Windshield cracked using defroster

[GregM]

Sorry not following... I have the paperwork with the initial denial from Ford. It is not hard to believe. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you are saying. My truck was in the dealer for 6 hours. I expected the initial denial and now it is being escalated with the service manager opening the case on my behalf. That is still pending. It shouldn't take long to get a response back.

Just as you read it. Wasn't stepping on you little toes. Like I said I went in yesterday and they said it will be usually 24 to 48 hrs for a response. But as I read it you got yours within hrs. Doesn't bother me a bit. My dealer and I have a great relationship with each other and it will be resolved either through ford or my dealer will step up and take care of it. I will say that is a Great relationship.
You a snarky son of a gun aren't you LOL

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[cory1848]

Just as you read it. Wasn't stepping on you little toes. Like I said I went in yesterday and they said it will be usually 24 to 48 hrs for a response. But as I read it you got yours within hrs. Doesn't bother me a bit. My dealer and I have a great relationship with each other and it will be resolved either through ford or my dealer will step up and take care of it. I will say that is a Great relationship.
You a snarky son of a gun aren't you LOL

Interesting how many people take comments the wrong way on here. It wasn’t meant to be snarky and I didn’t take it as stepping on my toes. You said you didn’t believe it. I said I have the paperwork. That’s it. Sorry you took it that way. Christ sakes... good luck with your truck and your dealer.

 

[GregM]

Interesting how many people take comments the wrong way on here. It wasn’t meant to be snarky and I didn’t take it as stepping on my toes. You said you didn’t believe it. I said I have the paperwork. That’s it. Sorry you took it that way. Christ sakes... good luck with your truck and your dealer.

Cory I believe we are both misunderstanding each other and yes we read things differently. I'm sorry if what I said upset you that was not my intent. I wish you also the best with your truck and I will update this thread when I hear back my results.
But Christ has nothing to do with our dilemma and I would never use His name out of context.
Carry On

 

[JAKE2.3]

I've had a few windshields crack in my short lifetime, and they all have the same symptoms. Got hit with a rock (usually heard it hit) in the middle of winter. Couple days later, using the defroster, the crack appears and consequently spreads. It's just a part of life here where it snows half the year. And for some reason PennDot puts gravel all over the damn roads. The last time it happened, at the beginning of winter, I just waited til the spring so I only had to replace once. Not being confrontational or calling anyone out, but most cracks are usually from a stone, then worsened with heat. I just have a hard time believing they show up with defrost alone with no stressed area. When I do use defrost now, I don't blast full heat. But ultimately, I just carry good class insurance and accept it. I wish you both luck, but I'm definitely not holding my breath with your respective dealers. Consumable may not be the best term, but I do believe windshields are a wear item. If you ever have a total loss vehicle (I have), the adjuster will do basically a market appraisal of the vehicle. Along with tire wear, seat wear, etc., they always look at glass wear too.

 

[Motorpsychology]

All the windshields that broke where glued in with urethane. None of the other support vehicles windows broke. We kept a glass guy going for 3 days. He even had to get some of the glass in Canada. He said rapid temp change caused the issue. Bret

Maybe could be started from an unseen defect in the glass, like a blister or gap in the plastic interlayer.
Windshields nowadays are a structural member, glued to the body. Beyond the tempering of the glass, they have very little ability to expand or contract like old school windshields which were held in place with a rubber or neoprene gasket
I've never had a windshield crack from this cause and I have used the defroster to aid in clearing the windshield regularly. Remote started it with snow & ice build up on the windshield, let it warm up for ten minutes, then start scraping. Scrape, don't jab and watch out for your buried, frozen down wiper blades if you didn't pull them up the night before.

 

[D Fresh]

Maybe could be started from an unseen defect in the glass, like a blister or gap in the plastic interlayer.
Windshields nowadays are a structural member, glued to the body. Beyond the tempering of the glass, they have very little ability to expand or contract like old school windshields which were held in place with a rubber or neoprene gasket
I've never had a windshield crack from this cause and I have used the defroster to aid in clearing the windshield regularly. Remote started it with snow & ice build up on the windshield, let it warm up for ten minutes, then start scraping. Scrape, don't jab and watch out for your buried, frozen down wiper blades if you didn't pull them up the night before.

