Model 3 Shattered Rear Passenger Window

[fantasmagorica]

Hi,

I know there are some posts already in the Model Y and X and all in the USA, but I can't find anything for a Model 3 in the UK (New as of Feb 2022).

On my way home tonight I was stationary in traffic and when pulling away slowly at about 3mph my rear passenger window completely shattered. Luckily it's tinted so it kept the million pieces of glass in one place. As you can see from the photo the window has blown out from the inside and there is no impact.
Annoyingly the sentry footage doesn't capture the window itself but does show that nothing is near the vehicle at the time it shattered.

I called up the Tesla emergency number who told me that they would text me a number of a bodyshop but that I need to contact my insurance.

Obviously I'm slightly niffed and I see this as a warranty issue, I can see that some US customers have had no problem getting Tesla to cover this but I can't see anything in the UK. This is a rare but not unknown occurrence. My car was parked in an underground car park all day and shattered within about 5 minutes of exiting at 25 degree very sunny afternoon, all the windows were shut.

I"m wondering if anyone in the UK has had this problem? and more importantly any luck with Tesla?

(Please see a photo below I manage to take before the window fell out. The shade difference is due to the angle of the tint

 

[Adopado]

It’s a thing that happens very occasionally with toughened glass windows. You’re right it should really be a warranty issue. I had 2 side windows spontaneously explode within 24 hours of each other in a brand new mini … back in 1980!

 

[Andy_RS2113]

This will be due to something called a nickel sulphide inclusion, which is a microscopic chemical anomaly in the glass which is formed during the toughening process. It affects maybe one in 10,000 toughened units, and can cause them to spontaneously break, normally upon thermal stress. I supply commercial glass to the construction industry and come across this occasionally. Ours are not replaced under warranty either.

 

[Adopado]

This will be due to something called a nickel sulphide inclusion, which is a microscopic chemical anomaly in the glass which is formed during the toughening process. It affects maybe one in 10,000 toughened units, and can cause them to spontaneously break, normally upon thermal stress. I supply commercial glass to the construction industry and come across this occasionally. Ours are not replaced under warranty either.

I suppose it’s one of those things that’s almost impossible for the customer to prove so companies can do a body swerve on the warranty.

 

[fantasmagorica]

Thanks. I've got it booked it for a "service" tomorrow and I'm waiting for Tesla to call me back today (they probably won't), but I'll call them to get it sorted. I can't see how this wouldn't be a warranty issue as it's simply a manufacturing defect. I'm pretty good at pushing this type of thing and the details above do help.

 

[Andy_RS2113]

I suppose it’s one of those things that’s almost impossible for the customer to prove so companies can do a body swerve on the warranty.

It's more of a "this is a naturally occurring phenomenon, and we as the manufacturer have no control over it, no matter how much QC and QA we put in place at the factory, so how can we be held responsible?"

Sucks I know, but it is what it is.

I would imagine in this case, it was caused by thermal stress of having the air con on internally causing cold internal glass temp and then a sudden transition to a hot external temp.

 

[AndrewGR]

If it is accepted that the failure was due to faulty materials then I would have thought it would be covered under warranty. The fact that Tesla were unable to detect that the materials were faulty is not the customer’s problem.

 

[Adopado]

It's more of a "this is a naturally occurring phenomenon, and we as the manufacturer have no control over it, no matter how much QC and QA we put in place at the factory, so how can we be held responsible?"

Sucks I know, but it is what it is.

I would imagine in this case, it was caused by thermal stress of having the air con on internally causing cold internal glass temp and then a sudden transition to a hot external temp.

View attachment 839019

I’m afraid whether you can avoid it or not is not as a manufacturer is not relevant in law. You provide a product that is supposed to perform in a certain way… if it doesn’t then the customer is entitled to claim… in fact it wouldn’t even need to be a claim via a specific warranty, it would be covered by standard rights. It’s a cost that the company needs to build into its own pricing of the product. So if it only happens once in every 10,000 sales the you just add a tiny amount to all your prices so that you don’t make a financial loss. The unlucky occasional customer then doesn’t get stung with a huge bill.

 

[Andy_RS2113]

If it is accepted that the failure was due to faulty materials then I would have thought it would be covered under warranty. The fact that Tesla were unable to detect that the materials were faulty is not the customer’s problem.

That's the thing though here - the materials are not "faulty". A NiS inclusion may go a thousand years without ever causing a problem. Or it may cause the glass to shatter as soon as it comes out of the toughening plant. As stated earlier, it's a chemical phenomenon found in a small proportion of all soda lime silicate glass, which can sometimes cause the unit to shatter. I would imagine whoever Tesla source their automotive glass from (SGG, Pilkington, Fuyao etc) will also not warrant against this, so in the end it's really up to Tesla if they want to help the customer out or not...

 

[Durzel]

Even if it were faulty, the OP has tinted his windows which Tesla would likely point to as the reason it is not covered by warranty.

