Broken Rear Windshield

[SixSpeed]

Went to work yesterday. Got my stuff out of the trunk. Closed the trunk gently. Nothing out of the ordinary. I come back to my car about 90 minutes later to find my rear windshield shattered (see attached photos). I went to my supervisor and checked the parking lot camera, which had a view of my trunk from about 100 feet away. Nobody came near my car and only 6 or so cars passed by at about 5mph. There was no visible damage to any other part of the car, no rocks nearby, nothing.

I called the dealership I bought the car from to see if it would be covered under the warranty, but they said only if they could prove it was a defect in the material or assembly. So after trading calls all day, they basically told me they would not cover the replacement windshield.

If I thought it was anything accident related I wouldn't have called them. I would have gone through insurance. And yes, I do have a deductible.

Suffice to say I am upset that the dealership says windows are covered but they won't cover it because they think something must have hit my windshield and therefore I should go through insurance. But if nothing struck my windshield, shouldn't that be enough proof???

What do you all think?

 

[severous01]

i think that you should tell them it cracked when you shut the door and be done with it...for free

otherwise man up and pay the deductible. it was likely a rock or something from a mower or one of the ppl drove by and threw something at it...or someone shot it with a bb gun.

 

[laborsmith]

I have gone through my share of windshields over the years. I have NEVER had the rear window of ANY vehicle shatter. That could be vandalism I suppose but to what effect?

Laborsmith

 

[ahtoxa]

I have seen this happen before. In fact, I know of two instances first hand and they all happened on the rear windows of SUVs (essentially hatchbacks). Early Nissan Xterras had a few documented occurrences. From the discussions then, they were all deemed to be defective glass. Something to do with deformed glass being under torsional tension when installed. This torsional tension will over time (and under right conditions) cause the glass to shatter.

Not a frequent occurrence but seems to happen occasionally. I'm only seen it on hatchbacks.

 

[SixSpeed]

i think that you should tell them it cracked when you shut the door and be done with it...for free

otherwise man up and pay the deductible. it was likely a rock or something from a mower or one of the ppl drove by and threw something at it...or someone shot it with a bb gun.

In a way I wish it was something like that so I could blame someone, but its a secured parking lot and there was nothing of the kind near my car.

Regarding the last post - I also heard of stress as a potential cause, but the dealership won't hear it. When I asked to speak to someone higher up the chain they referred me to GM customer service at 1-800-222-1020.

I had to get it repaired before the weekend, so $454 dollars later it's fixed, plus $48 for the rental car and prolly $50 or so to redo the tint in a few days. Not giving up on calling GM though!

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

SixSpeed,

I am sorry to hear about your windshield. I am not sure if you have reached out to our customer care team yet. We can look into this situation further if you would like as well. Please private message us your name, VIN, address, phone number, and name of your GM dealership. Look forward to hearing from you.

Erica Tiffany
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[SixSpeed]

PM sent

 

[severous01]

if they do come up with a problem in the future that's an issue, keep your receipt and bring it when they send a notice and you'll be refunded the money. so dont ditch the receipt, stick it in the box with the others

 

[Insanika]

I seem to remember a case of several of these happening on another forum:

http://forums.genvibe.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=34222&hilit=safelite

 

[SixSpeed]

Thanks for the tips!

It's been a week and I still haven't heard back from GM...

 

[NR552]

I had to have my rear window ($5xx.xx) and rear passenger window recently due to vandalism... It sucked.

What it really hot/humid? Possibly a rock/BB gun as other mentioned.

 

[xsonicLTZx]

Im sure with the window tint on it they will automatically decline you, they will pull any angle to get out of paying anything. Sorry this happened to you. best of luck!

 

[sonic007]

Mine was smashed in as well but it was due to a mower playing target practice.

 

[SixSpeed]

So it took GM almost 2 weeks to call me, then after I explained my side of things (the CSR had already spoken to the dealership), she said she'd do more research on it. She left me 2 messages while I was at work late last week. All she said was "I'll call you back (insert business day here)." Finally I am able to answer today (Tuesday) and she says "the dealership determined it is not a warranty issue, refer to your insurance." I told her the dealership already told me that, and that I thought she was taking the issue up the GM chain to investigate. She said "we stand behind our dealerships, they are our eyes and ears on the ground." She said there was nothing more they would do, so I told her I was unsatisfied with their service and the dealership's as well.

Oh well. I was hoping GM would take their customers more seriously. What a waste of a loyal customer's time.

 

[Insanika]

Have you contacted the GM customer service on this site? They seem to have a way of getting things done for us.

 

[SixSpeed]

Have you contacted the GM customer service on this site? They seem to have a way of getting things done for us.

They contacted me shortly after I started this thread. See page 1...

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

SixSpeed,

I did reach out to you and speak with your dealership and do understand your frustration. I am sorry this was not the resolution you wanted. If there is anything else I can try to assist you with, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Erica Tiffany
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[Insanika]

They contacted me shortly after I started this thread. See page 1...

I'm on page one.. Lol. It gets confusing on here when people talk to "GM" who they are talking to. I see you sent a PM to them, but that didn't mean that was the GM that you actually worked with. Was just curious. I sent them a PM with my issue, never got a response, but I got a kiss-ass phone ca from another GM support saying my stuff was resolved and they hope it was enough etc etc. I was hoping for that for you :sadbanana:

 

[Papasonic]

I can see both viewpoints on this issue:

The OP perceives that a defect in the glass or how it was installed caused the breakage of the glass.
The manufacturers position is that there is no way to determine if there was a defect or if the glass was damaged by some undetermined cause.

I believe that the manufacturer had no other choice than to deny warranty coverage in this situation; can you imagine the liability the manufacturer would assume if every time the glass was broken in a warranted vehicle, consumers would expect warranty to cover the damages.

 

[Macehammer]

I can see both viewpoints on this issue:

The OP perceives that a defect in the glass or how it was installed caused the breakage of the glass.
The manufacturers position is that there is no way to determine if there was a defect or if the glass was damaged by some undetermined cause.

I believe that the manufacturer had no other choice than to deny warranty coverage in this situation; can you imagine the liability the manufacturer would assume if every time the glass was broken in a warranted vehicle, consumers would expect warranty to cover the damages.

Then why claim to warranty it in the first place?