One of my wife's friends has a 2004 XK8 ragtop. One morning last week she headed out to work. The air temperature was around 35 degrees. A couple of miles down the road, her rear window exploded into a thousand pieces. Most of it stayed intact but a few shards were indeed blown around the cabin. Fortunately, she was not injured. Her insurance company covered the incident and one of the mobile glass companies sent a tech out to replace her rear window. I don't know if they just sewed it back into place or used sealant or both, but she says it has not leaked thus far. An interesting occurence that I don't recall reading about before....

 

Dang, that's strange. Never heard of this either, maybe something hit it she did not notice. A meteorite perhaps, angry squirrel throwing acorns, bullett, someone trying to tell her something.....

 

Hi Jon, I wonder if the defroster is the culprit. They should work by slowly heating the internal coils, by doing it fast on a cold glass may bring about the scatter.
Just a guess.


Wayne

 

Yeah, I wondered about the effect of the rear window defroster but I find it difficult to believe it could get hot enough to explode the glass with an outside air temp no colder than 35 degrees....

We had a round clear glass tabletop that sat on our rear deck a few years ago. On a 100-plus degree July afternoon, it exploded into a million pieces after baking in direct sun all day. But it had a hole in the center designed to hold a big umbrella and a heavy container of live plants sitting on top of it. I think all of those factors contributed to the explosion (it sounded like a cannon going off in the back yard)....

 

You know, this one reminded me of a Jaguar service bulliten or something I read about window(s) cracks and warranty repair.

They noted that the service manager should observe the crack. Use a pen and trace along it on the outside - if you find a spot where there is a "divot" (don't remember the word they used, but you get the idea) the crack was from an outside object striking it. If no indent found, replace the window under warranty.

I suppose that would only apply to windshields, since all the other windows are tempered glass. Speaking of glass, if you've never heard of it, someday google "prince Rupert's glass" - interesting stuff related to eploding glass. . .

 

I seem to remember reading some posts on the newer model XK/XKRs where this has happened on several occasions.

 

I bought a new 1987 Taurus. A few months later I got a recall about exploding rear windows caused by an interaction between the defrosting grid and road salt. The solution was the dealer put a sort of tape border around the glass. Frankly, don't know if that was supposed to cure the problem or just to hold the glass in place if it exploded. I never experienced that problem, but I did about have a good 20 others, including two replaced trannys and a new engine at 55,000 miles. Thankfully I had bought an extended warranty so it was all covered except for a $25 fee each time I brought it in. Otherwise I would have taken Ford to court. I have never had a car break down so often –– and I once owned a FIAT 131! Amazingly, I think Taurus was Car of the Year then.