rogerh00

Have a 2001 Rx and was driving 55mph on 2 lane road. I heard a pop like a balloon popping only louder. I thought maybe it was a light bulb I had just purchased that exploded in the car. I checked the package and it was not that. I wondered if it was maybe a tire but nothing seemed wrong. The car contined to handle fine. I kept looking around inside trying to find out what it might be. Finally, over on the pasengers side I noticed a circular crack in the windshield about 4" in diameter just above the wiper. I pulled over to inspect it and was puzzled because there was no damge in the center of the circular crack where a rock would normally have hit and left a hole. I have had rocks hit he windshield before but this did not sound like that. I called the service mgr at my dealer and he said it only could be from impact damage.
Does anybody have any similar occurance or experience? Could this have happened from a stress crack ?

rogerh00

Here is photo of the crack. If this is typical impact damge so be it. I just need conformation. It is not your typical star damage.

LexRX

From the way you describe the sound (like a light bulb busting, i.e. like class cracking) it doesn't sound at all like a rock hitting the windshield; doesn't look like it either. I can imagine how it would sound, as if the glass was put under stress until it gave in and began to crack.

Sorry I don't have any experience with that happening on the RX. I've seen a crack like that on older vehicles that were caused by the vechile twisting causing the windshield to give and crack. The RX, however, has a much stiffer body and I can't imagine something like that happening

Best of luck getting that resolved.

Lil4X

Had the same thing happened a few months ago. I had taken several rock strikes over the last few years, none of which produced any discernable damage. A rock finally hit my windshield about 4" down from the top edge with the sound of a pistol shot, causing a tiny chip that was invisible for about a week because it was behind the mirror. After it produced a foot-long horizontal crack, under a strong magnifying glass you could barely see the small pit that was the point of origin, made visible by a tiny bit of dirt in the crack. The guy who replaced the windshield said this was typical in high-strength tempered glass.

His explanation:
A rock striking the center of the windshield is unlikely to produce damage, unless it is unusually large because the windshield can flex slightly to absorb much of the sharp initial force of the blow (typical "star" impacts are usually caused by bigger rocks). A rock striking near the edge of the windshield is more likely to produce catastrophic damage because it cannot flex to absorb the initial impact, and once a crack begins to develop it will usually run toward the center, then turn horizontally, following the path of maximum load. The initial pit may be small but it creates a stress raiser that focuses the forces acting on the glass as it flexes with aerodynamic pressure acting on the center of the windshield.

I had it replaced by an independent glass service that used a part identical to the original, except for the "Lexus" brand. Thickness, color, dot pattern, and mirror brackets were exactly as the original. Cost? $309 - parts and labor, right in my driveway.

rogerh00

Well, thanks for the feedback. I stopped in and had the Lexus service mgr take a look. He thinks it was something soft like a bird not a stone that caused the damage.
Anyway, the windshield is being replaced thursday. Fortunately, I have full glass coverage.

LexRX

A bird!?! I think you would have noticed a bird hitting your windshield, right? How could the manager think you wouldn't notice that

rogerh00

Must have been a hummingbird tapped it with his beak cause I never saw or heard anything hit my windshield.

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

If a bird hit the windshield at 55mph, you'd have a bloody, feathery mess that no-one could mistake - just ask a bug! Must have been something else.

Lil4X

We experienced a bird strike two years ago - on the left front fender, just above the headlight. A medium-sized hawk was diving on a small animal at the roadside about dawn. In the low sun, the bird was apparantly target locked and failed to notice the RX closing on him at about 80 mph. The resulting collision produced a small paint chip (beak?) and a very large amount of blood and feathers...quickly removed at the first coin-op carwash.

I would think a bird strike on the windshield would leave a considerable amount of (ugh!) evidence....