Wow, don't even know what to title this... maybe EEEK.

snake_lady

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Nice way to wake up.

K, I was planning on leaving for up north tomorrow morning ( less than 24hrs from now).

We had our first snowfall last night, and I was getting ready to go to physio this morning.

Scraped off my windows and had defrost on, driving along for about 2 mins then

BOOM

my rear window blows up.

seriously, blows up. All I hear is a BOOM then the tinkling of broken glass.



Nice way to start the day eh.... I literally got up at 8:00, no coffee, out the door at 8:15...busted window at 8:25.

I sooooooooooooo love my life....love it.


ETA: something shorted in the rear defrost.
 

vampcow

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WOW!!! that is a terrible way to start the day and that is so weird do you know how that happened?? I'm sending you lots of that your day gets better and your window gets fixed quickly!
 

nanner

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Holy moly! That is a serious defect in that car! That could have shocked you so much you could have swerved and gotten into an accident!

I wonder if that's happened to any other owners of that make of car.

So glad you didn't get hurt!
 
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snake_lady

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Thankfully there wasn't a lot of traffic..... I was able to back up to the side street and go home without seeing another vehicle. I really didn't start panicking untill I got home LOL..... then it hit me and I had a little meltdown


Its surprising how calm I was.....yes it startled me, but not to the point of slamming on my brakes.... I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the broken window, slowed down and stopped.

I'm very very thankful that it was not much worse, it could have been.

Nows the expensive part. It's not covered under warranty, but our insurance will cover it....minus the $300 deductable.


What a day, already...


I was/am supposed to leave for a roadtrip tomorrow morning.

The glass place in town actually had one in stock..... very surprised on that one..... I live in a med. town and the odds of them having one was slim.

So I have appt. at 11 to get it fixed.



My guess after talking to hubby, and I'm gonna ask at the glass place, is that something in the rear defrost shorted, and with it being below freezing, caused the BOOM.

(FYI: my truck is a 2007..... so really not that old. I've never heard of this happening before)

Yes, I have plenty to be thankful for....ESPECIALLY that my kids were not in the back seat. (most of the glass blew outwards.....there's no glass on the rear seats) It would have scared them so much.
 

pushylady

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EEEK is right! That would've given you a heck of a fright.
I actually know someone that this happened to once. She was driving her minivan and pulled into her driveway when BOOM! the back windsheild just imploded. Just like that, out of the blue. It was in the summer I think, so nothing to do with the cold and wiring.
Very weird.
I'm glad you're getting yours fixed so quickly!
 

3catsn1dog

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OMG!!! Chris thats horrible I would have been terrified and not handled it nearly as well as you did...I would have slammed on the brakes in a full on panic attack and freaked out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It sucks that its not covered on your warrenty and that your deductable is so outrageous!!!! But atleast you can get it fixed right away!!! Ohhh many hugs for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

lynsey

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Yikes! glad you are okay and nobody else was in the back seat. Hopefully you can get your trip up north in still
 

nekomania

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Sounds to me like the glass was very cold and it was heated up too fast.

I've heard of this happening to cars when people turn their defroster up all the way right when they first get in the car.

That sucks though and I'm with just about everyone else who says you reacted great, because I would have slammed on my breaks and hit the deck thinking someone was shooting at me.
 
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snake_lady

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Ugggggggg. The window they had in stock was not the right one, but they went to pick up one.... so more waiting.

He did notice that one of the leads was quite loose, and is pretty sure that is what caused the short..... we're still going to test it to make sure that that is indeed what the problem was.

Originally he wasn't going to hook it back up because it was obvious that something was wrong with the electrical..... till he actually looked at it and found what he believes to be the cause of the short. They did say this is not a common occurance.

What a day...... what a day


On a happier note, he dropped it down to $200


Originally Posted by Nekomania

Sounds to me like the glass was very cold and it was heated up too fast.

I've heard of this happening to cars when people turn their defroster up all the way right when they first get in the car.
Most rear defrosters on newer vehicles are "push a button". In this case it has nothing to do with the above statement....



