Hello, newbie because Tesla won’t warranty a stress crack on the roof..can anyone lend some valuable advice or direct me on what to do next without having to pay out of pocket. They say its an outside impact issue No insurance involvment.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Cracked glass roof problem
- Thread starter PissedOffKent
- Start date
I had my rear window/roof replaced due to a crack. At the time, the SC said that it would be replaced under warranty if there was no evidence of impact. The crack I had did look differently than yours. If I ran my finger over the crack on the exterior it was smooth, how about yours? What makes them say it is from outside impact?
It does have the appearance of a point of impact at the base of the y, like mazers described his was smooth, yours probably has texture in the area described. Definitely sucks to have this happen. At the same time Tesla needs to have some parameters otherwise they would be replacing every single piece of cracked glass.
Pretty common it seems. The glass is not very tough. I am not sure if it is the type of glass, Thinness, or the way it is positioned that any impact hits the edge.
It can be but I don’t and shouldn’t have to involve insurance, for a defect. I told them my car has less than 700 miles on it and when I drive off my inclined drive way, I always proceed in an angle to avoid front valence impact, in fact any curb, so the car has to flex because of that.
While the model 3 has an incredibly stiff chassis, there are too many of these identical cracks, right at the center line to just be an accident.
However, the edge of the glass is an EXTREMELY delicate part of the roof, and in fact its my opinion that it needs some trim piece to cover this gap. Even a tiny pebble could potentially cause a crack like you see if it struck just right. Many people don't understand the difference between the strength and toughness between the face of glass and the edge of glass with laminated and tempered glass like this. Something the size of a rock that causes the average chip, would destroy the edge of glass if hit with the same force.
Very often you could hit unbroken glass right on the face of it with a steel faced hammer with medium force and have it not break. Then take something tiny like a bolt and just tap the edge of glass and you will see fractures develop. Its all about the crystal grain of the glass after treatment, and the resonance frequency of the object striking the glass.
To understand if this was truly impact related, I'd have to see a Macro focus picture, extremely close up of the glass leading edge.
Due to how many folks are experiencing this same crack in the same place, I'd say its likely a factory issue. Whether you can get them to pay for it is another matter. its either poor edge treatment of the glass before tempering, or a stress fracture due to the design of the assembly, or excess flex of the chassis.
However, the edge of the glass is an EXTREMELY delicate part of the roof, and in fact its my opinion that it needs some trim piece to cover this gap. Even a tiny pebble could potentially cause a crack like you see if it struck just right. Many people don't understand the difference between the strength and toughness between the face of glass and the edge of glass with laminated and tempered glass like this. Something the size of a rock that causes the average chip, would destroy the edge of glass if hit with the same force.
Very often you could hit unbroken glass right on the face of it with a steel faced hammer with medium force and have it not break. Then take something tiny like a bolt and just tap the edge of glass and you will see fractures develop. Its all about the crystal grain of the glass after treatment, and the resonance frequency of the object striking the glass.
To understand if this was truly impact related, I'd have to see a Macro focus picture, extremely close up of the glass leading edge.
Due to how many folks are experiencing this same crack in the same place, I'd say its likely a factory issue. Whether you can get them to pay for it is another matter. its either poor edge treatment of the glass before tempering, or a stress fracture due to the design of the assembly, or excess flex of the chassis.
M3BlueGeorgia
Active Member
Appears to be a warranty issue.
These issues with the glass (which I haven't had) make me wonder why Tesla let every car had a glass roof, even though its a heckuva nice feature.
These issues with the glass (which I haven't had) make me wonder why Tesla let every car had a glass roof, even though its a heckuva nice feature.
Would something like the wind noise reduction kit that aftermarket sites are selling help, by filling in this gap?
Model 3 Wind Noise Reduction Kit Only $24 with 20% Off
It would help somewhat if the issue is with rock strikes at this seam. I am planning on running a small bead of black or charcoal Dowcorning 795 silicone in this seam.
Still this will do nothing to help what appears to be a factory defect.
I just got my model 3 performance edition 2 weeks ago. Last week when I got to garage the back glass was broken. No visual damage, and how it could come from sitting in garage. Waiting reply from dealer when they are going to replace the window. It has to go on warranty, I am not going to pay for window that breaks by just sitting in garage. I think the temperature difference might done the break, cause it was really cold day here in Finland, almost minus 20 degrees celsius, car was outside for the whole day and when I got home in the evening I drove it to warm garage.
Do you have any pictures of this damage? You are quite likely correct, this sounds like a thermal crack from expansion or contraction.
Any glass experts out there? I ran my finger over crack and it’s smooth, here’s some more pics
I also scheduled another appointment at another Tesla service center, to get another opinion
