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Scion xB Windshield cracks
Has anyone had their windshield crack yet? The tiniest pebble hit my windshield just under the windshield wipers and I could literally watch the crack get longer and longer as I was driving the car. I know everyone in Texas drives around with cracked windshields, but I just bought this car and I am so upset.
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The xB is probably prone to windshsield damage and cracking partly because of the relatively vertical angle of the glass, and possibly because of a relative weakness of the OEM glass itself, and possibly because of some stressing of the glass by flexing of the boxy body.
To avoid windshield cracks, it is important to avoid vehicles and roads that can cause rock damage. Stay far away from gravel trucks and equipment haulers where every bump can dislodge more stones. Don't follow anything if there is gravel on the road.
When replacing the windshield, many people report that Pilkington does not fit well and has wavy places, PPG is OK, while Fuyao is the best with a perfect fit, a better gasket, better optical quality and resists impacts better.
much thanks!
M.
My 1991 Mazda truck has had two windshields replaced due to rock strikes. They were hard hits with cracks radiating from the impact point. The xB evidently can have a tiny pit that later develops a single crack that grows long. And the xB can also have cracks with no apparent cause, which leads to speculation that they are stress cracks caused by the body flexing.
I've called the Scion Customer Experience number to open a ticket with them.
Apparently Scion considers the windshield a non-warranty item. The other non-warranty items are oil filters, brake pads, etc. So am I supposed to replace my windshield every 2 weeks? How is it that my 35 year old Datsun has the original factory glass and has lots of gravel pits on it, yet the xB can't take a single hit? Clearly this is a design flaw. Even my 1983 Celica could take a hit pretty well. Toyota is slipping on this detail. It's time to step up.
As up on Customer Satisfaction as Toyota/scion seems to be, one should just have to PRESS the issue.
Besides they frequently monitor sights like this to see what people are saying so if they tick you off say so. And of course if they take care of you also say so.
My .02
The person handling my case was very good on the phone. She seemed sympathetic and agreed that 16 days is a pretty short time to get such a dramatic crack, so I think I have a shot at getting somewhere with Scion. I took a variety of photos today and e-mailed the best ones to her. She is referring the case to a 'specialist' and is sending this person my pictures. I am supposed to get a response in two business days, which would be Friday afternoon or Monday morning, I guess. I will post again when I have more to tell...
In the mean time, the tape is halting the crack's progress. I am using crystal clear packing tape, since the crack is right in my field of vision. I wasted several inches of it to get a piece with no dust or lint on it, then stuck one end of it on the windshield in a small spot and used a credit card to squeegee it down. I carefully lifted the ends to avoid leaving fingerprints and trimmed with a pair of good scissors and squeegeed the ends down. 15-20 lbs of pressure seemed to be enough; I didn't want to make the crack worse by pushing any harder. Incidentally, it is illegal to drive a car with a cracked windshield in California, but fix-it tickets are only $10 when cleared and the cops here usually have more important things worry about.
my windshield cracked, with no one in the car, and NO CHIP. it had less than 2000 miles when it happened. it came from the passenger side at the seal about half way up the window, and travelled in toward the driver's side horizontally then took a turn 90 degrees upward and then 90 degrees toward the diver's side again.
I IMMEDIATELY CALLED THE DEALER and asked if anyone else had this same issue. mind you i bought the car from kerry scion in florence, ky. they claim the car sells itself and they can't keep them in stock- no one seemed to have reported a similar incident. THE SERVICE TECH LAUGHED AT ME OVER THE PHONE!
they told me it was from a chip, over the telephone. he didn't even see it and was sure it was road rash. well of course there was no chip. i took a ballpoint pen like he told me and followed the crack and no chip!
now here are some other possibilities: i had driven off the pavement onto a grass parking lot(at less than 5 mph i'm sure). perhaps it tweaked the frame a little. perhaps the frame is too forgiving for twisting torque movement? and then about 2 weeks later, i had parked the car most of the way under a carport, where the front 2/3 was shaded as the sun rose that morning but the back 1/3 had sun shining on it. maybe the temperature difference did something funky? which i doubt because i had the front windows down a couple of inches each. :confuse:
you bet i'll be giving my dealer a run for the money, with all the other testimony to back up my claim!
I was told that they have a Goodwill Assist program to help with windshield replacement and that I would receive a call in one business day about my claim. No one calles and they still haven't .
So ... I made a complaint on the NHTSA website, Govenor's office of consumer affairs and Clark Howard. I am hoping that maybe this will get us some saaistance.
I love my xB . I just think that we all bought these in good faith. They should do something to help us. This is a safety hazard and costly.
There are no evident hits anywhere near the crack.
A tiny stone hit the glass about a week after we bought the car and another after the crack in question.
I asked at the service center and they said it was from a stone without even looking at it.
I believe it is a stress crack owing to the size and angle of the glass from wind pressure.
They deny this and I think they are full of crap.
Help!!
Mark
Well, for starters, they are now saying that it is a design "characteristic" that makes the car suseptible to cracks and that the redesign has nothing to do with this problem.
So... They are not wiling to do anything for us. I have taken it to the next level. I am now knocking on Toyota Usa's door. We shall see what happens.
Sounds they are saying what many have said all along; that the body flexes and puts stress on the glass which cracks, often without needing a chip as a starting point.
