KEVYNWITHAWHY

im out in vegas and obviously it is a little warm. i came out to my car saturday and the entire rear window had exploded all over the place. it might have been hit by a rock or something small but all of the glass was blown about 6-8 feet behind the car. nothing was moved or taken. i called scion to make sure there were no window recalls but i haven't gotten an answer yet. its about 350 installed from an auto glass mfg. BEWARE!! he just came out to install. the two terminals that are soldered to the defrost wires were soldered about an inch too far towards the outside. if the window had even seated properly, i would not be able to connect the defrosters. The toyota glass is $500+ (without install) and my deduct. is 500 so i can use my insurance. now the insurance is telling me i need to talk to an adjuster and convince them to pay more than the average price of glass. this could add another 3 or 4 days that i am driving around without a f****** window. i've already stripped out all the electronics but whose to say the whole car won't be gone when i wake up tomarrow. WTF!!!!

while im in this mess, ive thought about having the frame of the window finished off and put a removable one in its place. i've always thought they should have designed the Xb with a roll down rear window Bronco style. has anyone done a mod like this?

Evil_Genius

I actually had a rear window on an old Saturn(my old work car) last winter. We got a crapload of snow overnight, so the next morning I went out and scraped the windows clean, and then started shovelling the driveway. About 5 minutes later I heard a loud pop... and there went my back window.

boogi_man

damn it's hot in vegas.

draxcaliber

did you see it explode, or you think it exploded?

it could have been hit by something, and all the hot air trapped inside your car would have pushed the glass out as it shattered.

jwaj2002

I've had mine busted out by a rock, and seen them busted by hail, but never heard of one shooting out that far, I'd call that insurance company back and tell them you expect a rental car, and yours to be locked up at a reputable shop, or that your taking it toyota and your going to expect a rental and you will bill them for anything lost in the mean time

bB2NER

Good luck getting it covered. Insurance companies stink and will try everything to not pay in full.
Did the glass place do any checking into why the replacement one won't work? Don't they sell other brands that might be right?

hotbox05

gonna be alot easier to make a swing up window than it will be to make a slide down rear window.


MUCH easier

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

ive read a few threads about people talking about doing a roll down back window but i havn't seen anyone do it yet.

KEVYNWITHAWHY

I think it was hit by something and the heat had already gathered pressure. The broken glass hanging off the window was fingering outward. Apparently, the glass shop knew that these were bad. They said that they had a bad batch from the mfg. I spoke with Toyota and they recommended another glass company called Elite. After calling them, I found out that Safelite and Elite are actually the same company and they use Safelites' glass as well. All they can offer is special ordering Toyota glass. I left a message with the Regional mgr of Safelite and I’m calling him back today. It’s understandable that they have some bad parts out there from contract manufacturing but the fact that they know it and haven't done anything to resolve it is beyond me. Perhaps the most frustrating part is that every time I call Toyota, they refer me to Safelite or Elite. They highly recommend them. How ridiculous! for sho, a lift up rear window would be more cost effective. do you think fiberglass would be good to finish the frame?

rdclark

I guess the moral of this story is to leave a window rolled down half an inch when it's real hot out so the air pressure can equalize?

Sciond

KEVYNWITHAWHY

oh for shure from now on. I found a shop that had a good one!! i flew over there and was in and out in half an hour. ***props to "Superior Auto Glass and Tinting" on Charlston in Las Vegas*** I only paid $350. I'm so glad i don't have to baby sit my car around the clock anymore.

MSIGuy

Um, a car is nowhere near airtight enough for "the air pressure to build up and burst a window".

draxcaliber

actually, while cars aren't air tight, they can presurize quite a bit. my dad had a loaner audi tt coupe that would lower the windows when opening and closing the door to prevent the pressure from breaking the glass as you close the door.

jwaj2002

the new mustang does this as well, so do most of your convertibles

peteski

Think about this guys: Cars aren't *THAT* tight. If there could be enough pressure built up to blow out a window don't you thing that you could feel it blow the door out a bit when you open it? Has anybody ever experience this? I haven't.
If there was so much perssure, it would probably damage all the speakers in the car. Car's interior is full of holes (not even considering the fresh air vent).

If the interior was truly tight then you wouldn't have any ventilation if you were to select "fresh air" and had the blower off while driving with all the windows closed. But you can feel the air blowing out of the side vents - it has to go somewhere (it vents through all the opennings in thinterior).

The luxury cars crank the windows down a bit to get rid of the "thump" you hear when you close the door after you get in. And also to make it easier to close the door. All of this is due to a sudden large pressure buildup caused by the large are of the closing door, which acts like a piston for an instant. But that pressure dissipates in less than a second.

typhoonorchid

Yeah, I would agree with pete.
IMO perhap there are unknown factors as to why the glass would shoot outward upon shattering.
there may be tension within the arched glass and that could have caused it to act like its spring-loaded. shooting the glass outward. If there is more tension along the inside surface, and the glass failed from the outside because of a rock, for example.

KEVYNWITHAWHY

all of this makes total sense, however, the window installer told me i MUST leave the window cracked for atleast 24 hours because the pressure will build and burst holes in the freshly laid silicone. i was also told that by two seperate friends that have had windows replaced. i guess we'll never know. i like your explanation typhoonorchid

ScionSemper

the roll-down feature on the Audi's (and Mustangs, and Porsche and BMW and etc etc etc ) has ZERO to do with air pressure. The window drops down slightly to clear the lip on the roof line. Once the door is closed, the window rules back up to complete the seal. If the window didn't roll down, it would be put at risk to chip or break from making contact. If you notice, all the windows that use the auto-rolldown/up function when opening the door all have one thing in common - they ALL use a frameless door glass. NO ONE makes a car with framed-in door glass that has windows that drop down a little every time the door opens. It's only on frameless doors. ONLY. If it was an issue of air pressure, BMW, AUDI et al would do it on all their cars, not just some of them.

GLASS EXPLOSION. The most likely cause of your window exploding was a phenomenon called "NICKEL SULFIDE INCLUSION". Google it. Since the window exploded outward, it is unlikely it was broken from an outside source.

ABout 10 years ago, Honda/Isuzu had a huge problem with the rear lift glass windows spontaneously exploding due to nickel sulfide inclusions. They were using glass from the cheapest suppliers they could find.

HeathenBrewing

I would agree with Pete and Typhoon as well. If you really think about it for a while, there is no way any production car is that air tight.