Honda Element had a windshield crack problem similar to the Scion xB:
http://www.hondaelementscrack.com/story_rob.html

A class action suit was filed August 4, 2004, in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County, alleging a design defect in 2003-2004 Honda Element windshields that leads to cracking:
http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?did=1144&scid=185

A settlement was reached with Honda, and is due to be approved in November. The settlement will reimburse owners for past and future cracks within 60,000 miles of sale:
http://www.hondaelementscrack.com/
http://www.fazmiclaw.com/Honda.html

The California law firm handling the Element suit is now conducting a preliminary investigation of Scion xB windshield cracks, in order to determine the facts and whether there is enough interest to justify a suit about xB wndshields. The firm would like to hear from Scion xB owners who have had cracks, especially those in California. The firm can be contacted by clicking the "tell us about it" link on their class action page at:
http://www.fazmiclaw.com/classactions.html

 

eh i'll be past 60k by the time it would ever be done.

 

Not the point. If you keep your receipts and the suit succeeds, you'd be reimbursed for repairs you paid for before the car hit 60k miles.

RichC

 

ic. so i'll get nothing back. I got mine replaced during a insurance job for vandalism.

guess i should pay out of pocket for a new one in hopes of the suit going through? nah.

 

about time.. ill send an email to the lawyers.. I was thinking of creating an online petition to get this settled, but it seems someone has beat me to it.

 

o0o u better beleive im gonna write them , im going on windsheild #3 and i have only had my box for about 5 months

 

I know that I will be all over this id I had to dish out cash for a new windshield. Luckily for me and all of Florida. Insurance covers it


But good luck to you guys that try this claim

 

I have a cracked windshield, a rock chipped one to be exact. I haven't replaced it, but will I qualify for claiming purposes?

 

Only thing I can find is a contact us link. Lets all put in the subject: "Scion xB cracked Windshield Class Action Lawsuit"

 

i've already sent a message to this law firm. Maybe we can sent up a separate topic and use that as a petetion, right kitkit201?

 

Good idea.. teabox. Well this topic seems to be good enough since I'm sure every this is a common problem among xB owners. My brother had the car for 2 years and has had it replaced 3 times already..

 

Great idea and nice job on the research. I have a small crack in the middle of my windshield but from what I heard I can get it replaced or fixed for free through my insurance due to some Florida law. If anyone wants to setup a petition or go through with a class action PM me and let me know.

 

I'm going to spread the word and get this started. It doesn't help that I'm driving on freeways under construction and semi's kicking up rocks and messing up not only my windshield, but my beautiful camo paint. It's like everyday I get a new chip.

 

frivolous

 

Why would you say that? this is something actually worth action. My windshield cracked very easily twice within a year 1/2 after purchase. Since our insurance companies here don't cover.. why not ask the manufacturer for help to cover losses?

 

what about the uber thin paint? the roof on mine has these weird boiled spots through the clear

 

It's too hard to prove manufacturing defect caused cracks on the windshield. I still have my TOYOTA stamped windshield albeit with several chips cracks and stars. But this is through 2+ years of driving on questionable roads. Cracks caused by road conditions such as debris is not covered under warranty. This warranty limitation is common amongst all manufacturers.

I mentioned "TOYOTA stamped" windshield. If your original TOYOTA stamped windshield was replaced several times by non-TOYOTA stamped, then their is no manufacturing defect. The TOYOTA stamped windshields are rather expensive (made in Japan). Most just replace with another brand like PPG or other US-windshield manufacturers. The design of the windshield (almost vertical) and vehicle shape is mainly the culprit. I also see FJ Cruisers, Hummers, Land Rovers, and GL500 and other vehicles with near flat windshields with similar issues.

If a suit does go to fruition, I would advised to gather as many TOYOTA stamped windshield lot numbers with similar issues. If you can find that a particular lot (s) of TOYOTA stamped windshield have this occurance then you might get some information whether your xB was installed with defective windshields.

 

They'd be trying to prove it's a design defect, not a manufacturing defect. To prove that, all that's really necessary is to show that (a) the glass cracks unusually frequently (which shoulkd be provable from industry and insurance stats), and/or that (b) the glass cracks when it shouldn't (eg, when the car is standing still).

Both of these states existed in the Element case, and the suit was successful. And examples of both have been testified to here on SL, so there's reason to think a similar action could also succeed.

If the court finds that there is a design defect, I suspect it won't matter whether the replacement glass came from Toyota or not, since the cause would still be Toyota's design.

RichC

 

I am all about that... I am in MA and have had my RS 3.0 since st. paddy's and i am going on my 3rd Windshield... but where do i sign up??? whats the law firm...??

 

I wish you guys luck, but even before I bought the box I knew that windshield could be a problem. See, it might be a design flaw, but it's the design that I like. Most likely it will result in the same deal Honda made. I know people buy Volvo's because they're safe. I've seen what happens when a dodge truck hits a Volvo. You think we're ____ed? lol