OEM windshield is back ordered nationally. Wait could be 8 months. Looking for experience with aftermarket windshield. Is it even a good idea?

tks

 

We forced safelite to use OEM glass when our 2017 windshield got a nice rock crack 1 month after we bought it in 2019. I wouldn't use aftermarket glass on practically a brand new vehicle that is still under factory warranty but that's just me... I'd wait it out for oem,...

 

Is the backorder because 2023 is different glass than pre 2021? I think that is when they moved to acoustic/laminated glass? Maybe you can use a windshield from an earlier year - might not be as quiet in the cabin.

 

Just had my second Safelight aftermarket windshield installed yesterday (and went through 2 or 3 on the old 4Runner). No complaints, and if you play the discounts right, you can get one installed for under $310.

Even with a $500 deductible (and a chance rates might go up), paying the difference is not worth going with OEM IMO (closer to $1100-$1200 - or 4x the cost of a Safelite). Knowing I'll end up with a crack in a few years (I ALWAYS do!) makes OEM unattractive...

 

I'll never put a Chinese Safelite (Fuyao) piece of glass in my rig. Ever. If I gotta wait months I gotta wait months for an OEM from Japan.

 

The wait is about 8 months.
I have a 18 to 24 inch line from the upper passenger corner.

 

How do you folks navigate state inspection with a cracked windshield.....and an 8 month wait. Is there a waiver? I'm in Pennsylvania.

 

I’d probably insist on OEM too if still under warranty but I haven’t had any issues with Pilkinton or the Fuyao which appears to have factories in the US as well. I use an independent installer and not Safelite. IMO… the installation/installer is more important that the glass brand.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...l#post11328274

I also live in one of the 13-15 states that doesn’t require annual vehicle inspections.

 

I'm lucky to not live in a state with annual inspections either. My crack is almost the entire horizontal length of the windscreen. Not looking forward to waiting for a new one. But it is what it is. This one was replaced last year so it's still "new".

 

My experience with non-OEM windshields ... some have had optical anomalies, and are not as resistant to pitting and small rock impact damage, meaning you get what you pay for ...

 

My OEM glass experience probably set me down the path of aftermarket.

My ‘12 was a little less than 5 years old when I purchased it and still had OEM windshield with nothing in service record indicating it had been changed. (Trusted installer also believed it was stock)

IIRC… week one got a standard ding in windshield and was going to get fixed by next day. This happened in the morning.. and by end of workday… it was cracked across the windshield

I get lots of dings in the passes and nothing substantial came of it until a few years back one hit near the edge and forced a crack during one of our bitter January chills after turning on the windshield wiper heater element.

It wasn’t worth the insurance battle or cost to justify OEM for me… just my opinion

 

Had a similar issue with a driver's side window on my '21, because (thankfully) they changed to laminated (aka acoustic glass) front side windows. There were zero laminated side windows in the US...OE, nor aftermarket. Fortunately a forum member advised me there should be a few arriving in the US within a few weeks, and to contact my dealer have them reserve one of the two (yes 1 of 2!) that were scheduled into the Chicago Toyota parts depot. It worked. My sojourn was documented in the forum.

As far as I can tell, the only glass that was changed in '21, were the front door windows. The windshields were always laminated for safety, and therefore were already "acoustic glass".

 

My experience with replacing glass on my Toyota vehicles is that I will never use aftermarket again and insist on factory, even if it’s from a wrecking yard! I have a aftermarket side window installed in my tundra and it is noticeably thinner than the original and rattles when lowered. I learned that most wrecking yards have side business selling and installing factory glass nationwide through a parts network! I would recommend searching around and buying a factory windshield from a wrecking yard and have your insurance do the negotiations and installation of the windshield or wait for part to return to inventory.

 

Quite a few states do not have them - FL, SC are the two that I’ve lived in that don’t now but used to.

Had the windshield replaced in my last GX - the installer was able to get the insurance to accept their reasoning why an OEM glass was necessary. Thankfully that was in SC, where the state law requires insurance carriers to cover windshields with no deductible.

 

Don't know if any of the 2nd gen windshields were different. (All windshields are laminated, i.e. "acoustic glass". They added laminated, or "acoustic glass" front door windows in '21) Maybe Acrad could comment if the '21--'23 windshields had any changes due to the addition of adaptive cruise control sensors?