I drive a 4 door Acura Integra 1995.
Woke up this morning to find out that the rear windshield was in complete shatters.
It did not seem like there was a single point of impact from where the cracks would have started. The whole windshield was evenly shattered. Also, nothing really was missing from the car so I doubt that was the cause.
Few things that might be important to know.
- The car does not have an AC so its always hot inside.
- We live close to a train station, it can get pretty noisy.
Is it normal for windshields to just shatter like that or is it just that its a old car or did someone actually try to break in?
Was it extremely hot yesterday in your area? Do you normally keep the windows shut tightly? Was the heat/vent system set to “recirculate”?
If the answer to these questions is “yes”, then you may have simply had superheated air that caused the breakage–especially if there was an existing flaw in the glass.
For a rear window to be completely shattered, one would expect it to be from something that stressed it over its entire surface, equally.
Check with your car insurance, and your home owner’s (or, apartment dweller’s) insurance. This may be covered under “vandalism” or “acts of nature”.
Could well have been overheated. I saw a Caddie’s rear windshield buckle on a hot afternoon. Taught me a lesson.
I would have reported it to the police,and then called my insurance agent.
It also could have been caused by a flying rock popping out from underneath a tire from a passing car or a vandal with a slingshot or pellet gun who was bored.
I would think if someone were breaking in they would not choose the back glass method but would choose to bust out a door glass. But then again, some of them wind up in the stupid thieves file.
It only takes a small sharp rap from something like this to cause the glass to completely disentegrate and that is what it’s designed to do; shatter into thousands of small pieces rather than allow large shards to go flying forward in a collision. That’s why it’s called “popcorn glass” and side glass is the same way.
This happened to my mothers car when I was a kid. She got home from grocery shopping, and I went out to help bring in the viddles. She opened the door, got out and opened the trunk. As I was reaching in to grab a couple of bags, she slammed the car door and the rear window glass exploded. I almost wet myself! And as I remember, it was a hot summer day.
Tester
I had a situation today in which the rear windshield in my 99 Forester blew up with a big “boom” while I was driving on a highway. I could see a point of impact, but there were no other cars around to have sent up rocks. It was not super hot out, and I had other windows open. I’m guessing mine was purposeful…I’ve been googling to see how common it is to have the rear window break like this.
Rear glass has been trimmed thinner and thinner by manufacturers, it seems. And the fit is SNUG on many cars. I have seen rear glass break when cars were jacked from the rear bumper.
A bit more odd, but while coming home one hot summer day I stopped at the post office to pick up the mail and as I was driving off (about 20 MPH) the left rear passenger door glass in my Subaru simply shattered.
While working for Subaru we never did see any rear glass problems but did see a few cracked front windshields on almost brand new cars. These were stress cracks so obviously there was a tight glass fitment and/or some excessive body flex.