Abstract: The windshield for a motor vehicle is characterized by a transparent panel having a lower region normally outside the driver's field of vision and where at least one windshield wiper is located in the rest position of the wiper. An electric resistance heating element, formed either as a continuous layer or as a plurality of individual conductors connected in parallel by bus bars, is carried on the windshield only in the lower region for heating the area on which the wipers rest. A continuous layer of a heat radiation absorbing ceramic material opaque to ambient light and coextensive with the area of the heating element is disposed on the windshield between the heating element and the windshield wiper to shield the heating element from view from the front of the windshield and to uniformly distribute heat over the lower portion of the windshield. The windshield is a laminate including inner and outer glass panes with a plastic layer therebetween.