I have a 2004 Mercedes ML350. On Thursday afternoon, someone alerted me to the fact that the passengers window behind the drivers seat had a small hole in it and was bowed outward. Upon further inspection, the window was shattered. It appeared to have a small hole about 3 inches up from the bottom of the glass. Inspection of the interior did not reveal any foreign object (i.e., rock, whatever) that could have caused this. I took the car into the dealership, who said - nope - not covered under warranty - windows just don’t break on their on. So, what was it? Trying to figure out what caused this to happen! Any ideas?
IT WAS VERY HOT HERE LAST WEEK (90’s) and the car was in the sun…(Normally I park it in the garage).
you will not find the pellet that made that hole. This is unfortunately all too common. Reprobates with too much time and too much freedom like to go along shooting out windows of cars. Had it happen to me once too - -that’s why my car now has a pager alarm so at least I have a shot at introducing myself to the jerks who like to vandalize vehicles.
I suspect shadowfax has got it right.
The dealer is also correct that glass is not covered under warranty. Now check with your insurance agent. Many policies include glass coverage.
If the window is bowed outward, that means any object that hit it came from the inside of the vehicle. If it was an external object, the window would be bowed inwards. Were you loading something in the car recently, maybe accidently hit the window with it?
Two possibilities:
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Something struck the window. A stone, a pellet from a gun, who knows, but some impact caused the window to shatter.
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The heat did it. Yes, it is possible, under certain circumstances, for auto windows to shatter in very high heat conditions. It’s not that rare., especially in desert cities like Phoenix.
You’ll most likely never know for sure what happened.
Neither is a warranty issue, but your insurance may be of help.
The hole makes me thing impact, but again, hard to prove unless someone witnessed it.