Thanks for all the well wishes everyone.... this is definately not something to smile about at all. If I had left only 10mins later, there would have been more vehicles around, kids crossing the roads, etc. and someone could have got hurt. I am thankful noone was hurt.
 

darkmavis

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Holy crap! No good! As other have said, great job in staying calm. Hope you can still make your trip tomorrow and with no more 'surprises' like this one!!
 

natalie_ca

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OMG!!! That should be reported to the manufacturer! Even with heating on and a cold window, the window shouldn't explode like that! You could have been hurt. You could have lost control of the car and run into something or someone. And the glass could have exploded into someone's face if they were walking nearby!

There is something seriously wrong and that needs to be investigated as to why the window exploded like that!
 

crazyforinfo

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

OMG!!! That should be reported to the manufacturer! Even with heating on and a cold window, the window shouldn't explode like that! You could have been hurt. You could have lost control of the car and run into something or someone. And the glass could have exploded into someone's face if they were walking nearby!

There is something seriously wrong and that needs to be investigated as to why the window exploded like that!

I am glad everyone is ok Chris.
DH had his door window shattered on his lap during the summer. It was part of a recall issue a few months later. He got his money back and two new windows. The first replacement wasn't in properly.
 

ldg

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Yeah - that should definitely be reported to the dealer and the manufacturer! I mean - what would have happened if it imploded instead of exploded? Seriously? No wonder you had a melt down once you got home!

I'm so glad you're OK! That is terribly scary - from a lot of perspectives.
 

addiebee

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Originally Posted by Nekomania

Sounds to me like the glass was very cold and it was heated up too fast.

I've heard of this happening to cars when people turn their defroster up all the way right when they first get in the car.

That sucks though and I'm with just about everyone else who says you reacted great, because I would have slammed on my breaks and hit the deck thinking someone was shooting at me.
Yeah.. that's the downside of living near the "D".
 

catkiki

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That shouldn't have happened to a 2 yr old car! I would definately report it to the maker and research if this has happened before. What make of car is it?
 

nekomania

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Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

Most rear defrosters on newer vehicles are "push a button". In this case it has nothing to do with the above statement....
I've only driven cars that required you to turn a knob to the defrost setting and then allowed you to set the amount of heat you wanted pumping out. It's called driving an old P.O.S. That's how the defroster works in our truck, whenever the heat decides it wants to work that is...




You're right, it's not cool or funny at all. I wasn't sure if that was directed at me but I didn't mean to come off that way if I did. I do hope you get it fixed right away and get back on the road.
 
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snake_lady

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For those that asked, my truck is a Dodge Ram....

- yes the dealership was contacted, and a complaint lodged with the company... where it goes from there I don't know. This is the first incident they've heard of (the dealership themselves) and from what I've googled n' such, I haven't seen mention of it happening to anyone else.

- the problem was with the attachment of the lead as far as everyone knows... The defrost lines obviously couldn't be tested (since the window itself was shattered), the leads themselves were fine, which leaves the fact that one of the leads was not attached properly and/or had wiggled loose.

- we were able to get it fixed yesterday, and it only ended up costing me 200.... whether we're able to get that back or not who knows.... but I'm glad we got it fixed.



Apparantly I am not meant to go on my trip LOL. This is the second time something has happened to prevent me from going.... yesterday I woke kinda sick, then the window, then by late afternoon I was definately sick
This morning, I feel like crap.... so no trip for me... unless I magickly feel better tomorrow or Monday.
 

calico2222

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I hope you're still able to go on your trip Chris! This is the trip to visit your friend up north, right?

That would have been scary! But, I bet you were wide awake after that. Sounds like the glass may have been weak. I had a windshield shatter one time (luckily I wasn't in the car). I had been driving on the highway and the car in front of me threw a rock back and nicked my windshield. No big deal..or so I thought. As the months got colder and I started running my heater I noticed a crack running from the nick. I was young and stupid and didn't worry about it since it wasn't in my line of vision. One day during a really cold spell, I went out to start my car and warm it up and when I came out 10 minutes later to go to work my windshield was completely shattered..still in one piece but all spiderwebbed. Of course, by the time the tow truck got it to the glass place to replace it, most of the windshield was in my car. They said the glass was weak and one little nick made it even weaker and it was just a matter of time. I was picking glass out of my car for the next year.

You handled it great. I would have probably wrecked into a tree thinking someone is shooting at me! (West Virginia and hunting season...need I say more?)
 
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