Glass Roof Cracks

[ammar_YVR]

Today I seem to join many Model 3 owners who have suddenly noticed a large crack in the glass roof without any sign of impact.

My car is only 3 months old, and not seeing a sign of impact or hearing any noise whatsoever, I can only assume a manufacturer defect / stress crack, etc.

As such, I am hoping Tesla takes responsibility and fix that for free. It is enough we have to go through the hassle of fixing it and the long expected wait (earliest appointment in about three weeks, and who know how long for parts to arrive).

I have emailed Tesla and I am waiting for their response.

I would like to ask owners with similar experience: How did Tesla handle their cases? Did they accept responsibility and replaced the glass for free? If not, do you think it should? Has there been a concerted effort to request that?

Thanks,

Ammar

 

[cylarian]

The same thing happened to me, except it was on my rear glass. I had a stress crack on the inside that happened about 3-4 months after I tinted it.

Tesla will determine if the crack was caused by impact. If no impact, they will replace your glass for free.
However, if you tinted your glass, they may give you some trouble and blame the crack on your tint (which doesn't make sense to me...). They replaced my tinted glass for free but mentioned that it would be the last time if I tint again. Note that they do not reimburse aftermarket tint.

There's definitely a defect going around in their glass, as I see a good number of reports of glass cracking with or without tint.

 

[ammar_YVR]

The same thing happened to me, except it was on my rear glass. I had a stress crack on the inside that happened about 3-4 months after I tinted it.

Tesla will determine if the crack was caused by impact. If no impact, they will replace your glass for free.
However, if you tinted your glass, they may give you some trouble and blame the crack on your tint (which doesn't make sense to me...). They replaced my tinted glass for free but mentioned that it would be the last time if I tint again. Note that they do not reimburse aftermarket tint.

There's definitely a defect going around in their glass, as I see a good number of reports of glass cracking with or without tint.

Thank you for sharing that info. I am glad to see that at least they do an assessment to see if the crack is because of impact or because of a defect. But I agree, so many people talking about cracked glass. Frankly I am not surprised, because -as much as I love Tesla- when it comes to the quality of craftsmanship, it really is lagging way behind others in its class (BMW, Mercedes, etc.). You can visibility see so many faults and misalignment almost anywhere you look. I wonder if such misalignment can cause more stress on a glass pane than it would if it had been fitted properly.

 

[acarney]

The same thing happened to me, except it was on my rear glass. I had a stress crack on the inside that happened about 3-4 months after I tinted it.

Tesla will determine if the crack was caused by impact. If no impact, they will replace your glass for free.
However, if you tinted your glass, they may give you some trouble and blame the crack on your tint (which doesn't make sense to me...). They replaced my tinted glass for free but mentioned that it would be the last time if I tint again. Note that they do not reimburse aftermarket tint.

There's definitely a defect going around in their glass, as I see a good number of reports of glass cracking with or without tint.

The only thing I can think of is that a lot of the heat is being absorbed by the tint layer and then being transferred to the glass. If you look at the specs some of the best films block ~50% to 70% of the total thermal energy but then if you look at how it does that, 70% to 90% is absorbed by the film and only about 6 to 10% is reflected. So your glass is now acting as a heat sink soaking up all that heat. I suspect this is actually why you don’t get as much cooking effect as one would expect. Place your hand 5 inches away and you probably don’t feel much heat, but place your hand a quarter inch or so away from that glass and I bet you can feel quite a lot of heat coming off the glass.

 

[TomServo]

What about mis-jacking the car? Could that also cause stress cracks in the glass roof? How would Tesla determine that?

 

[ecarfan]

I have emailed Tesla and I am waiting for their response.

You sent an email and are waiting, instead of calling the Vancouver Servicer Center directly or driving there and showing them the roof glass crack?

They are going to have to see the crack to make an evaluation. If you are too busy to drive to your local Service Center, at least call them and ask them to send out a Mobile Tech person to look at it.

Let us know what happens.

 

[XLR82XS]

As my tinter states: make sure you do not utilize a ceramic film on the rear glass as it absorbs more heat than it reflects. This can certainly cause cracking as he and other tint installers have witnessed.

 

[Jrzapata]

I just dropped my car off at the service center, BUT mine is crack because of impact. Rock flying down the freeway hit it. It took 2 months to get the parts available. I am not angry at Tesla for the wait, but If I find that rock I have a few words for it.

 

[rhumbliner]

I developed a crack in the front windshield of my MS last year. When I called the service center they sent a 3rd party auto glass installer to my house the next day and the installer reported the glass had been installed incorrectly — the alignment holes in the glass weren’t aligned over the pegs on the frame. The installer gave me a new windshield and said there would be no charge.

