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New prius- new crack in the windshield - who makes the OEM glass?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by daikon, Nov 25, 2009.

  1. daikon

    daikon Junior Member

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    Hello Everyone!

    I have not had my new (used) prius long enough to say hello/ post pics/ etc and already I have a chip in my windshield! Woohoo!:hurt:

    I do have full coverage with insurance so no my options are, do nothing, try to get it repaired, replace with aftermarket or replace with OEM
    -as far as I know all options are 100% covered.

    My insurance company says that repairs under $500.00 do not get added to my record and over that amount do. They also say that in my state winshield repair/replacement is by law excluded so suposobly they can not raise my rates/ refuse to renew my policy because of this (although I am paranoid about this).

    I broght the car by an "glass doctor" place and they said that they coul/would not repair the chip b/c it was so tiny (1~2mm) and to get to the crack inside the glass (looks like a black line inside 2~3mm) they would have to drill and that would likely make the crack spread from top to bottom. Her recomendation was to drive it untill it spreads, if it spredas at all.

    She also said that replacement glass woul be about 300.00 for ppg and 900 or so for toyota. What was interesting is that she said that the PPG glass is the same as OEM and from time to time the PPG glass actually has the toyota logo printed on it!

    My concern is that I want my replacement glass to have the HSEA and acoustic layer that I believe my glass now has (08 prius).

    I have been reading up on it (all posts on this site I could find and elswhere) and I hvae not been able to find out if PPG is in fact the maker of Prius OEM glass or not.

    Anyone have an answer? Anyone get an OEM replacement (has Toyo's name on it) that was made by PPG?

    Thank you!
     
  2. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    I can't help you with the glass but I've been driving around with a chip for so long I don't remember when it happened. I'd keep the original windshield until it doesn't pass inspection. The installer is more important than the glass. If you take it to the dealer they will just subcontract the job to the "glass man" who will drive onto the lot & replace the glass.
     
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  3. warrior

    warrior New Member

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    Daikon-Japanese turnip which I do liked pickled
     
  4. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    That's sort of off topic, don't you think? :madgrin:

    Re: Manufacturer of OEM glass - [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahi_Glass_Company"]Asahi Glass Co. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

    Asahi - Morning Sun which I do liked in the morning. :madgrin:
     
  5. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    Welcome to the cracked Prius windshield club. We didn't have our Prius for more than 3 months before it suddenly with no other cars around developed a massive crack. In my opinion the Thai glass (AGC on the window stamp) sucks. I've never had any windshield crack like the Prius and the one apparent difference is the source of the glass. I've had many cars take serious hits, get star cracks, etc. but never a long crack that appeared instantaneously from a small chip, and from an unseen event.

    Mine cracked about a foot immediately. If you want to try a chip repair do it ASAP or it will likely be too late. When I polled members it was apparent that almost all chips turned into serious cracks that required windshield replacement.

    Look at the window for the three letter DOT manufacturer code. You can find the manufacturing source online.

    In intend to try the PPG rather than the Toyota for replacement. I still have no other chips, just the giant crack, so this appears to be a glass defect, perhaps caused by improper annealing, or perhaps by a thinner outer glass layer for Toyota specs--it looks much thinner when examining the crack. Toyota has had some trouble with material selection as I've noticed in failures of a several parts on my Tundra (4WD rear end housing bolts--can you say "oh my God!" expensive?, AC knob, rear window pivots.) Then there are the various recalls on the Tundra: O2 sensors and now the frame corrosion issue. By comparison to the Tundra my Honda and Nissan had far fewer troubles. I miss their reliability.

    My Tundra has PPG OEM and has many chips for which I can recall the event, including at the margins, with nary a crack (not even a star crack.) That's my primary basis for trying PPG on the Prius...although cost and insurance scoring is perhaps a better consideration in your case.
     
  6. Joe 26

    Joe 26 Member

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  7. daikon

    daikon Junior Member

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    Thank you...and Asahi in the morning? Only when the cherry blossoms are out !

    So Asahi is the ONLY manufacturer of Prius OEM glass? PPG is not one?

    Edit* Thank you for the advice! And yes, my glass is thai glass. In Japan, no one would buy anything made outside of Japan except at daiso because of quality....

    I wonder if the OEM glass is Japanese if it will be better? If not maybe ppg is the way to go..

    I would still like to know if PPG is the OEM maker of glass- the way the lady at the shop explained it was that if I get a PPG replacement that it may have the TOYOTA logo on it- that does not seem right to me though. Anyonme have answers?

    ...and Happy Thanksgiving!

    -D
     
  8. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    I don't know if any of PPG's Prius glass replacement is considered "OEM" by Toyota proper or not. AFAIK all of the GenII glass is from Asahi in Thailand, but I don't have any firm source for that.

    However, Toyota does use PPG glass for other OEM's. My Tundra still has the original glass and it is PPG. The difference is likely assembly location: the Tundra is built in the U.S. With as well as my Tundra glass has held up to some hefty stone hits, I'm not hesitant to use PPG for the Prius...if it has all the other little bells and whistles.