My rear window shattered after turning on rear window defroster. I thought someone shot at me, but on further inspection I noticed the window shattered outward. I have no idea how much this is going to cost me to fix, but I can tell you how much it will cost Ford, "NO REPEAT BUSINESS"! I would hope, and be pleasantly surprised if Ford notified me to bring my truck in for a free replacement of the rear window, but I also wish I was a millionaire and know that neither of these wishes will come true.

2013 F150 that had it's 2nd failure of the rear glass caused by the defroster on a truck with less than 45,000 miles. The first was in '15 when the truck was just over 20,000 miles. I turned on my remote start to warm up the cab and defrost the windows first thing in the morning while parked in my driveway. I loaded both my 1 and 3 year old boys into their car seats and went back in the house momentarily to grab my rain jacket. When I returned I noticed a significant amount of smoke and a small incipient fire 1-2" on the exterior weather-stripping of the rear glass. Smoke had entered the cab but was more significant on the exterior. The smoke in the video is what remained after I turned the truck off, batted the small fire out and watched the interior glass laminate explode and shatter with a sound equivalent to a small caliber handgun.

I'm sure its not hard to imagine how a 1 and a 3 year old would react to such a load sound originating less than a foot from their heads.

Seeing as how this wasn't the first time this happened I managed to grab my camera to show FORD that they have a faulty product and it is not the consumers responsibility to dish out $1,000 every time their truck owners care to look out their rear windows. This is a known problem, with hundreds of complaints posted on multiple forums, consumer complaint sites and the NHTSA.

I would like to also share my opinion as a career firefighter that understands fire behavior and knows the chain of events that precedes a significant fire. This small incipient fire had the potential to be catastrophic. The fire originated at or the lower left trim/weather-strip on the passenger side rear glass more than likely where the contacts for the defroster align and transfer through the sliding glass. With the window trim acting as vertical fuel (flammable plastic/poly material) and given a bit more time, could have transitioned to portions of the interior cab putting both my kids who were restrained in a very bad situation. Had I stopped to use the restroom prior to going back out, or done anything to give the fire just a bit more time to reach it's potential this situation could have been much worse.

I'm posting this in hopes that FORD issues a recall for a known faulty product.

My passenger side of rear window just shattered and scared the crap out of my 11 year old daughter and I.

It was about 23F, I used the remote starter to start the truck before heading out with my daughter. Truck ran for about 5 minutes. We both got in the truck and I started backing down the driveway when we heard a very loud bang just as I was backing into the street. When I looked back I saw the passenger of the back window shattered.

This does sound like a common problem. Of course its Sunday morning, I am supposed to travel for work this week!

Should I bring this to Ford to have them fix it or go to a glass company? Will insurance cover? I have 26K miles on the truck, its a 2013 (that's outside the bumper/bumper warranty)

I also had the same problem with my 2013 f150 king ranch. I was leaving work, auto started my truck got in turn on the rear window defrost and didn't even get out of my parking lot before I heard a loud pop like someone threw something at my truck. It was only 34 degrees outside, so not horrible. Bought the truck less than a month ago. Call my dealership on the ride home from work. They said they had never heard of this type of thing happening before. Got home and online stared to type in my window problem, and when auto correct filled in the rest I knew that it was not a fluke. The next day went to my dealership talked to the service manager then the owner Steve "ALL TOP NOTCH GUYS " at Ron Drenkow Motor in Sheldon, Iowa. They ordered the window and setup a time to have it installed within a week of my first call. I think Ford Motors knows and should look into the problem they're having with back window and rear defroster.

2013 F-150 FX4 - At 6am started truck remotely and got in after about 10 minutes of warmup. Got in the truck and started with key and turned on rear defrost as it was -25C and there was still some ice on rear window. Drove for about 5 minutes then heard loud pop. Did not know what it was and could not see it until later in the day when it was lighter. Immediately called the dealer and explained the problem and they are not sure whether it will be covered under warranty. Can't tell me until they are able to see it. I am not confident.

I really don't have a complaint about this problem, this time because it was covered under warranty, but unfortunately the dealer just changed the window and did not troubleshoot the rear window defroster system which is what I believe to be the real problem.

It seems to me that the rear window and in combination with the mirror defrost system is a crude "open loop" heating system that works on a timer instead of a temperature feed back loop to control the temperature of the glass.

The rear window defroster is also tied to the driver's side and passenger's side mirror defrosters, so when you turn the mirror defroster on the rear window defroster is also on.

I have a cap on the truck so the rear window doesn't see as much cold air as the mirrors do, but all three stay on the same amount of time.

There is a timer circuit that turns the defroster off after 10 minutes and the mirrors immediately frost back up once it turns off, so I hit the button and they come back on again. You have to do this every 10 minutes while you are driving in freezing temperatures or the mirrors are unusable.

I don't use the rear window defroster, but I need the mirror defroster.

So after haven driven for an hour and a half in -04 degree F temperatures when I arrived at my destination I got out and closed the door and I heard a loud pop and the tinkling sound that shattered glass makes as it falls to the ground.

So my theory is that because of the "cheap" design of the window defroster system, the rear window over heated to the point that the pressure developed inside the cab when closing the door shattered the overheated glass.

I’m willing to bet that this problem only happens to Ford vehicles that are driven in the colder temperature states so Ford is trying to bury the problem because if they have to redesign their systems it will cost them a bundle!

The problem happened again on 12-10-2014... but I will report that on the next complaint!