I have a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500. I have it parked in a secured garge at my work. I drove my truck on Friday and then I didnt drive it again until Tuesday. When I got to my truck on tuesday, a big hole and cracks were in my dash board and my windshield was cracked. Does anyone know how this could happen? No damage anywhere else and the truck was locked (no foul play). Nothing fell from the roof and the wheather has been normal.
Were there wide temperature swings ? ( freezing nights and hot days )
Was the a/c on recirc and the windows up tight ?
Temp swings can do that. Here where I live we regularly have 40 -50 degree day / night temp swings so I make certain to take the a/c out of recirculate and put it on regular so the interior will breathe and not build up pressure. Even just a stone nick in the windshield will be enough weakness to allow a crack to form from teperature change. I have a repaired nick in both of mine and neither has become a crack yet.
And…Were you in one of the recent earthquake zones ?
with one wheel up on a curb ? ( causing a bit of twist during the temperature inversion )
no earth quakes, temperture has been pretty normal for colorado. no freezing temps no hot temps. parked flat in an under ground garage.
Something happened. You might want to find out if the garage has security cameras and see if they caught anything. I used to live in the high desert area of Arizona and I can agree with @kengreen. It was scorching in the daytime and got very cold at night. Cracked windshields were a common problem and the windshield replacement shop was very busy at that time of the year.
I would think it most likely that you accidentally left it unlocked and some jerk got in and decided to do some damage. I agree with @missileman - get the camera footage.
Any foot/butt prints on the cowl ? Did someone sit there to watch the parade ?
Did someone ‘‘Bo Duke’’ accross your hood ?
Did someone stand on the hood/cowl to change a light bulb above where the truck was parked ?
yeah unfourtunalty no camera footage. no butt prints…ha! It was parked and did not move for three days, so i dont think wheather would have anything to do with it. It is just sooo weird. If someone did do a “Bo Duke” across the hood, that would be pretty cool!..
Were the pieces of the dash inside or outside the hole?
They were inside the hole.
The plastic up by the windshield is a little darkened, and deformed, it appears melted, is that how you see it? Hopefully comprehensive fixes it. Anything like this around? http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/london-skyscraper-can-melt-cars-set-buildings-fire-f8C11069092
I’m thinking that the next time you buy fuzzy dice for the rear view they should just be foam on the inside rather than lead cubes.
I don’t know who broke your windshield but the hole in the instrument panel is a common problem.
1998-2002 Dodge ram instrument panels become very brittle with age and crack, sometimes leaving holes in the dash.
My guess is that you had a blackout from drinking too much whiskey. When you parked the truck you stopped too quickly and your head bounced between the dash and the windshield.
Then again, it could have been aliens… : }
That’s very puzzling. This is a case for Poirot. Seriously, you may never determine the exact cause. While I suppose it is possible, I don’t think this happened spontaneously, like just b/c of a fast temperature change. Some human hijinks was probably involved. I’m guessing the dash was already brittle and about to drop away like that anyway. Then during that weekend, something heavy got pressed up against the window, like somebody threw a duffle bag on it or something, or laid a heavy timber on it, or somebody stood on the window or climbed over the top of the truck, stepping on the window, and the pressure which cracked the window also got transferred to whatever the dash is bolted to, which deformed and in turn made the crack in the dash.
our temperature swing last night ;
70 + daytime 04/02/14 …used the A/C to cool down the truck’s interior after the daytime sun load. With winds of 50 mph. (tuesday winds 60 mph)
overnight … 25
Snow on the ground and snowing 7:30 am 04/03/14.
Todays high will be a whopping…48 and will go to 17 overnight.
I think Nevada nailed it . . . the dash at least
I think your car was left un locked and a couple snuck in for a nooner, the hole and crack were caused by a flailing foot in the process
When I worked as a teacher, when arriving at school, I saw a kid running over the hoods of parked cars, leaping from one to another. I went berserk, chased the kid down and dragged him into the office. One of the younger teachers, as I pasted by her said, “Aren’t you over reacting a little” to me. To which I replied( really not knowing for sure) " one if the cars was yours! " she turned all red but immediately started opening doors for me as I literally continued to drag the kid into the office. Later, she reminded me her car was not involved. I just said to her " well at least you know how everyone whose car was involved, felt "
If it was a prankster, I can imagine how you felt.