end up as runoff into the streams, groundwater and ocean. I hope the manufacturers will reformulate soon!

 

And we all know what reformulation means.....more expensive products that don't work worth a **** compared to the original and will probably have more adverse side-effects than if they left well enough alone.

 

I think I found the story:

http://www.sundancechannel.com/blogs...news/390318427

In part:

SACRAMENTO, California, January 10, 2008 (ENS) - In its largest consumer product settlement ever, the California Air Resources Board has fined Ace Hardware $850,000 for selling windshield washer fluid in stores throughout the state that failed to meet California air emissions requirements.

ARB cited the hardware chain for selling windshield fluid that was specially formulated with higher pollutants to prevent from freezing in the state's colder, mountainous areas.

Windshield wiper fluid is the only consumer product in California that has two permissible limits for volatile organic compounds. All other consumer products have only one limit they must meet to be sold throughout the state.

In colder areas of the state, California
allows higher amounts of VOCs in washer fluid.

The ARB's Consumer Products Regulation specifies different VOC limits for automotive windshield wiper fluid in California, depending on the climate of the region.

The limit is 35 percent VOC by weight for mountainous areas that are subject to low freezing temperatures, and one percent VOC for everywhere else in the state. The higher limit is permitted in the coldest areas of the state because more VOCs are needed to keep the fluid from freezing.

 

Now that you read the article in the previous post...
Nearly ALL of California ( even Los Angeles Metro ) gets below freezing 3 or 4 nights a year... and what about ALL THOSE MILLIONS of people who live in the Los Angeles Metro and take week-end trips to the Mountains?

This sounds like a law-suit ready to happen:
"CARB rules cracked my washer-fluid reservoir, tubes, pump... and I deserve compensation!"

Now I'm smart enough to add something else to my washer tank for weekend trips, but you can't expect the general public to do that.

How cold does the 1% allowed in L.A. protect down to? 30 degrees?

 

Based on the previous post, is there any question why there is a mass migration of people from California? That has to be the most bizarre thing I have ever heard of - being fined for selling a bootleg product that is perfectly legal in another part of the state?

General public? Are you not part of the general public? Are you special public? Or do you just feel that you are that much more intelligent and superior than the remainder of the motoring population? Sounds like someone needs a reality check.....

 

Put another way:

"I, myself, would tend to remember about my non-antifreeze washer fluid on ski trips... however... all of the general public cannot be relied upon to do such... just like not everyone rotates tires at every oil change... or remembers to do oil changes for that matter."

Better for you denverjay???