Three windshield chips in the first year?

also got my first chip ever with my Prime. Almost 30 years of owning cars, and this was the first windshield chip (that I've noticed at least)

 

It has nothing to do with the car. It means there is loose gravel on the road you're driving. Windshields don't chip unless they get hit by a stone, and they will chip when they get hit by a stone. I suggest you take an alternate route.

 

Leave generous following distance too. I appreciate that’s not the only factor, but every bit helps.

There have been quite a few spontaneous windshield cracking reports here, for 4th gen, and suspicion that the glass is maybe too thin.

 

I'm surprised the windshield on my Gen 4 has no visible chips or cracks. On several occasions, I've heard what I thought was a pebble or small piece of gravel hit my windshield, but have not been able to find a mark anywhere. If the pebble/rock is large enough, of course it will chip. What else would you expect? The fact that you have chips that did not turn into cracks tells me that the windshield on the Gen 4 may be more durable than some have speculated. For the record, our Gen 2 had a chip which did turn into a crack that was large enough that the windshield had to be replaced.

 

Yep, if a truck in front of you lifts a loose stone up in the air and it falls on your windshield, the stone will hit your windshield at the speed you're traveling, which could be as high as 65, 75, 85 mph and so on. Yes, as @Mendel Leisk mentioned, if you keep a long enough distance from the vehicle in front of you, the stone may fall back on the ground before it hits your car. Traveling slower will also reduce the chips and cracks tremendously, as the kinetic energy of the stone is proportional to the mass of stone and the square of the speed of your vehicle. For example, if you are traveling at 85 mph instead of 65 mph, your chances of developing chips and cracks increase by 71%.

 

I have only ever had problems with 4Runner windshields as they were so upright. As others have said, follow distance is important and loose rocks unavoidable.

 

I have no doubt there's a design defect and/or production issue with Prius windshields

I experienced two windshield cracks during the first six months I owned by 2017 Prius Three. I owned my previous car for almost 10 years. Total windshield cracks = ZERO... living in the same area and driving on the same roads.

Both cracks on my Prius happened in the exact same location- next to and below the inspection sticker.

I replaced the first windshield.

To experiment, I did not replace the second windshield. I was lucky because the crack expanded down. I think it stopped because it had nowhere to go.

That was about two years ago. Same windshield. No more cracks. What does that tell you?

 

That we should all preemptively crack our windows at the inspection sticker?

 

I have a 2019 prime. So far had to replace windshield twice due to large cracks. I had a genesis coupe for 9 years prior with multiple rocks hitting windshield with very mild 1 or 2 chips but never any cracks. I also traveled the same routes. I dont think its necessarily all on the roads traveled. I think its mainly the strength of the glass. Toyota should look into this and do a recall for us.

I'd be curious if the same issue is happening to a car like the ioniq phev. Maybe eco cars just have brittle glass.

 

I have had a 2017 Prius Prime as my daily driver for four years as of next month. I have had zero windshield chips. I also make it a practice to never be the car behind a gravel truck on the freeway. Does that tell you that maybe I have more experience or common sense than some of the posters here or that my windshield is stronger than theirs?

 

One might be tempted to believe that there was a batch of defective windshields, since there have been many reports of these problems. On the other hand, it seems that some members have had multiple windshield replacements and others have had none at all. That leads me to believe that windshield cracking is more dependent on driver behavior than anything else, unless the body structure into which the windshield is fitted is slightly misaligned in some cars, causing cracks to develop when the windshield is subjected to stress while the car is on the road. Is such a thing possible? I'm sure the members who have had problems would like to think there is some explanation like that.

 

The glass could be thinner to cut down on weight, or to cut down costs. Then the Genesis may have had thicker glass to cut down noise intrusion.

Chance is a factor. I have had more rock hits since driving the Camry than previous cars, with three chips requiring repair in three years. At least two strikes were rocks kicked up by a truck in the other lane. One while passing it on an Interstate, and another in traffic doing 30 to 40 mph.

 

Driver behavior is a factor sure. Speed, route, distance between cars etc. And yes the rock has to hit the glass to cause a crack.

However, I think based on other people's experiences...I don't think you can solely blame the driver. That is a cop out answer. If the glass were resilient, the chance of the winshield cracking is much less. I suspect the prime glass compared to other cars are thinner and less resilient than it should be.