Broken Windshield

[Eatoman]

Has anyone ever had any significant problems with their windshield? I bought my car in August and the windshield was in perfect shape, no scratches or cracks to be found anywhere. Last week, out of the blue, I noticed a crack running along the bottom of my windshield!! It started on the drivers side and extended to the middle! This morning I noticed that the crack has spread even further, extending all the way to the passenger side! How does this happen? Is the windshield on a Yaris that crappy?? I'm 100% positive that nothing struck the windshield, like flying rocks or other debris because there are no chips anywhere to be found. Is it possible for a windshield to crack that easily in cold weather? Reason I'm asking is because about a month ago I installed a remote car starter. Could it be that the warm air hitting the cold windshield caused it to crack? I also noticed that the crack is on the outside of the car, and not on the inside, since I can't feel the crack when I touch it. Thanks for your feedback!

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by Eatoman

Has anyone ever had any significant problems with their windshield? I bought my car in August and the windshield was in perfect shape, no scratches or cracks to be found anywhere. Last week, out of the blue, I noticed a crack running along the bottom of my windshield!! It started on the drivers side and extended to the middle! This morning I noticed that the crack has spread even further, extending all the way to the passenger side! How does this happen? Is the windshield on a Yaris that crappy?? I'm 100% positive that nothing struck the windshield, like flying rocks or other debris because there are no chips anywhere to be found. Is it possible for a windshield to crack that easily in cold weather? Reason I'm asking is because about a month ago I installed a remote car starter. Could it be that the warm air hitting the cold windshield caused it to crack? I also noticed that the crack is on the outside of the car, and not on the inside, since I can't feel the crack when I touch it. Thanks for your feedback!

My Yaris has quite a few chips, but no cracks as of yet. The good size chips often eventually run into crack, particularly during super cold weather. In prior vehicles, I seldom got more than 2 years out of a windshield, due to the fact that they don't screen the sand that they use on the roads very well.

As for why yours cracked; It probably had a chip (which could have been very tiny) that eventually saw the right amount of flex to make it start to run. Even a scratch can turn into a crack if force is properly applied.