Bizarre windshield crack this morning

[WambliSka]

So to summarize. Over 20 years of Jeep driving experience including plenty of windshield strikes on trails and highways. This is my 4th Jeep. This is the first one with Gorrilla Glass and it is the WORST windshield I’ve ever owned. I’m not alone…. Google it…. or not. I don’t care.

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[QuintusMaximus]

Exactly what happened to me. Small little chip (size of a pimple) at the buttom of the windshield. And then a weather/temperature change (for me it was parking in the sun) caused the crack to begin from that chip.

After my first windshield succumbed to this within a few months of ownership, I saw the writing on the wall. I put a film onto mine, it was a DIY install, pretty easy. I got it here if you want to check it out.

 

[Not2Late]

After my first windshield succumbed to this within a few months of ownership, I saw the writing on the wall. I put a film onto mine, it was a DIY install, pretty easy. I got it here if you want to check it out.

Sweet! Thanks!

 

[Rocksalt]

My 2020 broke due to a teeny chip you could only see under certain light while looking really closely - in the first 6 months. The replacement windshield broke as well - rock hit up high in the center.
I have a small chip on my 2022 GG windshield but no crack - proof it's superior.

There, I'm doing exactly what the glass experts here and on YT are doing.

does your experience qualify as proof despite others experience to the contrary?

 

[sharpsicle]

does your experience qualify as proof despite others experience to the contrary?

...thats the joke...

 

[BearFootSam]

It's been said here the yin of the foldable windshield yang is broken glass. There is simply less structural rigidity when the frame is free-standing as opposed to an integral component of the body.

Then there is the factor of location, in some states you see very few broken windshields, I spent my first decades driving on the East Coast and Europe and never once had mine or a family member's windshields crack. Those are places where they use salt on the roads in winter (we get the cancer rust) as opposed to cinder. West Virginia, Colorado, other 'western' states where it is often too cold for salt, cracked windshields. Gravel roads and oil industry trucks, TX, ND, SD etc - cracked windshields (road debris).

Jeep like any other manufacturer could make bullet proof windshields (I've driven through them and the parallax of 3" glass sucks). The cost is money and weight. The Gladiator is already the heaviest vehicle in the segment, several hundred pounds over a comparable Tacoma for example, so you can't have it all.

Know what's better than G-glass, regular glass or Ford glass? Maintain a safe following distance and avoid driving behind semi's and bro-dozers. Heavy vehicles without mud-flaps throw stones like bullets and gift you those imperceptible chips that become cracks in benign circumstances.

 

[Rocksalt]

It's been said here the yin of the foldable windshield yang is broken glass. There is simply less structural rigidity when the frame is free-standing as opposed to an integral component of the body.

Then there is the factor of location, in some states you see very few broken windshields, I spent my first decades driving on the East Coast and Europe and never once had mine or a family member's windshields crack. Those are places where they use salt on the roads in winter (we get the cancer rust) as opposed to cinder. West Virginia, Colorado, other 'western' states where it is often too cold for salt, cracked windshields. Gravel roads and oil industry trucks, TX, ND, SD etc - cracked windshields (road debris).

Jeep like any other manufacturer could make bullet proof windshields (I've driven through them and the parallax of 3" glass sucks). The cost is money and weight. The Gladiator is already the heaviest vehicle in the segment, several hundred pounds over a comparable Tacoma for example, so you can't have it all.

Know what's better than G-glass, regular glass or Ford glass? Maintain a safe following distance and avoid driving behind semi's and bro-dozers. Heavy vehicles without mud-flaps throw stones like bullets and gift you those imperceptible chips that become cracks in benign circumstances.

well go ahead and drive 300 feet behind traffic... most real driving will not benefit from your advice

 

[QuintusMaximus]

well go ahead and drive 300 feet behind traffic... most real driving will not benefit from your advice

Well, his advice helps if you live somewhere remote or rural where you're mostly driving on 2 lane county highways. Then you only need to worry about rocks off the tires of vehicles coming the other way.

If you commute somewhere busy, though, trying to leave space just means people with no patience whip around you and fill the gap. I live somewhere busy. Luckily I don't commute, though, so that helps a bit, since people aren't as stacked up usually when I'm driving.

 

[Iowafarm]

Look closely at the bottom of your windshield where the 2 cracks in your last picture dip below the dash. I would bet there is a small chip where those 2 cracks join near the bottom edge of the glass. I've had other vehicles get a small (I'm talking barely visible) rock ding at the window edge which couldn't be seen from the inside due to the black surround coating along the edge of the window. Any miniscule chip near the window edge will easily propagate a crack.

Agree with this. Happened to me. I was in my pickup when it happened.

 

[BearFootSam]

well go ahead and drive 300 feet behind traffic... most real driving will not benefit from your advice

Well, you know that at 65-70mph, you are traveling at about 100' per second, so if you follow the three-second rule, that's an easy 300'. In bumper-to-bumper traffic, you obviously aren't going that fast, so the energy of a rock chip or whatever is less of a concern.

I don't know about you, but these trucks are heavy, and I'm in no rush to be liable for an accident.

 

[Rocksalt]

Well, you know that at 65-70mph, you are traveling at about 100' per second, so if you follow the three-second rule, that's an easy 300'. In bumper-to-bumper traffic, you obviously aren't going that fast, so the energy of a rock chip or whatever is less of a concern.

I don't know about you, but these trucks are heavy, and I'm in no rush to be liable for an accident.

I agree... but in metro areas and even some interstates... good luck with 300 ft distance rule

 

[kennyp]

I had a 2013 JKUR happened to me twice, turn on defrost 10 minutes later pop. The next time had the heat turned down to about 70% and pop. i have a 2004 Malibu when I turn on defrost it turns on the AC to defrost the windows. Thats what I do now use the AC

 

[RtoftMN]

Low 30s this morning in AM. Had my windshield defroster on with heat at 70% or so. Windshield thawed completely and after about 6-7 mins of driving, stop at local bagel shop.

Turn truck off, go inside, come out 5 mins later to this:

Across the entire windshield. The only thing I can think of are the temperature changes back and forth from cold to hot to cold again.

Nothing fell on my car either. Gorilla Glass my ass....

Should I go through insurance or dealership?

This just happened to me this morning. Defrost running. The crack starts in the exact same spot, splits in two directions exactly like yours.

 

[booneja]

These windshields need to be replaced once a year whether it’s good or bad anyway. If you get no rocks, it’ll be grit blasted. Up here in Calgary, a normal gladiator windshield is $230 cad. Translating the exchange for you US guys and gals, that’s near free. Do a trip up here, just because you want to call me up to have a coffee or beer and get a near free windshield to boot. Heck, throw one in the back and take it home.

I would agree, Alberta is the land of cracked truck glass, lived there for near twelve years, based on driving back and forth from Cold Lake to Edmonton every weekend for four years I replaced my truck glass yearly (all the winter pebbles and in the summer it was road dust from Rig Pigs (no offense if you are one)

 

[Jeepasaurus_Rex]

If ya'll don't like the Gorilla Glass that much, and/or the stock/Mopar windshield... Just take them off and run no windshield. Problem solved

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