Anyone ever experience this??


On vacation, driving East on I-80 at 65mph at approx. 4:00PM on a Friday just outside of Rock Springs, WY. All of a sudden there is a very loud bang, my driver side window explodes!! It stayed in one piece for a while, but slowly starts falling apart as I drive into Rock Springs to find a Chevy stealer. Nothing appeared to have hit it, it just exploded.


Dealer (Whisler Chevrolet) happens to have a Dmax shop truck down for injectors and takes that window out and puts it in mine (glass places in town of course did not have a replacement). I was in and out of Whisler Chevrolet in less than 90 minutes!!! Great service to say the least!!!


Anyone have this happen?

Pellet gun bullet???

I know Tony's (GMC2500) dealer said one of his rear windows exploded but he still thinks there was another source of impact.


I have to believe todays safety glass will take a pellet BB or something down that line.


We have had a incident here in New England at the CT Mass border were someone was shooting at cars with a Air Rifle,no exploded windows.


I'd think that it's trapped gas or something in the processing and some heat expansion if it exploded?





Mac


Edited by: Mackin

the real question is, if it was an outside source like a pellet gun or something - would you be able to tell without finding the projectile?

Many yrs ago, Mom was playing the piano when the picture window 'exploded'. In that case, a projectile was located on top of the piano. It was a 22 cal bullet w/microgroove rifling impressions. The front part of the bullet was flattened at 45* angle which lead us to believe it was coming down out of an arc when impacting our window.


Back in the 40's, it was said that on hot days in L.A when the vents/windows were closed, the back windows would pop out. Nowadays, construction preclude such an airtight envioronment. So, iIn your case, you are lucky not to have been a statistichttp://dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Ermm.gif

I almost bought a vehicle from Whisler, they are very nice, but instead bought mine at Great Western GMC. I don't care for the front end of the chevy. Well anyway, after living in Wy. I have spots all over my grill and windshield that was caused by being more or less sandblasted. They do not salt the roads there in the winter, they spread sand on them. If you drive in WY. (especially during the winter) you will have to replace a windshield or 2 because of rocks from the road. It is about that way all year. More than likely yours was not due to winter sanding. If I had to guess, I would say that a rock is what caused it. BTW, this past winter, a rig welder had a brand new dodge dually and the same exact thing happened to him. Edited by: dmaxfan

Thanks for all the replies. Dealer thought it "could have" been a rock, but there were no other vehicles near by at the time. Other option was possibly just the right situation of vibration, temp., tension on the window etc.


Anyway, it was quite an experience to say the least. And a great experience with Whisler Chevrolet!!

sorry to hear about your window problem but glad that you had a good experiance with whisler chevrolet as i live in rock springs and that is where i got my truck from and if i had to bet on what happened to your window i would say that it was a mirco burst of wind that picked up a rock and you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time

Harmonics at play?

Ive herad of this happening before, but its RARE.

Physics stuff.

Any chance the frame/door would have twisted?
I would have thought the rock theory would have been a good one. I have seen rocks fly out of my Michelins, hit the mud flap, then fly out to the side and hit the car beside me. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Ouch.gif

Nope, no twist. Had the truck since brand new. Replacement window seems to slide up and down just fine.

Kinda like spontaneous combustion . . . . . for glass!!!http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif

I'm with mannytranny, except I think there was an internal flaw within the glass. Normally glass is nearly homogenous, and retains semi-liquid state, sometimes there can be internal stress if the glass cools too quickly or too slowly. The stress can go unnoticed forever, or it could, under the right circumstances (including harmonic resonance), cause the glass to spider fracture or shatter.


There may be other forces at hand, but if you were driving and didn't see anything unusual (i.e. a kid with a BB gun standing on the side of the road), I doubt there is foul play at hand. It would be pretty unusual odds that someone could plink you off at speed with a BB gun. If they are that kind of marksman and crazy enough to shoot at a car, then they'd probably be using something with gunpowder behind it.


JMO,
Dennis

Just last winter my wife's sunroof exploded out of her VW Passat. No rock, no nothin, just POP. Scared her pretty good. Some lame explanation was provided at the time by the dealer or glass repair shop or insurance co, along the lines of internal stress or something, can't rightly remember. Also, none of these folks were surprized by it..."yeah, you'll have that."

If I read correctly, the driver window poped. Glass is really strong stuff. I takes one heck of a lick just to break the surface tension of glass. Any one of the above hypotheses could be the windows detriment. I'm guessing the window's edge had a small gouge in it. If the window cooled or heated too much....that little crack could shatter the glass. Probably sounding a little muffled when it broke?


my .02 worth........


It's nice to see a dealer that really helps out! http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Clap.gif





Burner--------------> http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif

Actually Burner, it was very LOUD when it let go. Just a few inches from my ear. I actually had a little ringing in my ear for several minutes afterwards.


YES the dealer was stupendous!! In fact I just today received a survey request from GM about this service. Guess how I'm going to rate them? http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Big Smile.gif http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Clap.gif

Hey guys,

I am a newb to this forum, but not to forums in general or trucks,

I had this happen to me about ten years ago in a Toyota Camry, just cruisin' down the freeway and all of a sudden *BOOM* rear passenger window blows out. Never did figure out exactly what happened but I suspect a rock or debris got kicked up from another vehicle...

I can't help but wonder though about the possibility of some sort of "intentional" projectile being involved...

Re vibes, flaws, stresses etc ~ I remain unconvinced as it is a tempered double pane laminate (safety glass) and unlikely both panes/panels would have the necessary/complementary flaws. Had to be something else involved. I recall a family in Sacramento that had an 11lb chunk of ice penetrate their home last summer (CA summers are not conducive to ice). Theory was that it was off an passing airliner ~ may never know for sure.

Check out......

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00506.htm