Agreed whole heartedly.

Also, I find it hard to believe that wiper heaters cause this. Subaru has used them for over a decade, and FoMoCo introduced the first window defroster half a century ago.

Gonna have to go with glass defect here if not an unseen chip. Seems like a common issue from the similar threads below. Betting they had a bad batch or two.

 

[Motorpsychology]

Agreed whole heartedly.

Also, I find it hard to believe that wiper heaters cause this. Subaru has used them for over a decade, and FoMoCo introduced the first window defroster half a century ago.

Gonna have to go with glass defect here if not an unseen chip. Seems like a common issue from the similar threads below. Betting they had a bad batch or two.

I haven't ever heard of rear windows being cracked because of the rear window defroster. Must have something to do with the laminated nature of windshields

 

[D Fresh]

I haven't ever heard of rear windows being cracked because of the rear window defroster. Must have something to do with the laminated nature of windshields

Yep, and some of our members have had lamination problems.

 

[Zaph]

I didn't read this whole thread, but: has anyone considered taking their truck and windshield for an independent inspection to get a written statement that the crack was not initiated by a chip? Might cost $50 but save your insurance deductible.

Maybe a company like Safelite, have them inspect it. If they can't find a stone crack that would have started the big crack, they can hand you an inspection report that the windshield crack originated from a manufacturing defect. There's your ammo to force Ford to pay.

 

[VAMike]

I didn't read this whole thread, but: has anyone considered taking their truck and windshield for an independent inspection to get a written statement that the crack was not initiated by a chip? Might cost $50 but save your insurance deductible.

Maybe a company like Safelite, have them inspect it. If they can't find a stone crack that would have started the big crack, they can hand you an inspection report that the windshield crack originated from a manufacturing defect. There's your ammo to force Ford to pay.

I don't know why Ford would go for that--it would make it really easy for third parties to make more profit than they do on changing a window by simply offering the opinion that ford should pay for someone's window. And then there's good odds that the dealer would subcontract the work to them anyway.

 

[Zaph]

I don't know why Ford would go for that--it would make it really easy for third parties to make more profit than they do on changing a window by simply offering the opinion that ford should pay for someone's window. And then there's good odds that the dealer would subcontract the work to them anyway.

Not saying anyone but Ford should do the work. Just saying to have your ammunition ready to prevent Ford from trying to get out of paying for it through a warranty claim.

Ford doesn't have to "Go for that", getting a statement that the crack wasn't caused by a stone chip is for you and to help your battle. You're not convincing them - you're fighting them. And if needed, for small claims court.

Everyone can expect Ford to take a "boxing gloves" approach to warranty claims. Lately their warranty expenses are incredibly high and their new CEO has pledged to lower warranty costs. If you read between the lines in that article, it's not just their vendors that they are going to dump the bill on. People need to stop taking their lumps and rolling over when businesses treat you like shit. Just be smartly prepared for the battle.

If I get a cracked windshield, and I get it documented that it wasn't caused by a stone chip, and then the warranty claim is denied, I immediately have them stop work, and tell them I'll pick up my truck, have it repaired elsewhere and chase them in small claims court for the ENTIRE repair cost - and I don't even get insurance involved so they have to pay ALL of it. If they don't change their tune at that point I follow through. And I don't even count this as "playing dirty", this is simply forcing a business to provide a service that they should not be declining in the first place.

 

[VAMike]

Not saying anyone but Ford should do the work.

Ford never does the work, they're paying for someone else to do the work. They'd be irresponsible to just give that money to anyone who asks.

I think you're being completely unrealistic about how easy it is to tell what caused a crack, and about how quickly this would turn into a money making scam if ford started paying out warrany claims every time someone comes in with a piece of paper saying that some guy at a glass shop thinks ford should buy a windshield. I mean, if you really want to fight it in court that's your right, but it's gonna cost more than a windshield and I don't think Ford would just make it easy. For one thing if this started to look like it was actually going to work I bet they'd bring in an expert witness more impressive than the guy you paid 50 bucks to from the 1 hour glass place.

