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Have you had a Gen2 Prius windshield crack?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Celtic Blue, Oct 13, 2008.

?
  1. Yes, had one replaced.

    16.9%
  2. Yes, had more than one replaced.

    2.2%
  3. Yes, was able to repair/stop crack.

    4.5%
  4. No, but have chip(s).

    14.6%
  5. No, and no damage visible.

    61.8%
  1. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    Thought it might be interesting to get some idea of how many have had their windshield crack, also curious about who has had chips without a crack.
     
  2. tedb

    tedb Member

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    You might want to consider designing the poll to account for those of us who have more than one Prius. I answered that we have had a crack -- which is true for the '07 but not the '05.
     
  3. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    That would have been a good idea. I also forgot to list: have crack, unrepairable, not planning to replace. What's embarrassing is that is my present status so I don't have a good excuse for not including it. :(

    I started an edit earlier but it did not appear that it would let me edit the poll, only the post.
     
  4. sdtundra

    sdtundra Senior Member

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    Now i jinxed myself..:(:hurt:
     
  5. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    I have a chip in the lower right corner of the windshield. Not planning on replacement unless it fails inspection in a couple of years.
     
  6. Jack66

    Jack66 Kinda Jovial Member

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    My windshield is fine but my neighbor had a crack from a rock and had it replaced.
     
  7. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    Some interesting results are appearing so far from what I would classify as very preliminary results:
    1. A large percentage are reporting "no chips". I don't think I've ever had a vehicle that was entirely chip free for more than a few months. Chips are part of driving, hence the need for glass that can handle the typical flying pebbles. I'm guessing that this response from most should be intepreted as "no signficant chips" rather than absolutely no chips. I doubt that if many who answered "no chips" looked at my Prius (absent the crack) or my Tundra casually, that you would see the chips until I pointed them out. That's not a snarky comment meant to belittle, it is a reference to how tiny most of these divots are. (Likewise, I doubt I would see any chips in your glass unless I examined very closely.)
    2. Of those who are reporting cracks or chips 40% have been cracked and replaced while only 60% are still in place. This suggests the window is rather fragile, cracking almost as frequently as it chips. Again, comparing to 8 other vehicles I've owned, this is at minimum an order of magnitude above the "something-ain't-right threshold", probably two orders of magnitude based on mileage and chips I've observed.
    3. No crack repairs are listed. This indicates that the window is highly stressed and cracks can not be managed. That is certainly our case where the crack spread halfway across the glass in a few hours.
    4. In looking at the FJ poll (since it has been referenced in another thread), it appears that its nearly perpendicular window failure rate is about three to three and a half times higher than that of the Prius.
    5. No repeat failures have been reported so far, and that is encouraging. That suggests the glass/frame design is not necessarily at fault, but instead particular samples.

    If anything, all of the above supports my hypothesis about some finite percentage of "bad OEM glass" making it through. If the glass is weak and not properly annealed, then the likely result of what should be an inconsequential chip is instead a crack.

    P.S. I'm going to go ahead and list mine as a "crack and replace" although I do not intend to do the actual replacement for some time. (The things we do for science...) Ah, the thrill of the hunt...
     
  8. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    In my case "no chips" means no chips. None, not a single one on a 2006 with 34,000 miles, including a lot of gravel roads and two-tracks traveled for rock climbing.

    Tom
     
  9. phoskins

    phoskins New Member

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    Bought my Prius new in January. had it less than 24 hrs, had 35 miles on it and got a small stone chip and one inch crack in upper right corner. It was about 20 degrees outside at that time. That night temp dropped to single digits. Next morning the windshield had huge spider web cracks from the rearview mirror to the right side. I had it replaced and insurance covered it. I think it was about $250 and took less than an hour. Been fine ever since.
     
  10. abq sfr

    abq sfr New Member

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    Most of you must live in more civilized areas than NM. Out here, the winter sand trucks throw rocks, not sand, and the spreader on the back flings it in both opposing lanes. On a previous car I got 8 rock chips at once going the opposite direction of one of those. Also, even if you can keep from getting a chip or crack, the blowing sand will blast your windshield after a few years, its hard to see driving into the sun with a frosted windshield. On the Prius windshield I had replaced a couple weeks ago, it took a hit near the driver's side pillar about halfway up, no circular crack but a small pit from which a crack took off, expanding around 8 inches per day across the middle.
     
  11. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    my windshield looks like it has seen a fine sand blaster thanks to all the highway miles on i40 and plenty of other nasty places. there are several distinct little chips, and we do get some pretty decent temperature swings this time of year. 56k miles, 3 years 7 months, no cracks. i've got the comprehensive deductible at $100.
     
  12. luckyboy

    luckyboy Member

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    My '07 Prius got a small star crack from a rock when it didn't even have FIFTY (50) miles on the odometer! The next day it spread across the entire windshield... Of course dealer wanted $850+ for a new one, found a shop that did it for under $200 with aftermarket glass. This one has been fine, a small crack similar to above happened a few months ago but I had it repaired that same day so it wouldn't spread again...
     
