Windshield hairline crack

[charmai101]

Not yet 9 month on my 2023 Powerboost and I found a hairline crack on my windshield. Took it to my local dealer and the manager said it’s not covered by warranty, because of the nick the size of a deer tick. Is that really possible a nick the size of a deer tick can cause a hairline crack of about 2 ft? It’s the first time I ever had a hairline crack like this in my 20+ years of driving. Every passing month, I grow more and more dissatisfied with Ford, their products and services. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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[RcFlyer330]

yes the little chip will cause a hairline crack. It was most likely caused by a rock hitting the windshield. This has nothing to to do with a manufacturer defect or quality issue that would be covered by any manufacturer under warrenty. your best bet is to contact your vehicle insurance and see if they will cover it.

 

[PPK]

my '17 500A and '18 Sierra both ended up with rock hits.. which you have to fix immediately or else. The basic problem.. is the windows are so large and upright.. they will get hit hard and get damage. i always fix mine the next day. No matter which brand you drive.. same results...

 

[Tomatoboy]

Yes. Every windshield crack I’ve had started as a tiny nick from a rock or something else hard that wasn’t dealt with immediately. I have learned my lesson now and closely Inspect every time I have a rock strike. And with all this upright glass, I expect a lot on my F-150, based on the bug squashing.

Honestly, I treat windshields as wear items after years of long distance driving, akin to wheel bearings and water pumps that you might never need to replace on one vehicle, but drive enough miles in enough vehicles and you’ll start noticing you replace them a lot. Cost of driving, I guess, and sometimes you just get bad luck…my first new car broke a windshield almost immediately due to a road resurfacing project leaving rocks behind.

Unless there’s some reason to suspect a warranty issue, and a hairline crack like this is almost never a warranty issue, it’s a matter of either seeing what your insurance will cover as road damage or self-pay.

 

[ryanc111]

...No matter which brand you drive.. same results...

Unless you drive a Jeep Wrangler like my wife.

They're magnets for rocks . . . after a rock strike we try and go as long as possible before replacing it and begin the cycle again. Ha.

 

[cb4017]

Yep! Entirely possible and not unusual. Especially on my JL Wrangler and later JT Gladiator. Them darn things were rock magnets because of the more upright windshields.

Should be covered under comprehensive coverage. I keep zero deductible on my comprehensive for mostly windshield replacement.

Your best bet, call your insurance company.

 

[tbinmd]

Just bad luck. Lost a windshield from a rock strike on a 3 week old car. Sucked, but that's the breaks.

 

[JJSnell]

2015 Plat, got hit by a rock... huge crack across the whole windshield. Waited 6 weeks through COVID\Mayor Pete Supply Chain issues and finally got it installed... THREE DAYS after the install I get hit again. I thought my insurance company was going to drop me...

I understand the frustation, but this is def not a ford issue or responsibilty.

 

[Facemelter]

Same for me also. Rock strike took out the glass right in front of the driver.

Unbeknownst to me, my wife removed the glass coverage from all the vehicles, so I had to pony up that cash for new glass in my 16 when it got blasted by a semi with no mud flaps. Driver swung into my lane and hucked a rock right into the glass. About 30 days later, I took another rock chip in the top left corner and watched the crack spider to the other side in a matter of seconds. This time I had coverage.

 

[charmai101]

Thanks to all the replies. I thought when it got hit by a flying rock, there would be spider crack where it hit. Mine is a tiny crack the size of a deer tick. Could the hairline crack be part of the manufacture defect?

 

[charmai101]

If a rock can easily crack a windshield, I really question the durability of a Ford windshield. I never had this problem with other vehicles. That’s what make me so disappointed.

 

[Buyer2021]

Thanks to all the replies. I thought when it got hit by a flying rock, there would be spider crack where it hit. Mine is a tiny crack the size of a deer tick. Could the hairline crack be part of the manufacture defect?

Sorry but your "thought" is incorrect and restating won't change that.

A 'lucky strike', even one so small that you may well not be aware of the incident, can lead to a crack (may not propagate a crack until days after the 'hit'; immediate professional 'epoxy repair' may preclude cracking and is often 100% covered by insurance).

OE glass defects are extremely rare and virtually impossible to prove as a warranty claim.

The (still very rare) exception being a crack that propagates from the glass perimeter due to installation debris placing pressure on the edge of the glass; those will invariably appear within a very short driving time, certainly well-under ~9 months. That's not a glass defect, it's an installation defect.

yes the little chip will cause a hairline crack. It was most likely caused by a rock hitting the windshield. This has nothing to do with a manufacturer defect or quality issue that would be covered by any manufacturer under warranty. your best bet is to contact your vehicle insurance and see if they will cover it.

^Those^ are the harsh facts and say it all.

If you don't like your current insurance glass coverage, talk to your agent about alternative coverages / lower comprehensive deductibles.

I really question the durability of a Ford windshield. I never had this problem with other vehicles.

"Question" to your heart's content, but IMO this is not a Ford glass problem, it's the 'luck' of coincidence (shit happens and no vehicle is immune).

If you suffer a tire-puncture for the first time in many years, do you claim the vehicle's tires are defective or not "durable"??

 

[rpold150]

Thanks to all the replies. I thought when it got hit by a flying rock, there would be spider crack where it hit. Mine is a tiny crack the size of a deer tick. Could the hairline crack be part of the manufacture defect?

From looking at your picture, it definitely looks like the crack originates from the strike mark, and goes in two directions from there. I don't think you're going talk a dealership into a warranty replacement due to defect. Cracks due to rock strikes are very common. I wouldn't feel disappointed in the quality of the truck because of this.

 

[tbinmd]

Thanks to all the replies. I thought when it got hit by a flying rock, there would be spider crack where it hit. Mine is a tiny crack the size of a deer tick. Could the hairline crack be part of the manufacture defect?

You just need the nick, it does not need to create a spider crack. I've had nicks before and not a bullseye. Does not mean it's a manufacturing defect., if it was you would see it in the glass long before you had the rock hit. It would appear as a distortion in the glass when looking thru it.

 

[IW500T]

I live in an area (Calgary, AB) where they use a mixture of rock and sand on the roads in the winter and replacing a windshield every year is almost to be expected. It very frequently starts from a very small chip that spreads due to a rapid temperature change or even moisture. It is so frequent that the majority of vehicles actually have cracked glass and the police pretty much ignore it unless it is so bad you can't see out of the window. I have had a cracked windshield on every car I have owned here after growing up on the west coast of Canada where getting a chip or crack was unheard of. Nothing to do with the quality of the glass, and everything to do with where the rock hits it. Any small chips around the edge of the glass almost always turn into a crack as there is a lot of tension in the curved area of the windshield. Regular insurance won't even cover it here, you have to buy a windshield specific policy.

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