UNcracked windshield club

[Eloib]

Of course it proves it. The the rapid expansion and contraction of the outside temp vs inside while driving back and forth to work and the unevenness/bumps in the snow covered road would’ve had enough force to crack the glass if defective

Unfortunately I don’t think my physics background and automotive experience won’t be enough to convince a defence lawyer lol
My last JK was white, good at hiding scratches but got boring so had to go loud this time

I agree with the differential IF you have the defroster blowing right on it. Without it blowing on it, the glass stays pretty much at the outside temperature throughout its thickness. The pure convection or air circulating in cabin when not being blasted through the defroster is negligible in comparison with the outside convection. I do have a physics background as well

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[stil2low]

I agree with the differential IF you have the defroster blowing right on it. Without it blowing on it, the glass stays pretty much at the outside temperature throughout its thickness. The pure convection or air circulating in cabin when not being blasted through the defroster is negligible in comparison with the outside convection. I do have a physics background as well

Yes I agree as well, used it as an example since most of the time people use the defrost on max when in the colder temps. See lots shoot them selves on the foot running full fan speed as soon as they start the vehicle and question why it takes so long to warm up lol

 

[kms]

Thanks! Kinda sad to see it go but loving the JL and a growing family of 5 wasn’t working so well in a 4 seater lol

No job application through the physics route, all school. Selected it back in high school and first day in class the teacher said to understand physics you have to be able to understand that as you stand on the floor, you are pushing on the floor and the floor is pushing back. Love that kind of thinking and just kept in it. Same with mechanics, took it in school just for the love of it while to pay the bills I push coke and it’s not the kind you drink ... hahaha steelworker joke but my job title is pusher operator on a cokeoven battery so I actually do push coke

High school AP Physics was where I left off, as well. To this day, I wonder whether I should have gone into engineering. Little late.

We have five of us, too. For those rare occasions that we all go the same place, there’s my wife’s current SUV — Volvo XC90. She’s fancier than I am. But as long as my glass isn’t always cracked, and I actually get around to buying tires/wheels instead of new glass, I’ll like mine better.

 

[Eloib]

Yes I agree as well, used it as an example since most of the time people use the defrost on max when in the colder temps. See lots shoot them selves on the foot running full fan speed as soon as they start the vehicle and question why it takes so long to warm up lol

Yeah I never use it but I had to today due to the freezing rain... and kaboom! Lol

 

[kms]

Another side note: now I kinda regret trading in my last vehicle. Shoulda just used the Jeep more during warmer temps, I think.

 

[kms]

Yeah I never use it but I had to today due to the freezing rain... and kaboom! Lol

So yours went purely to the temperature difference? That seems even crazier.

 

[stil2low]

High school AP Physics was where I left off, as well. To this day, I wonder whether I should have gone into engineering. Little late.

We have five of us, too. For those rare occasions that we all go the same place, there’s my wife’s current SUV — Volvo XC90. She’s fancier than I am. But as long as my glass isn’t always cracked, and I actually get around to buying tires/wheels instead of new glass, I’ll like mine better.

It’s never too late, feed the brain new logic and stay sharp.
We were always having to take my wife’s JKU if all of us went out and once the snow started my oldest was standing outside the Jeep while I buckled the baby in thought what is it going to be like at -30 so went ordered the next day
Haha just gotta learn to live with a crack, it’s like a honour badge into the Jeep life lol I honestly didn’t even notice mine on the JK after a while (I was taking a picture of how high the river was for my mom after a rain storm)

 

[stil2low]

Yeah I never use it but I had to today due to the freezing rain... and kaboom! Lol

Happened to my brother in his work van. Small stone chip at the bottom edge and once he turned his defrost on after the van was warm it snapped. Scared him good he said, sounded like a gun shot lol

 

[kms]

It’s stuff like this that concerns me a bit (first picture).

I just want to get mine looking (roughly) like the second picture.

 

[GreyFox]

I had an 04 TJ until Christmas. Never a crack. 17 JK had a chip repaired after going under an overpass. I still think something fell from top the overpass. But Safelite repaired, no deductible. So far, JL has no issues.

 

[555Redhorse]

I've had mine since mid-August. Mine cracked Saturday morning. It is working its way across my windshield farther and farther each day. Especially advances when the defrost is on. Safelite replacement is a week out on scheduling appointments. Good news is that Allstate is only a $50 deductible with no repercussions as far as premiums go.

 

[kms]

Good news is that Allstate is only a $50 deductible with no repercussions as far as premiums go.

So I reviewed a crap load (a little over 500) complaints on the NHTSA website about the 2018 Wrangler. And seven recalls. I skimmed them, really — certainly didn’t open them all or read the entirety of the ones I opened.

There was at least one complaint about the windshield cracking in cold weather while defrost was on. And others about the defrost being blasted hard at the center of the vehicle and not even covering other areas.

But those were buried like needles in the haystack of death wobble and weld joint complaints. The number of those is insane.

Some of my current beliefs:

1. There probably is something about the design of the vehicle (new glass plus defrost) that factors into the number of cracking windshields out there (as reported in abundance on these forums).

2. The cracking windshields are not as likely to be reported to the NHTSA because, ultimately, people decide to just replace the windshields through insurance and lower their deductibles (if not already low) — or without insurance if they can get a reasonable price they can live with. Since you can’t really do that with death wobble and bad weld joints, and for other reasons like being deprived of the use of their Jeeps while in the shop and knowing those seem like much bigger safety issues, those complaints are dominating the NHTSA’s site.

3. Nobody else has a financial incentive to care. Though one might think an insurance company would hate paying claims on windshields, in reality that sort of steady business is good for them. As long as they can pass that cost along to their insureds in adjusted premiums (along with s little bit of profit margin), having the overall pool of glass claims grow is a good thing, not bad.

4. In no small part, the arbitration clause — which I imagine purports to bar class action proceedings — makes it even less likely that someone will find a lawyer willing to handle their claim on stuff like this. It also makes the proceedings effectively secret and not researchable on public dockets and legal research databases. (Side note: take none of this as legal advice, and I encourage anyone to consult a lawyer in your own state about your own claims and the enforceability of the arbitration clause there. Heck, I hadn’t even received the arbitration clause booklet until after my windshield was cracked.)

EDIT: After a really quick look at the “arbitration” program, it’s not what I pictured at all. I’m sure they don’t allow group/class proceedings. But it also doesn’t even seem like it’s mandatory or really much of an arbitration process at all. Which I guess makes sense since you aren’t contracting with the manufacturer and they aren’t signing anything.

 

[Covet]

Good news! It could be a little of both!

Right?! Sounds like class action! State and Jeep lol!

 

[Majestic]

Never brag about bad things that haven’t happened yet that you have no control over.
The world’s oldest JL isn’t even 2 years old yet.

 

[Majestic]

I’m well aware that mere timing doesn’t mean there was a defect. If there weren’t so many other accounts, and if the cracking hadn’t spread like wildfire from a tiny chip, I’d probably already be chalking it up to “bad luck.” But there ARE those accounts, and the glass people say they get a ton of Wranglers, etc. And then there was the Mopar Gorilla Glass coming to the market. Then not, after the Jeep engineer said Gorilla Glass probably would give no benefit.

So for now, I’m less inclined to just call it bad luck.

Let me ask you this — if Jeep had to tell everybody the actual numbers on Wrangler JL window replacements, as compared with other vehicles, do you think they’d sell as many Wrangler JLs? I really don’t. Especially with so many people calling it a soccer mom car, etc. these days.

Gorilla glass is available through Mopar. A friend of mine just ordered one through insurance today.

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