  13. JimboK

    JimboK One owner, low mileage

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    No chips whatsoever here either.

    Shawn, I know you're somewhat distressed about your windshield crack. Of course I can't comment on whether it's from a foreign object, fragile glass, or both. I will say that, so far, the Prius has done better than my previous car, a Honda CRV. I had the windshield replaced from a chip-turned-crack about a year before I sold it, only to get another about a month before the sale (which I chose not to have repaired knowing the sale was imminent). But a key point for all to keep in mind: One data point does not make a trend.
     
  14. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    JimboK,

    One data point does not make a trend, but the rash of new owners having cracks almost immediately does suggest one. Several of us did not even witness an event that would produce a chip. When I have an event happen that illustrates odds of ~250:1, in the absence of an identifiable cause, I start digging for answers (basis: 500,000 miles driven and many chips without cracks, vs. 2,000 miles driven to having one miraculously appear on the Prius.)

    At any rate discovering the trend is what the poll is for and it is lending support to my thesis about a production quality control issue with the OEM glass. Time will tell if the current rate is an accurate reflection. We are presently at a crack failure rate of half that of the FJ-40 which is acknowledged as having a serious problem. Considering the shallow angle of our windshield we shouldn't have much of a problem at all.

    I'm not so much "distressed" as incensed at Toyota's corporate and dealer attitude towards owners, and they made the serious mistake of treating my wife poorly when I wasn't present (typical of many dealers.) This is the second time in less than a year that Toyota "service" has made me livid with their poor service. It's been 17 years since I last had serious problems with a dealer service dept., and that was Chrysler.
     
  15. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

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    A little "sandblast" effect here, but no chips, probably because
    of the huge following distance I routinely leave in front of me.
    That's not to say a few little rocks haven't whacked against
    the glass once in a while, but I guess they were small enough
    to not cause real damage.
    .
    _H*
     
  16. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    shawn, if you're so concerned with statistics and data collection, you should be aware that an internet poll holds approximately no water as it is not a random sample.
     
  17. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    Actually it holds quite a bit, but requires comparison with similar polls. (See the FJ windshield poll to get some context.) There are certainly ways to game polls, but having this one with users listed makes gaming problematic. Plus PC's self selection is to enthusiasts and those a bit more tech savvy on average. Quantification is far from perfect in this kind of poll, but it is not too difficult to get a qualitative answer.

    I find the "circle the wagons/deny the problem" approach on this forum unfortunate. With nearly 69% saying they have no chips and half of those with chips experiencing cracks something is FUBAR with the cracked windshields. I anticipated more of a continuum rather than a bimodal/polarized distribution. I've had experience with enough vehicles to find the no chip reports themselves hard to explain.

    Here is a thought you should consider: Perhaps those who are getting cracks early on really did get poor glass? Blaming the owner or attributing this to the random missile doesn't makes sense when you have at least 3 out of 64 respondents reporting a fatal crack in the first 2,000 miles. Two of them had cracks immediately. Unless it was evident something really large struck, it probably should be covered under warranty when the mileage is really low. You know, that warranty thing that is supposed to cover defects in the original product. If Toyota (or their supplier) is held accountable (or held themselves accountable) for questionable glass, then perhaps we wouldn't be having this many failures.

    Do folks not find it odd that about half the time a Prius windshield chip results in a fatal crack (based on the survey?) I've never seen this level of fragility before on other vehicles. Dozens of chips (or more) and never this sort of problem.
     
  18. Jack66

    Jack66 Kinda Jovial Member

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    No offense, Shawn, but I do statistics for a living and the design of the poll questions along with possible bias from the responders would easily throw any statistics off. There are tests for validity, different types of errors, and results expressed in the form of confifence intervals. I expect that many of the responses are highly correlated -- that isn't necessarily bad, but it throws normal statistics off the mark.

    Not a shot at your poll, but it isn't really useful for deriving good statistics. The PC polls have more entertainment value than anything else.
     
  19. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    Looked at two other locally this weekend (very briefly.) I noticed chips on both. One had a very minor chip (looked like a small surface flake) and some other small ones (like on my Tundra that has taken several hard whacks with chips at the window edges.) The other had a chip that is the spitting image of the one that cracked my Prius window--but near the center and sans crack. It did have several other chips. Haven't seen any Prius without chips yet, but due to the large number listed in the poll with no chips, I'll look for more whenever I get a chance.
     
  20. mfa-prius

    mfa-prius Old member

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    My wife got nailed with a rock off a flatbed truck on I4 a while back. The windshield did its best to protect her, but gave its life in the process. Had it replaced a day later at an independent glass shop recommended by my insurance company. They did a great job, and I got that new car smell back from the sealant. No charge -- windshield repairs come with no deductible.