Spontaneous rear windscreen smash

[MitchT]

scrubchub said:

Anyone heard of spontaneous glass explosions before?

Yes, been mentioned on here before, both on stationary vehicles and on ones that were being driven.

cuprabob said:

A projectile of some sort has hit that, whether is be a stone or an air gun pellet.

A few days ago an apple landed in the road in front of me having been dropped by a bird. Might have done a fair bit of damage had it landed on my car!

[xjay1337]

It does happen more than you may think.

[4x4Tyke]

Overheating rear demister.

[RS Grant]

Happened to my aunt's Golf a couple of months ago, was driving back after walking her dogs and had the heated rear screen on for the journey, parked the car up and then a wee while later a neighbour came to the door asking if she knew her rear windscreen was smashed. Initially thought it could have been the little devil children who live next door, however, they were out when it happened... apparently?! ...did a bit of reading and eventually put it down to the fact her heated rear screen had been on for c30 minutes (she re-started it each time it timed out) and then left the car sitting in a glorious Scottish afternoon with temperatures as high as 7c and a stiff breeze.


Cheers,
Grant

[jsims1]

We had a young lad trade in a Vauxhall Corsa a couple years ago that had done exactly this. Poor guy didn't even make it to the office before it happened. Never heard of it before that happened and I've not heard of it since then either. Very strange phenomenon!

[Josho]

I had a window fitter round on a side window last week.

On booking he asked that the van be put in shade the day before he came.

Apparently when they stick the cold window in a frame that's been in the boiling sun when they cool they are putting pressure on the window.

[Glassman]

Nickel Sulphide Inclusion

[750turbo]

xjay1337 said:

It does happen more than you may think.

First Peugeot 309's had this - Regularly - Crap design i think though.

[juggsy]

Happened to me as well, I was in the pub when one of the staff came round asking who owned the A5 outside. Went out to see my side passenger window put in. As It was assumed vandalism/theft they called the police, reviewed CCTV footage and found no one went near the car the whole time we were there up to the point of it breaking.

Most annoying bit was trying to convince the insurer it was a standard windscreen claim, they wanted to put it down as vandalism and treat it as a full claim!

Edited by juggsy on Tuesday 29th August 12:46

[Veccy208]

Also happened my sisters X5 on a frosty morning. No holes though just the entire back screen shattered.

[David87]

Back when they were new and I was a child, my dad had an E46 328Ci and its rear screen randomly exploded one day. He was driving at the time and I was sitting in the back, so it was a bit unpleasant, to say the least!

[R8Steve]

I had a E30 325i that the heated rear windscreen somehow got stuck on, it overheated and the rear window just completely shattered while driving along.

[ayman82]

It happened to me about 15 years ago on an E30 316i, seconds after I closed the boot, it spontaneously smashed.

[Gary29]

I smashed the rear screen of an E36 whilst trying to remove it, they are loud when they 'explode'

[Alex_225]

I have also heard of rear windows breaking without something hitting them.

Let's be honest, if the neighbour had done it but didn't want to admit it, why bother telling you at all?

[matchmaker]

Our oven door (toughened glass) exploded in the middle of the night - no apparent reason for it.

[VladD]

We had the glass panel of a shower cubicle spontaneously shatter. We'd had an extension built on the side of the house, but the bathroom was untouched. I've put it down to slight movement in the building, but it was weird.

[anonymous-user]

I had the rear screen on a nissan micra explode for no reason , it was snowy I think, I got about 2 or 3 minutes down the road and the entire rear screen exploded, sounded like a bomb went off and scared the crap out of me. I assume it was temperature related in some way.

[Saleen836]

Might also have been a bird dropping a stone while flying over

[VladD]

Saleen836 said:

Might also have been a bird dropping a stone while flying over

We have a landfill about half a mile from our house. A couple of years ago we heard a loud thud on the roof of our UPVC conservatory. I went out to investigate what had caused it and found half a loaf of bread on there. I'm guessing a seagull had picked it up and then lost it over our house.