Cracked rear glass

[mikerb]

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Parked the M3 in a private driveway over new year while away in a weeks holiday, on return find a smiley face crack in rear window from side to side. Quick search shows similar cracks have blighted other drivers.

Booked a service 90 mins away 16 Jan, stating explicitly that this should be repaired under warranty and attaching photos showing no external damage. Response is “need to see it to determine validity of repair”. Not chuffed with this and hope they don’t mess me around.

Advice and suggestions gratefully received.

I love the car but this faff is tiresome.

 

[pgkevet]

Worth checking to see if your windscreen insurance cover the rear too.

 

[davidmc]

View attachment 498034 [View attachment 498033 Parked the M3 in a private driveway over new year while away in a weeks holiday, on return find a smiley face crack in rear window from side to side. Quick search shows similar cracks have blighted other drivers.

Booked a service 90 mins away 16 Jan, stating explicitly that this should be repaired under warranty and attaching photos showing no external damage. Response is “need to see it to determine validity of repair”. Not chuffed with this and hope they don’t mess me around.

Advice and suggestions gratefully received.

I love the car but this faff is tiresome.

Would it be worth a quick trip to an Autoglass outlet to have them do a quick report for you regards what they think caused it?

That way you can hand that report to Tesla if Autoglass say its failed and not through damage.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

Quite a few reports of this happening and some (like yours) are very obviously a weakness which has become a crack when the heating element is turned on, but others are not as conclusive so I do understand why they would want a closer look.

 

[Daverh]

The heating element does look a different colour under the central point.

 

[pjuk]

Same happened to my front windscreen on an MX. Taking it to SC in March for them to advise - I’ll probably go to auto glass for advice as it shows no damage from the outside and I cannot feel any crack.

 

[mikerb]

Took your advice and had it looked at by auto glass. They said air had been trapped next to the heating element and this had probably heated and pressurised causing the crack. Should be a warranty repair.

Then took it to Tesla stockport who were v friendly and helpful even though the tech staff weren’t there. I’ve got the service appointment on Leeds late next week but all they’ll do is look at it, and it’s a long drive. I’ll try popping in to stockport to see if a tech can look at it and then book in a repair.

Same happened to my front windscreen on an MX. Taking it to SC in March for them to advise - I’ll probably go to auto glass for advice as it shows no damage from the outside and I cannot feel any crack.

 

[rogbmurray]

Scary. By chance, are the windows tinted?

 

[Dariushd]

Just woke up to find a crack forming in mine too. Service call scheduled in 3 days. Tinted about 9 months ago.

 

[Ant M3]

I used to be a defect engineer for aerospace glass , picture isn’t great to see fully but I can’t see any impact marks so my bet is that there was an inclusion within the glass structure (usually tin or aluminium) from the float process. Under heating and cooling cycles the inclusion grows (still microscopic) and eventually penetrates the case depth of the glass.

 

[tomorrowman]

Just had my cracked rear glass replaced under Warranty by Tesla Winchester Service Centre.

Interestingly I had pointed it out to a mobile service engineer who had come out to fix my rear light (condensation issues warranty replacement) who advised it was a known issue with early model 3's (got mine Aug 2019) and they are generally fixed under warranty.

He was right. Booked the service in the app, provided the pictures and came back with zero cost estimate

Interestingly they also did some work on the wiring harness to prevent 'water ingress'

 

[bay74]

Similar happened to my Sep' '19 Model 3 recently. Crack right across the bottom of the rear glass. Also told they can't agree it's a warranty item without seeing it. Quote is for about $1500 if it's not warranty. First available service appointment is over a month away (sheesh! Melbourne, Aus').

Unlikely to have been the defroster, can't recall when we last used that given it's our warm season now.

 

[Adopado]

Similar happened to my Sep' '19 Model 3 recently. Crack right across the bottom of the rear glass. Also told they can't agree it's a warranty item without seeing it. Quote is for about $1500 if it's not warranty. First available service appointment is over a month away (sheesh! Melbourne, Aus').

Unlikely to have been the defroster, can't recall when we last used that given it's our warm season now.

Don't worry ... if there's no impact damage a warranty repair is pretty much a given.

 

[Billbrown1982]

Don't worry ... if there's no impact damage a warranty repair is pretty much a given.

Would they still warranty it if you've had it tinted? Or are they likely to blame the tint?

I am picking my car up in 2 weeks (eeek) and want to get the back window tinted, but if this is a risk...maybe I will wait.