coffee break Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 That's what I heard, then I had glass in my lap. OK, some context. This afternoon I was riding in my wife's MINI on the highway and the passenger side window exploded. Most of the glass that stayed inside the car was between the seat and the door, some on the floor and me. There are a few chips in the paint behind the door, I would guess from flying glass and getting caught by the air @ 65MPH. The car doesn't have any other scratches since it has less than 3K on it. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Also, so far no foreign object has been located and glass did not fly to the other side of the car or in my face. So far, the dealer isn't talking about covering this under warrant. I think is a catastrophic part failure and should be covered. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky dawg Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Could it have anything to do with the recent freeze in GA? Were there any previous small chips that could have had moisture in them and expanded? Or something warm (water or deicer) meeting a very cold window? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlumba81 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Maybe some rock hit the window from another car. Had a coworker toss a piece of ceramic from a broken spark plug at a window and it shattered the window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scannon Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Tempered glass does that sometimes. I was sitting on the toilet one day in California. There was a very loud bang and the glass shower door a couple of feet from me disintegrated. I thought is was a gunshot, perhaps from a drive by shooter and bailed out the door on to the bedroom floor. When I got up there was no hole in the wall or the window and no temperature changes had taken place. When I took the frame to a glass shop to get the pane replaced the owner told me it was not an uncommon thing with tempered glass. He said there is a lot of energy stored in the glass when tempered and sometimes the glass just gives way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 This is Mrs. Xcarguy & I'm posting at his request. This exact thing happened to me...a friend & I were driving down a highway at 55 mph & the sunroof literally imploded-small pieces of glass in our lap, hair...everywhere. Nothing hit the sunroof, no previous cracks/chips in the glass & there was no pressure/temp change...it just happened. Hope this helps! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off Road SHO Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Had it happen to the side window of a parked Ford Van when a weed eater being operated 50' away kicked up a few little pebbles and hurled them our way. We heard 2 or 3 hit the skin and then kablooie! It exploded with such force that shards chipped paint off of the window surround. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee break Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Could it have anything to do with the recent freeze in GA? Were there any previous small chips that could have had moisture in them and expanded? Or something warm (water or deicer) meeting a very cold window? We keep the car in the garage at night but it does get out in the day to play. The garage is not "heated" but it hasn't gotten as cold as outside. It's been cold the Atlanta area this winter but no record low's so far. In '82 we has "SnowJam", this week was "SnowJamII" as far as I can tell. But '82 was worse. PS Please don't think we can't handle bad weather, we have a few factors that make it more of a challenge, hills and the streets are not on a grid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskossie Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 One or two of these anecdotes deal with objects known to have hit the glass that shattered. The OP was talking about an incident where NO identified object had hit the glass. That was my experience: My wife and I were driving her 2004 Toyota Highlander back to Anchorage from the muskox farm in Palmer (great Alaskan tourist attraction!). My adult son and his wife were in the back seat. We were on a divided 4-lane road, with light traffic. Suddenly, without warning, BOOM! The *rear* window shattered and imploded inward, showering the rear-seat passengers with glass, and leaving the window opening almost free of glass shards. Since it was the rear window, only two possibilities seemed to exist: either someone had shot out the window with a rifle, or the glass had spontaneously committed suicide. Since I found no bullet or other foreign object in the car (and the location where it happened was one where a shooter would have had a difficult target), I had to conclude that the tempered-glass characteristic was the culprit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I was sitting on the toilet one day in California. There was a very loud bang... Skip - did you have a particularly fiery curry or chili the night before? :jester: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Skip - did you have a particularly fiery curry or chili the night before? :jester: LOL!!! That's killer. Totally missed Skip's toilet/glass breakage connection. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scannon Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 (edited) Skip - did you have a particularly fiery curry or chili the night before? :jester: Mike, That's the best laugh I've had in a couple of weeks. Fortunately I had just finished my business so it didn't literally scare the sh!t out of me but it did truly get my adrenaline flowing. I thought someone had shot at me. Edited February 1, 2014 by scannon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Mike, That's the best laugh I've had in a couple of weeks. Fortunately I had just finished my business so it didn't literally scare the sh!t out of me but it did truly get my adrenaline flowing. I thought some one had shot at me. Well, my wife has been after me to take down the glass shower door and put up a shower curtain . . . . that's pretty much all the motivation I need. :smilielol5: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitcat Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 My wife had the same experience in our shower: kaboom/crash. There she was standing in a shower stall full of glass, unable to move. Fortunately I was in the next room and was able to come in w/shoes and walk over the glass and get her out. The glass repair guy said he saw it 2-3x a year. He suggested we replace the unframed sliding glass doors with doors that were framed. Which we did. My wife had minor cuts and scrapes. The advert for the doors said in the unlikely event they broke, the glass was designed to break into smooth, round pellets. I'd say that was true of 90%, but the other 10% was deadly. I think Mini should cover this. I will bet they have a measurable # of widow explosions, annually. And I wld also bet they will feign ignorance and claim it was a stone, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scannon Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 The shower doors in my bathroom were the unframed hanging type. I replaced with the same, the glass tech didn't suggest the framed type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davemk1 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I have a 2004 Mini that lives outside year round here in Montana so it sees some real changes in temperature and a lot of sun. One day I started the lawn mower while a few feet to the side if the Mini and a shower or pretty sparkles in the air caught my eye. Now I was off to the side and there was no way anything came out of the mower and hit the rear hatch window but it assploded leaving just a ring of glass around the edge. Glass cubes were a good 8' away from the car. I got a mobile glass guy guy to come by and fix it and he told me he does a lot of Minis and in his opinion the glass is either thinner or brought to a higher temper that the glass is much more prone to fatigue and that they 'spontaneously' fail. He also told be he does a lot of BMW's too for the same reason. Interesting. dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee break Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 I have a 2004 Mini that lives outside year round here in Montana so it sees some real changes in temperature and a lot of sun. One day I started the lawn mower while a few feet to the side if the Mini and a shower or pretty sparkles in the air caught my eye. Now I was off to the side and there was no way anything came out of the mower and hit the rear hatch window but it assploded leaving just a ring of glass around the edge. Glass cubes were a good 8' away from the car. I got a mobile glass guy guy to come by and fix it and he told me he does a lot of Minis and in his opinion the glass is either thinner or brought to a higher temper that the glass is much more prone to fatigue and that they 'spontaneously' fail. He also told be he does a lot of BMW's too for the same reason. Interesting. dave Dave, Thanks for your info. Did the repair guy also replace the regulator assembly? Carl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davemk1 Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Dave, Thanks for your info. Did the repair guy also replace the regulator assembly? Carl He replaced the rear hatch window in my car so no regulator involved. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheapracer Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 I was sitting on the toilet one day in California. There was a very loud bang but it assploded That's what happened to Scannon apparently .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croc Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 :rofl::iagree: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CASwede Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 (edited) Happened on a friends Jeep Cherokee. Window just gave up in a hurry. If there is no glue, like on a windshield, tempered glass turns to sand when stressed. Given the number of people who have had it happen, I'd guess a small flaw during the tempering process. Added: Jeep replaced it without a comment. I think sometimes "it just happens". Edited February 3, 2014 by CASwede Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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