 

[Zaph]

I think you're being completely unrealistic about how easy it is to tell what caused a crack, and about how quickly this would turn into a money making scam if ford started paying out warrany claims

I think you've got it the other way around. Do you think Ford, or the average clueless dealer service tech for that matter is any better at determining what caused a crack than a window specialist? Ford is quick to just blame it on a stone when in reality the chances are they did not even look at it and are just fishing for ways to deny the claim. To protect against money making scams, all that has to be done is have it repaired by a shop that did not do the inspection. That's the assumption you are making that is concerning you - the shop doing the inspection is also doing the repair. That wouldn't happen - you are using them for inspection only.

BTW, don't "threaten" 3rd party inspection, just do it. Before you even call the dealer.

Ford has bigger and deeper pockets than you, and can easily delay court proceedings

Let me tell you about small claims "court proceedings", If it gets that far. Most of the time it's 3 people sitting in a small room. One of them is not a judge and none of them is a lawyer. You've got a court assigned moderator and two people, an end user plaintiff and a person from the business defendant.

Have anyone here ever taken anyone to small claims court? It's cheap and easy. You don't need a lawyer and there's only a small filing fee. Here's the Wisconsin example. Under $5K it's a $22 filing fee. When you go to small claims, documents like an inspection work, and they work well in favor of the plaintiff. There's no expert witnesses pulled in. There's just a guy reading what you have. And Ford isn't bringing in high paid lawyers to defend small claims. There are write-ups and walkthroughs out there for small claims, many state specific, if anyone needs a little help preparing. And here's the thing - Once you file in small claims, and the business is contacted by the court, for I'd say 80 or 90% of them, they immediately settle and give you what you want and it ends there. At least that's how it worked for me. Chances are there will never be "proceedings" or dealing with big dog lawyers or escalations to juries.

I feel like I'm standing on a soap box and shouting, so I'll step down.

 

[VAMike]

I think you've got it the other way around. Do you think Ford, or the average clueless dealer service tech for that matter is any better at determining what caused a crack than a window specialist? Ford is quick to just blame it on a stone when in reality the chances are they did not even look at it and are just fishing for ways to deny the claim. To protect against money making scams, all that has to be done is have it repaired by a shop that did not do the inspection. That's the assumption you are making that is concerning you - the shop doing the inspection is also doing the repair. That wouldn't happen - you are using them for inspection only.

No, you're still not getting it. The number of shady places that would go ahead and say a rock cracked your window if you give them 50 bucks to say that is really high. Ford would be insane to give that note any credence at all--if you actually paid the shop to change the window they wouldn't have made $50 on the job, so this would be a great scam for them. Part of the reason all the manufacturers push back on warranty service and there's all the "approval" bs is exactly because fraud is rampant in the industry. And every so often someone comes up with a new way to get easy money out of the system, and when the manufacturer figures out the new scam good luck getting that work approved whether legit or not.

 

[Zaph]

I'll say it again. This inspection report is not for Ford. You don't need it to convince Ford of anything. It's for small claims court. And they will look at it. Did you get the part where I noted the company doing the inspection is not doing the repair? You can tell them that up front. There is nothing to gain from them not giving it an honest inspection. They might even say they did find a crack generated by a stone, then at least you hear it from someone you can trust. My whole rant here is about removing the ability of Ford to be the judge and jury on warranty claims and giving it to someone else who is going to treat you fairly.

I'm pretty frustrated with this discussion. It seems like everyone is just too eager to bend over and take it. Let me tell you something about myself. I've won in small claims court. And I'd count that as an easy win. I've fought my medical insurance company to the tune of $20K worth of declined claims. And I won, forcing them to pay by dragging them in to independent arbitration.

I really need to back out of this discussion before I get too emotionally invested, but I'll just end with saying that all the tools are there to help the little guys fight big business.

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