Is this a nationwide scam or just where I live?

[kentuck]

Driving to and fro, I see all kinds of cars, small and large, and SUVs, and trucks of all sizes with broken windshields. I never see the side windows cracked - they seem to be thicker than the windshields? Why is that? I can recall when windshields never cracked - even if you threw a brick into them. So, it seems to me that it is a scam. By the producers of windshields, insurance companies, and auto repair shops. Have you noticed??

[BlooInBloo]

1. Uhh.... windshields run into things.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Yup. It's called planned obsolence

They started making them thinner in the early 80's I think.

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Most of the time, the cracks come from rocks and debris that hit it when

you're driving too close behind a car or truck.

[Bluerthanblue]

4. here in NH there have been a LOT of cracked windshields

because we had a super snowy winter, and the cost and availability of 'salt' caused more sand to be put down on the roads, which increases the risk of broken windshields- (pebbles tossed up) which is why our interstate only uses salt.

Don't know if that might impact you or not-

peace~

[kentuck]

6. Younger DUers may not remember?

But there was a time not long ago when, no matter if a small pebble hit your windshield, it would not crack all the way across. Of course, if you do not remember those times, it would be alien to your thinking?

[Bluerthanblue]

8. welllll- I wish I could

say I was a younger DUer but I'd be lying-:silly: And you might be right about the windshields being more prone to cracking these days. I remember when there weren't tinted windscreens- And my first car had a vacuum control windshield wiper (it was an antique VW bug- the best car I ever loved. No gas guage either, a lever you turned, which opened the emergency supply that was supposed to get you to the next gas station)

My oldest son- has noticed the same thing as you. He suspects it might be due to the increased heat of the sun, and the changes in temperature the glass gets exposed to with so many cars having air conditioning- Nothing seems to be made as well as I remember- but I usually chalk that up to my half century of living-

:shrug:

peace~

[Orrex]

5. Crack is a nationwide problem affecting all of us

How dare you call it a scam, you insensitive lout?!?

[TomInTib]

7. Funny you should mention it.

Just yesterday, I was commenting on the same subject with a friend.

I live in Southern Marin County, California, where the weather is eternally mild and the streets are free of debris.

And I have never seen anything even remotely approaching the incidence of broken side and rear windows as we are seeing here.

Rear and side windows are also much more expensive than windshields.

I am going to start paying closer attention to this. Maybe I'll ask the guys over at the glass place what their take is on this.

[kentuck]

9. I can recall as a kid...

Throwing rocks and bricks at the windshields of old junk cars. But it was almost impossible to get them to break. They had like two layers of glass with some sort of adhesive between the layers. You could make a nick in it with a huge rock but you could not break it or crack it like today's windshields. It just seems to me to be a racket...

[Bluerthanblue]

10. "safety glass"- and jeez

my father would have whooped your ass if he'd caught you throwing rocks-
He sure did mine- I learned to try NOT to break anything.


You'd be surprised how easy it is to break glass. One single poke with a centerpunch.

peace~