 

[ChrisH]

You sent an email and are waiting, instead of calling the Vancouver Servicer Center directly or driving there and showing them the roof glass crack?

They are going to have to see the crack to make an evaluation. If you are too busy to drive to your local Service Center, at least call them and ask them to send out a Mobile Tech person to look at it.

Let us know what happens.

Have you tried calling Tesla? It’s usually like a 45 minute experience on hold. Most of us don’t have time for that.

 

[Fusion]

The only thing I can think of is that a lot of the heat is being absorbed by the tint layer and then being transferred to the glass. If you look at the specs some of the best films block ~50% to 70% of the total thermal energy but then if you look at how it does that, 70% to 90% is absorbed by the film and only about 6 to 10% is reflected. So your glass is now acting as a heat sink soaking up all that heat. I suspect this is actually why you don’t get as much cooking effect as one would expect. Place your hand 5 inches away and you probably don’t feel much heat, but place your hand a quarter inch or so away from that glass and I bet you can feel quite a lot of heat coming off the glass.

If this was the case, everyone's window that ever been tinted would be cracking.

 

[acarney]

If this was the case, everyone's window that ever been tinted would be cracking.

Depends on the quality of glass, how it’s manufactured, the stress involved with it, the size and shape, etc.

I do suspect just about all tinted glass gets hotter then glass that isn’t tinted...

Someone with a surface temp thermocouple do some side by side tests, I would be curious to see what the difference is.

 

[AJ_JAIN]

Today I seem to join many Model 3 owners who have suddenly noticed a large crack in the glass roof without any sign of impact.

My car is only 3 months old, and not seeing a sign of impact or hearing any noise whatsoever, I can only assume a manufacturer defect / stress crack, etc.

As such, I am hoping Tesla takes responsibility and fix that for free. It is enough we have to go through the hassle of fixing it and the long expected wait (earliest appointment in about three weeks, and who know how long for parts to arrive).

I have emailed Tesla and I am waiting for their response.

I would like to ask owners with similar experience: How did Tesla handle their cases? Did they accept responsibility and replaced the glass for free? If not, do you think it should? Has there been a concerted effort to request that?

Thanks,

Ammar

I ran into similar issue. A small stress crack developed in the rear roof glass after owning the car for 11 months. Tesla replaced the glass for free. SC asked for pics prior to the appointment. They also confirmed that there was no safety issue with driving the car with the crack.
The glass was tinted but Tesla rep did not say anything about the tint. The car was in the shop for just one day. I dropped the car around 9am, and picked up at 530pm. Hope this helps.

 

[Rockster]

If this was the case, everyone's window that ever been tinted would be cracking.

I don't think it's a binary situation. It could be that people whose glass was installed with a slight bit of torque from a bit of misalignment who then tint their windows are increasing the chance of that slightly off-spec glass cracking. If that's the case people with glass that's installed perfectly to spec could tint without any ill effects.

 

[XLR82XS]

If this was the case, everyone's window that ever been tinted would be cracking.

Not necessarily. Lots of variables: film quality, amount of sun exposure due to region, use, installation, etc...

 

[DWdrum]

POIDH???

 

[Realessly]

Hi all! Just today i noticed a huge crack on the inside on my M3.. the line seems to start in the middle front to the back... call Tesla after too many mins trying to figure out how to speak to an actual human rather then the app. Was told to bring the car in for assessment the next day. I told the service tech I am freaked out by the giant crack.
He says they need to see and assess. Just reading all this thread, seems like this is a problem for Tesla?
I am in Los Angeles, weather has been mild, will get hotter soon and my car is not tinted yet.
If you have had this issue & Tesla did NOT cover you, was going thru insurance a pain? Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[acarney]

View attachment 444393 Hi all! Just today i noticed a huge crack on the inside on my M3.. the line seems to start in the middle front to the back... call Tesla after too many mins trying to figure out how to speak to an actual human rather then the app. Was told to bring the car in for assessment the next day. I told the service tech I am freaked out by the giant crack.
He says they need to see and assess. Just reading all this thread, seems like this is a problem for Tesla?
I am in Los Angeles, weather has been mild, will get hotter soon and my car is not tinted yet.
If you have had this issue & Tesla did NOT cover you, was going thru insurance a pain? Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

Tesla should cover that. It doesn't look like an impact and Tesla shouldn't really question past that. You might want to ask them after it's replaced if you can tint it and see what they say. There has been at least one report of someone getting their tinted glass replaced by Tesla but being told that if they tinted it again and it cracked again then Tesla would NOT replace it...

 

[Petrocelli]

Why are so many people tinting their glass roofs?

 

[Ragnarkov]

Reduces the heat in the car, as well as cuts down glare from the sun, and just makes kids in the back more friendly...