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Igster

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Good times with the Patriot yesterday. It's at the dealership now while they wait and see if Chrysler will cover this, but it's been pretty damn cold here lately. Got off work yesterday, had the Patriot running for about 15 minutes to warm up. Got in, closed the drivers door and my back window exploded.

:doh:

Was a bit of a cold ride home. Took it right to the dealership and they took it in. Most likely take a few days to hear back from Chrysler if they are going to cover the window or not, but having this for less than a year and only 12K on it, I really think they should. The window had to be defective to explode like that. Crazy.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Tailgate window. You know...the big, expensive one. I've lived in Canada all my life and experienced much colder weather than we are having right now and never had this happen or heard of it happening.
 
#7 ·
This same thing happened to a buddy of mine in their Explore a few winters back.
 
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#8 · (Edited)
About 20 years ago this happened to a friend in the Porcupine Hills in Southern Alberta. He parked his GMC Suburban and walked about 50 yards to hunt deer and the tailgate window shattered in a great many pieces. This happened not once but twice and GM paid for it and eventually recalled the Suburbans for this defect. Our next door neighbor was on a trip to Saskatchewan when a big Semi passed her on a 4 lane highway and the side window of their Dodge minivan shattered and flying glass injured her young daughter in the passenger seat.
 
#9 ·
That's pretty crazy. I never heard of a window exploding from cabin pressure like that.

I was at a gas station once on a hot day, watched a lady clean off her windows and 10 seconds after washing one particular window it exploded. She looked at me and asked "Did someone throw something?", we were both pretty amazed that happened.

Last year while hauling a trailer down a gravel road travelling at about 70km/h. I must have kicked up a rock into that same back window as you. I turned around to see 2 fist size holes in the window. The entire window was shattered. Cost me $400. 3 months later got a rock chip directly where the rear view connects to the windshield, didn't see it until it was too late. Another $300.
 
#10 · (Edited)
sask_riot said:
That's pretty crazy. I never heard of a window exploding from cabin pressure like that.
Click to expand...
It's not from pressure. All car interiors are vented to prevent CO2 buildup. On our Patriots in particular, there's a flapper vent on the driver's side rear of the cargo area, covered by the rear bumper.

No, there's some reaction that happens in the glass itself - maybe a layer of laminate that expands at a different rate, or some gas that comes out from the adhesives and builds up in between the layers. I don't think anyone has it figured out for sure yet.


EDIT: Okay, I gotta call myself out here... my response was wrong, wrong, wrong. I looked it up, and here's a really good explanation:

http://adventureautoglass.com/auto-glass-exploding-real-story/
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
Well, I do not recall anything of any size hitting that back window at any point and time. For something to jump up on the road and hit the "back" window seems, well, not something that could happen, so to me it is defective and the cold outside/heating inside caused it to explode suddenly.

Now I wait to see if Chrysler covers it under warranty. Might not find out until Thursday if it is covered and may not get it back until Monday. Ugh.
 
#13 ·
Tempered glass will especially shatter if it is knocked on the edge.

If you look at our Patriot tailgate glass you will see that the edges are exposed, not under trim.

In fact just knocking the edge while using the gas station squeegee could conceivably do it.

Or a small stone whirling up from the road or squirted out from a passing tire...doesn't have to be big, just has to hit right.

Back in the day I used to demo homes my brother and I bought for rentals...loved removing the shower glass and taking it out to the bin...just a thunk with a screwdriver and you were surrounded by cascading glass...made the hired hands jump cause you know we would make sure they were right there..."Here, carry this out to the bin..."

Good times.
 
#15 ·
From the link i posted (emphasis is mine):

Now the mystery. MAN I am really bummed out that I have to be the one to tell you this. You know when that back glass just mysteriously broke? Well, it was probably hit by something….just not right then….one of the groovy things about tempered glass is it will withstand a lot of abuse but it remembers it and stresses under the abuse. It may not crack at the moment of impact but the stress continues to play until the defect erupts. Hence EXPLODING GLASS IN YOUR CAR! Make sense? Yeah, it does to us too. But if you want to believe it JUST BROKE, than by golly, who are we to say otherwise?
Click to expand...
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
:mad:

Well, thanks for nothing Chrysler. They said they will not cover the window. The dealership submitted it three times with pictures and was turned down each time. They then suggested I call them directly. I did and the person I spoke with in Warranties said the cold caused the problem and not a defective window. Uh huh...If that was the case then we would have windows blowing out of vehicles constantly here in Alberta.

Complete and utter bullcrap. Think I'm done with Chrysler after this. Now I have to pay out of pocket for something I truly believe was defective. So much for bumper to bumper coverage. I realize it's a window and if a rock had come up on the widshield for example and cracked it, well, I of course wouldn't think that should be covered, but an exploding window after closing your door in the cold? That should have been covered.
 
#17 ·
"That should have been covered."

True, but not by Chrysler, rather by your insurance.

Glass has always been covered/replaced by insurance.
I have a commercial ICBC policy, no third party, and for me windshields are $100 deductible, any other glass is $200...at no extra cost.

You can buy a glass rider but in BC its something like $100 per year.

Don't be blaming Chrysler for something your insurance should be picking up.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
It's a defective window. Chrysler should be covering it under warranty. This has nothing to do with insurance. Living in Alberta, glass coverage is very expensive and not something I bother with because the second you get your windshield fixed, there is another crack in it from a rock or gravel from the roads.

This IS a warranty issue and a Chrysler issue. Chrysler dropped the ball on something that was defective and should have been covered under warranty on a brand new vehicle with 12K on it.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Factory glass is not great. I replaced the windshield in the 08 before a couple months was up, but the PPG glass I used for the replacement lasted for years till something came through it. I replaced that with another PPG and it lasted several more years till I traded it this past summer. I went to the dealer too, as it was not long from buying it, and it looked to me like it cracked from the edge, from maybe something in there when they installed, or a nicked edge, or something. But they claimed it was caused by a nick. Even if that was so, both my PPG windshields had many nicks, and some big ones, when replaced or when I traded it, but never cracked. The OEM one spider-cracked.

Temps can have something to do with it too, cold will make nicks crack and cracks run, especially changes in temp. cold windshield sits in the sun, or gets hit with hot air.

My insurance covered replacements, but I keep low deductibles on the glass replacement part, because of the roads I drive on. I do believe the PPG glass is the best I've used.
 
#20 ·
never in all of my years of vehicle ownership (i've owned some real beaters) have i had a window shatter like that. this was clearly caused by a defect in the manufacturing of the window and not "the cold". as the OP said, if it was due to the cold then you would have Patriot windows shattering all over the place. heck, tonight here in PA there would be Patriot windows shattering all night and morning if we were to believe what the Chrysler rep said. tonight it's going down to 6F here.

the cold merely exacerbated the defect to the point of structural failure. yeah it's true that the Patriot windows are not the greatest and the front windshield is well known to constantly crack (also due to pitch), but for something to shatter like that clearly points to a defective high stress in the glass itself
 
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