 

[M3noob]

Even if it were faulty, the OP has tinted his windows which Tesla would likely point to as the reason it is not covered by warranty.

Yeah, sure. (double positve = negative). Just like they blamed the Velcro on the back of my display when they obviously broke it when repairing the cable behind.

 

[fantasmagorica]

That's the thing though here - the materials are not "faulty". A NiS inclusion may go a thousand years without ever causing a problem. Or it may cause the glass to shatter as soon as it comes out of the toughening plant. As stated earlier, it's a chemical phenomenon found in a small proportion of all soda lime silicate glass, which can sometimes cause the unit to shatter. I would imagine whoever Tesla source their automotive glass from (SGG, Pilkington, Fuyao etc) will also not warrant against this, so in the end it's really up to Tesla if they want to help the customer out or not...

That's still a manufacturing defect though, no matter how rare.

Under UK law, I know I'm covered. This is a materials failure under the expected life span of the product/material. I'm protected by UK consumer laws, regardless of actual warranties etc...
Tesla USA do cover this issue under warranty, I've got it verbally agreed by Tesla UK that they will cover it. I'm just trying to get it in writing from Tesla service.

 

[fantasmagorica]

Even if it were faulty, the OP has tinted his windows which Tesla would likely point to as the reason it is not covered by warranty.

To be honest, I've flipped this on it's head with Telsa, if the window wasn't tinted the glass would have exploded both in and out of the cabin, so I'm lucky that it was tinted. Taking this happens on non-tinted windows, they couldn't use that as a cause.

 

[Durzel]

To be honest, I've flipped this on it's head with Telsa, if the window wasn't tinted the glass would have exploded both in and out of the cabin, so I'm lucky that it was tinted. Taking this happens on non-tinted windows, they couldn't use that as a cause.

I don't disagree with you. The tinting didn't cause the explosion, I'm just saying that it's something that Tesla can (and in my opinion) point to as a reason they aren't prepared to honour the warranty on it, like any modification.

 

[beasty54]

It's more of a "this is a naturally occurring phenomenon, and we as the manufacturer have no control over it, no matter how much QC and QA we put in place at the factory, so how can we be held responsible?"

Whether it occurs naturally or not is irrelevant, the defect happened during manufacturing, the manufacturer is responsible! I can't belive you really make your customers cover the cost of exploding glass, extremely poor.

 

[fantasmagorica]

Update: Tesla have agreed to cover under warranty, luckily I took the picture which showed no impact on the glass. So the tint really did help, otherwise I could not have proven no impact (apart from the car cameras).

 

[Andy_RS2113]

To be honest, I've flipped this on it's head with Telsa, if the window wasn't tinted the glass would have exploded both in and out of the cabin, so I'm lucky that it was tinted. Taking this happens on non-tinted windows, they couldn't use that as a cause

Whether it occurs naturally or not is irrelevant, the defect happened during manufacturing, the manufacturer is responsible! I can't belive you really make your customers cover the cost of exploding glass, extremely poor.

Whether you believe it or not, or whether you think it’s poor or not, does not change the fact that it’s standard practice across the industry. Please feel free to Google NiS inclusions and warranty if you’re that bothered…

 

[Adopado]

Whether you believe it or not, or whether you think it’s poor or not, does not change the fact that it’s standard practice across the industry. Please feel free to Google NiS inclusions and warranty if you’re that bothered…

I'm baffled as to why something that occurs (according to a previous post) approximately once in 10,000 pieces of toughened glass this amount of loss cannot be borne by the manufacturer. If one 10,000th of the cost of an averaged sheet was added to the price of every product supplied you would have enough to cover the cost of replacement. There are lots of occasions where things cannot be avoided or predicted by a manufacturer so it amazes me to discover that the world of toughened glass is different!

 

[beasty54]

Whether you believe it or not, or whether you think it’s poor or not, does not change the fact that it’s standard practice across the industry. Please feel free to Google NiS inclusions and warranty if you’re that bothered…

I believe it, and it is poor! A warranty can state whatever it wants, it's irrelevant unless you're someone that blindly accepts what a company tells you. I had the same thing with a monitor and dead pixels once, it didn't go the retailers / manufacturers way because they don't get to decide what the average person considers a manufacturing defect.

I'm not really that bothered because I wouldn't let it happen to me, the average person does not expect glass to explode, therefor its not of satisfactory quality and it does have a defect.

 

[beasty54]

I'm baffled as to why something that occurs (according to a previous post) approximately once in 10,000 pieces of toughened glass this amount of loss cannot be borne by the manufacturer. If one 10,000th of the cost of an averaged sheet was added to the price of every product supplied you would have enough to cover the cost of replacement. There are lots of occasions where things cannot be avoided or predicted by a manufacturer so it amazes me to discover that the world of toughened glass is different!

Exactly this, any manufacturer passing this off on a customer because "we can't be held responsible" says all you need to know about them.