Have had two major cracks in the windshield occur in LESS THAN A WEEK after driving off of dealer's lot. I haven't replaced my windshield yet - despite two major cracks - because I figure I may as well get another crack before I invest in a new one. Hate driving around with the cracks though. Not giving a good impression with clients. I look too broke to fix it when I am just being practical because I expect another crack soon after a new windshield is installed.
In 40+ years of driving I have never had a cracked winshield. Now 10 months in with my new Subaru I have 2 in the same windshield.
The first chip occurred 5 months after purchase. I simple stone thrown from another vehicle on the freeway. The chip then caused a crack that is about 10" long on the passenger side window. I wrote this off as dumb luck. I know that tempered glass and windshield angles are designed to minimize, if not eliminate, damage due to road debris like rocks.
Now a second crack appeared at the drivers side of the windshield. Emanating from the bottom of the windshield and coming up. This one is more puzzling as I am not aware of any cause for its formation. Unlike the first crack, I am not aware of anything hitting the windshield nor is there any indentation or chip missing on the exposed outside surface of the windshield. Hard to show in photo, but when feeling the outside of the windshield the glass is smooth, i.e. no depth of penetration.
Again, at first crack I was just kind of accepting it as a fluke. But with the 2nd crack, with an unknown cause, I have become more suspect as to the design and/or manufacturing of the windshield.
I have owned many cars and have replaced many windshields. Our new-ish Crosstrek has two opposing cracks with ZERO evidence of impact of any kind. I have gone out for bids and am astonished by the cost, and according to the Internet, those bids may not even include the special glass. Apparently, if you can believe the other reviews, they use a special thin glass. This does not make me happy.
New technology is great until it has to be fixed... then the costs are exorbitant. Safelite quoted $1075 to replace, due to Eyesight feature on the car. OEM is thin, brittle and not at all durable as it should be. It was a small stone hitting the windshield causing a 10 inch crack.
- Todd B.,
New Holland, US
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This is my first Subaru after owning Toyotas for 15 years. In those 15 years I never had a cracked windshield, but have been hit numerous times by small to medium rocks with no cracking, nor have I ever had to replace a windshield. In 3 months time I have been hit by 2 very small rocks from normal highway driving resulting in 2 cracked windshields that needed to be replaced by my insurance. Cannot stress enough how small these pebbles are, but ended up as a crack that ended up expanding across my windshield.
Because I have the Eyesight feature, I cannot replace the glass with aftermarket glass. It has to be OEM glass from the dealership. The glass is thin (2 layers sandwiching a thin film for noise reduction) and brittle resulting in the exterior layer cracking easily. THIS IS NOT THE SAME ISSUE EXPERIENCED BY THE FORESTER MODEL WHERE THE CRACK APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE BECAUSE OF THE WIPER DEFROSTER ELEMENT. This is from small objects breaking the windshield easily.
Again:
Toyota 15 years.... no cracked or broken windshields
Just really unacceptable. Dealerships excuse was that the small stone was travelling at a high "velocity". Pics they submitted for warranty were made to look worst as if stone was huge. Have run into other owners with same problem. Should be covered under their all inclusive warranty (except tires)!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Windshield chips easily, this is the 1st chip and it has had many chips since.
- Warren G., Carlisle, Pennsylvania (PA), US