Pinball

This was a novel experience. I was washing my 6 week old SC430 this morning on the driveway around 9:00 a.m. (sunny and 69 degrees) when I heard a noise I'd never heard before. It turned out to be the windshield cracking; a 12" vertical line starting at the header right in the center, then a zag to the driver side about 8" (in the shape of an "L" of all things!) Has anyone heard about this before??

sc430blue

Never heard about that in hear. I own a 2002

Gojirra99

Wow, that sounds weird . . .

mlbpbg

The exact same thing happened to me with my '05 about 3 months after I picked it up from the dealer in the exact same spot. Since then, I have had 2 other windshields replaced due to stress cracking. BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT COMPANY YOU USE TO REPLACE IT!. My insurance company uses Safelite Auto Glass and they ended up causing $1100 in damages to the interior and exterior moldings which they are now paying my body shop to have fixed. Watch out for poor alignment of the outside body moldings as they should sit flush with the top.

ARISTO*7

WOW! sorry to hear about your windshield

mlbpbg

Thanks. It's a real trip trip to see a new car turned into what looks like a used car by sloppy workmanship. Oh Well, at least when I get it back I know it will look brand new and the windshield company will have spent over a grand to fix a $250.00 problem.

lexuslover

that is really odd; could something like this be covered under warranty? 6 wks old! if not, why not get the windshield replaced by the dealer and pay the deductible to your insurance company. i've messed with outside windshield companies and even though they claim it's the exact same part, they never install it as well (we've only done this once to an old honda accord, and you'd think it would be perfect given the # of accords out there, but they did a terrible job with the moldings) since then, i've had a GS windshield replaced by dealer and paid the $500 ded to AAA.

flint330

Sorry to hear about your windshield. I am on my third windshield and I have had my SC for less than a year. Unfortunately both times they have cracked has been from a small pebble hitting the bottom in the black area. I do have windshield coverage on my insurance and have only had to pay $100 each time. I have always asked for OEM glass even thought I get hassled about that (the Lexus windshield cost a lot more than the aftermarket). I hope that this does not happen again. I am almost afraid to drive it on the freeway anymore.

GS300Rich

Safelite is really crappy with their craftsmenship. They replace the windshield on the nissan I had and did a crappy job. why would they put the SC windshield under so much stress?

GSXOTIC

iTrader: (6)

This is not a good news to hear.... Any other 05' owner has this issue? I think if you take the car back to the dealership and show them there is no rock chip mark when the crack line is then the dealership should cover it under warranty. If it happens to a few people, maybe this might be a potential defected windshield that Lexus put on those SC....

Any input??? Henry??? or other people?

mlbpbg

In Florida, there is no deductible for windshield glass breakage. Even after Safelite screwed up the job, I went to the dealer and they said they would have an outside company do the repair anyway and cracks in the windshield were not covered under the warranty unless you can show it was a defect in the car. I am not upset at all with the dealer as USAA covered all the repairs and are making sure that Safelite covers all the costs. We used OEM glass on all four windshields. Still, I would love to have my car to drive as the weather here is great for top down cruising. We live and learn.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

wow, wha?! this is odd man, i can't believe how washing a car in a normal day could be a problem, unless it's a manufacturing defect (say on stress point or so, which is very vulunable to heat)

and in any case, no need to use your own insurance. stuff like these they should be covered under warranty for sure.

damn that's scary.... now i feel scared washing my car @_@

rsa supra

Take a ball point pen and run it down the crack. If it does catch anywhere (rock chip) then you should be able to have it replaced under warranty. We had a windshield crack on our '00 E-Class and they replaced it no problem.

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Smells to me like there was abnormal stress on the windshield. You really should have the whole mounting surface inspected for abnormalities before allowing a new windshield to be mounted.

Pinball

Hi Guys - I dropped the car off at Longo today and they have agreed to cover it under warranty. As to the "pen" test, the advisor identified a tiny (as in half the size of a pinhead; that's right, 1/2 the size of a pinhead; nearly invisible!) impact area that may have allowed this to happen. While it's comforting that they are covering it under warranty, this seems like a real design problem. If the integrity of the windshield can be so easily compromised, has too much of the structural integrity of the car been placed in this area? Thanks for everyone's support! Paul