The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Rear Window Exploded, help?
Omnicron9999
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I just went to shovel out my mom's 02 Nissan Xterra from this lovely snow we have. The rear window is completely shattered. The glass is completely splintered throughout, and there is a large hole near the bottom left. It had to have happened in the past hour or so, because there was hardly any snow in the car, and the glass that had landed on the ground was barely covered (it is still snowing here).
The car was and is locked, there is no object still in the car that broke the window (rock or whatever), and nothing is missing. The rest of the car was completely covered in snow and had obviously not been disturbed. There were also no footprints anywhere near the car.
It actually almost seems like the glass was kicked out from the inside, as some of the glass seemed to bow outwards. No, there was no one in the car.
Any ideas about how this could have happened? My first thought was some form of thermal stress, but it really isn't that cold here. Maybe 30 F. Also the car hasn't been driven in 2 days, so its not like there was any rapid heating or cooling.
Also, what steps should my Mom take now? Do we call insurance first? Or the auto glass repair place? She apparently has "full glass" on the car.
The car was and is locked, there is no object still in the car that broke the window (rock or whatever), and nothing is missing. The rest of the car was completely covered in snow and had obviously not been disturbed. There were also no footprints anywhere near the car.
It actually almost seems like the glass was kicked out from the inside, as some of the glass seemed to bow outwards. No, there was no one in the car.
Any ideas about how this could have happened? My first thought was some form of thermal stress, but it really isn't that cold here. Maybe 30 F. Also the car hasn't been driven in 2 days, so its not like there was any rapid heating or cooling.
Also, what steps should my Mom take now? Do we call insurance first? Or the auto glass repair place? She apparently has "full glass" on the car.
Omnicron9999 on
0
Posts
Yeah, I wasn't planning on calling the police, simply because it really doesn't seem like anyone was involved. I just looked through my Mom's insurance policy and she is covered even if it isn't vandalism/theft.
I don't know, a squirrel running up the back or something? Bigfoot humped the back of it?
Insurance might not be worth it depending how much it costs to fix the window from a glass vendor. Because of it magically shattering they might even tell you to try talking to Nissan about it.
A quick strike with a variety of tools can shatter a tempered glass window in the manner you've described.
A piece of porcelain on a string
A spring loaded centerpunch
The pick side of a Fire axe
The pick side of a Haligan tool
A broken-off car antenna of the metal-sphere tip type, used in a whipping motion
A folding rescue spanner w/glass pick
A pick hammer (like geologists sometimes use)
The tip of a rock moving at a certain perfect speed.
All of these items, with practice or sheer luck, can shatter a tempered glass window with little or no glass falling inside. As a side note, the bottom corners tend to be the best place to initiate breaking tempered glass, as it tends to be the most solid there (the structure of the metal framing keeps it from flexing as may happen in the middle of the window).
I actually worked at work on Saturday. Also I went out on a date with a real life girl.
Can you like, permanently break the forums?
Yeah, the window is almost vertical, and the snow we have right now is very light and powdery. The snow all around the area was literally undisturbed, so no squirrel tracks or bigfoot dick holes. Besides I'd like to think that bigfoot could probably fuck the snow off of a car :P
Thanks for the input though, the only thing that sucks is that most businesses around here are closed because of the snow. So we can't get in touch with the insurance agent/auto glass shop/dealer.
The only difference is I was driving at ~70 mph at the time, so antenna-wielding ninjas that don't leave footprints aren't an option in my case.
Its a 2002. So I doubt its a manufacturing issue.
Man, if it was antenna wielding ninjas? The only thing I would be mad about is not getting to watch it happen.
Edit: Also, I've had one of my side windows shattered TWICE due to vandalism/theft. I called insurance first, they contacted the repair place, who called me to set up the appointment. I didn't have to pay anything.
I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
Well, the entire window is cracked, like safety glass is supposed to, only a small chunk fell through though. Do you mean that in the case of the short the entire window is essentially blown out?
Also, would that type of thing happen at random? There was no recent damage to the car or anything.
Yeah, that was my first thought too. Based on how low the hole is on the window, the BB would have to still be in the cargo area. As in it would have been stopped by the back seat.
There was nothing I could find though. I was hoping that was it, as this is bugging me.
A BB could have enough force to shatter the tempered glass but not penetrate, it may have bounced into the snow behind the vehicle.
This is true, good point. And with all the snow there I doubt I would ever find something that small.
This raises the question, "Who goes around shooting out back windows at 3 in the afternoon with a bb gun?"
Thanks for the help.
Learn up on your Wire and you can solve the case too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbsnSVM1zM
It is more likely to crack due to high heat rather than cold. Throwing warm water on a frosty window might cause a sudden non impact failure.
The most likely thing is that something struck the glass with enough force to cause a failure but not enough to hurl glas thru the interior. A spark plug insulator on the end of a 16g wire(classic piece of vandal hardware) would cause this.
I have reached the conclusion that someone did mess with the window, either with a BB gun or something like it, or using one of the numerous methods outlined in this thread (although at a bit of a distance). It just seems too unlikely for the window to have blown up on its own, given the circumstances. And, well, people are assholes.
As a follow up, the window was replaced today, and it was covered completely by insurance.
So I guess this can be locked!