Who do you mean by "Scion". The dealer, or Scion's Goodwill Assist, or Scion Customer Experience, or who? Was this verbal or in writing? If written, can you scan the document to a file and post it?
While I'm waiting, I've started calling around and it seems that some auto glass shops have lifetime warranties on replacement windshields. It sounds like the shops that charge more offer these warranties but the discount shops don't. If I'm going to be stuck with having to pay to have my windshield replaced (over and over again?) this will likely be the route I choose. Liberty Mutual said that these warranties cover rock chips, but not intentional damage, like vandalism. I willl look into this matter further.
Does anyone know any other Scion XB owners? Tell them about this board and have them post their experiences.
MP
Has anyone with an xB windshield crack had a front strut bar
brace in place. Toyota has a TRD brace that they sell for
$195.00. If that would solve the flexing, they could fix this problem very cheaply and quick. Looking for answers.
The regional rep contacted me and we talked in circles about how I was very unhappy about my 16 day old car having a split windshield after 1 rock hit in comparison to my 35 year old Datsun which has several pits but no cracks on the original factory windsheild, and the fact that no one warranties a windshield against damage from rocks. Eventually he offered to split the cost of a windshield with me in a show of good faith, but when I said I wanted to get one from an outside vendor, he changed the offer to half the cost of a non-Toyota windshield or a free Toyota windshield, but just this one time. Naturally, I took the option of the free Toyota glass. I suppose I could go to an outside vendor myself if the new one cracks from another chip. I'm not really happy about the result of this, since I'm right back where I started and it looks very likely that I may have to replace another windshield. Oh well, what's that saying? You can't look a gift horse in the mouth...
So what am I supposed to do if I get another split? :confuse:
brace in place... If that would solve the flexing, they could fix this problem very cheaply and quick. Looking for answers."
I asked that question on ScionLife last winter in a windshield crack thread, while waiting for my xB to arrive. No one answered. I put on a strut bar at 500 miles, expecting some handling difference, but felt nothing. I took it off at 5000 miles because it interferred with so many service items, and again felt no difference in handling. As to whether and how the strut bar could prevent window cracks, I don't know. In theory it keeps the strut towers from flexing and affecting the camber of the suspension. The towers can only flex under fast, hard, bumpy cornering. Some windshields are cracking spontaneously, with the car parked.
It already has 2 cracks in the windshield.
The first happened overnight. It runs straight down from the middle of the windshield and turns toward the passenger side just below the rearview mirror.
I took the car into the dealer a couple of days later, and asked if they would replace it, as the crack happened overnight and my wife could remember nothing hitting the car.
They ran a pen through the crack and when it caught on the tiniest of pits (I couldn't even feel it with my finger, only when it snagged my nail) said they wouldn't replace it.
I chalked it up to dumb luck.
Over the last weekend we went on our first trip in the car. We put about 350 miles on the car and on the way back. We were hit by some pebbles from a truck (not visible to the eye) and low and behold a second crack - it appeared a few minutes after the strike. It again starts at the top of the windshield and moves down in a little curve, but is not as big as the first. I can feel a tiny pit.
I've had many cars and they have been hit by many things, the pebble that hit my xb was NOTHING! There is no way it should have cracked anything.
I decided to do some looking tonight to see if anyone else has had similar problems. I almost wish I hadn't found anything, because then I would assume it was just bad luck.
I no longer think that.
I am going back to the dealer and I am gonna raise hell.
I will let you know the result. :mad:
Perhaps this is similar to the action of a glass cutter or tile cutter, where a mere surface scratch weakens the material which can then be split with a little pressure.
Perhaps the large flat windshield is stressed by the light flimsy box body of the xB, and a rock chip becomes the surface imperfection that eventually allows the stress to crack the glass.
In that case, the immediate cause may be the impact, but the ultimate cause is the design defect of that windshield in that body.
So I got back home and started googling some more and I found out that the Honda Element had a similar problem a few years ago. http://www.hondaelementscrack.com/story_rob.html There is a class action suit that is being settled now about it, apparently. I hope it doesn't come to that in our case. I hope they figure out how to fix it and issue a recall.
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/
I'm going to call this number and lodge a complaint. I encourage all of you with the cracks to do the same. Maybe we can get these rascals to take a look at this issue. I resold some Japanese made materials in a previous job and you can bet that the good folks at Toyota are aware of this issue, now let's get them to admit that there is a problem.
Thanks in advance to all of you for calling this number.
The rep I talked to was professional and courteous. We'll see if they make things right.
We would just like for Toyota to do for the xB what Honda did for the Element. Until the class action lawsuit, Honda did not realize the extent of the Element's windshield problem. As a result of data collected by the lawsuit, Honda made changes to the 2005 model that greatly reduced windshield cracks, and will reimburse owners for past and future cracks.
http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=145837&highlight=windshield
What kind and how many problems did you have that would cause Scion to give you another new xB? Please list them all.
Thanks, David
Something is being done.
The service light comes on to remind that it's time to change the oil, but the car does not know that the oil has been changed. You have to tell it, by resetting the light as explained on page 80 of your manual. It will come on again at the default of 5,000 miles, unless you want to change that interval. If you would like to know what is being done about cracking windshields, you can email me at allanatherton at yahoo dot com.