Windshield - WTH?

Optimistic Paranoid

Optimistic Paranoid

Adventurist
I've got a 2012 Ford F250, which I've owned since 2016. I'm in upstate NY, where the temperature was about 7 below. Went out this morning, started the truck and began brushing the 8 inches of snow or so off the windshield. Heat was set on defrost. I got cold before I finished, so I went inside to warm up. I came out when I was warm and finished brushing the snow off. The windshield was cracked.

The exact same thing happened last winter. I had SafeLite put a new windshield in last March.

Now I'm sixty eight, and I've been driving here for over 40 years, including numerous winters where temperatures hit 20 to 30 below. And prior to last winter, I NEVER had a cracked windshield on any vehicle I drove. Is there something about the design of these new windshields and heaters that make them especially susceptible to cracking in extreme cold? Anyone have any thoughts on this?
 
Tiny rock chip you had not noticed perhaps?

Thats what mine did, I watched it happen when I turned the defrost on, crack just took off across the window..... Started at a tiny rock chip.
 
java230 said:
Tiny rock chip you had not noticed perhaps?

Thats what mine did, I watched it happen when I turned the defrost on, crack just took off across the window..... Started at a tiny rock chip.
Click to expand...

I’ve seen this. But I’ve never seen one crack just because it was cold!

:eek:
 
Just speculating here but maybe it was the rapid change in temps.

Maybe next time just put the heat on and let the interior warm up slowly. I have a similar truck but live South of you and haven’t experienced the extreme cold you had.
 
Only time I've had one crack in the cold, I had hot defrost blowing inside on the bottom of the window while ice was piling up on the outside lower part.
 
Another potential issue is today's windshields are all glued in to place. Back in the day there was a rubber seal that held them in place allowing for some expansion/contraction. In this case, I think it started at a rock chip. Trick of the trade is to run a ball point pen along the crack, you'll feel it when you hit the impact point that started the crack.
 
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