Sad. Blown spontaneous window blowout and paint damage....

[sorka]

Driving home tonight. Smooth road. Then all of a sudden my rear right door window blows out. Glass everywhere. Door paint and rear quarter panel paint died the death of a thousand cuts.

I thought it might have been the truck on the right that was just passing me when it happened throwing something at me and who knows, maybe it was, but I can't see anything from the dash cam video at night, so I'm assuming it was a random blowout. Perhaps something damaged it in the past and it was ready to go.

Skip to about the last 10 seconds of the video. Nothing really to see.

 

[FlatSix911]

I suspect an impact ... did you hear or see anything on the road?

 

[sorka]

I suspect an impact ... did you hear or see anything on the road?

I went back and listened carefully but didn't hear anything so if there was an impact it was at the time the window blew out. At that point there was no other car next to me.

I thought it might have been possible for something flying out from that truck, but the roads were smooth and anything heavy enough to break the glass probably would have stayed put.

I checked over the rest of the car on the front and right to see if there was any other damage. i.e if it was an angry driver through a handful of ball bearings or something.

Besides, the truck that passed me didn't seem angry when it did so.

 

[sorka]

I'll need to get the glass replaced before I can have a body shop do the work. The car is filthy from the trip to the snow we just took and I don't want a body shop trying to clean it so much dirt on it. I'm still swirl free after 32K miles. Now I'm going to lose factory paint on two panels. Hopefully they won't need to blend the front door.

 

[GoTslaGo]

Hate to ask this question, but any chance of a bullet fragment in the back seat?

Edit:

Just watched your video at slow speeds, doubt it.

 

[sorka]

Hate to ask this question, but any chance of a bullet fragment in the back seat?

Edit:

Just watched your video at slow speeds, doubt it.

Doubt it as well but I plan to check it out very carefully tomorrow morning when I clean out the glass in the back.

 

[sorka]

The online safelite quote for the glass is $338 if they come to you. Interestingly, when I did it again to see if it would be cheaper if I went to one of their shops rather than have them come to me, it went up to $488.

I wonder what Tesla will sell that glass for directly?

I'm going to pull of the panel tomorrow and clean all the broken glass out inside. I don't want anyone near it until then.

 

[Andyw2100]

Very sorry to see this.

It looks like the truck was well past you at the point the window shattered, so I doubt that had anything to do with it.

Please keep us posted.

 

[Barry]

Seems too coincidental that it happened just after the truck passed. Could a sheet of ice blown off the roof of the truck?

 

[clyjr]

Is that another vehicle behind the truck that just passed? Looks like a reflection in the tailgate, and lights just coming into frame. Looks like there was a vehicle almost beside you...

 

[habanero69]

Listening to the audio, I find it very hard to believe that was a window blowout without something striking it. I think you were struck by something, from the truck or not. If the window was somehow already compromised, I find it hard to believe it would really "blowout" with such force and speed. I don't know your speed, but that may have been enough to cause the rate at which it failed. That was almost like airplane decompression. Sorry you have to deal with that, especially the paint issue. That always disappoints...

 

[ecarfan]

Sorry to hear about your accident.

Given the reliability of modern auto glass, it seems next to impossible for a car window to spontaneously disintegrate without being struck by something. The sound of the impact would be, to human ears, simultaneously with the sound of the glass fracturing so you wouldn't be able to hear a distinct impact strike sound on your dashcam video.

The passing truck seems a likely suspect, but you will never know for sure.

 

[sorka]

Sorry to hear about your accident.

Given the reliability of modern auto glass, it seems next to impossible for a car window to spontaneously disintegrate without being struck by something. The sound of the impact would be, to human ears, simultaneously with the sound of the glass fracturing so you wouldn't be able to hear a distinct impact strike sound on your dashcam video.

The passing truck seems a likely suspect, but you will never know for sure.

It's possible but the truck was pretty far ahead of me by the time it happened. I need to go do a video sound sync test to make sure the blackview isn't off on the sound by a few seconds.

There are lots of reports of spontaneous blowouts if you look. I had a minivan once have it's right rear door window blow out right in front of me. Didn't see any reason reason for it. If you ask glass guys, they'll say what likely happened is that the window had been previously damaged from another impact of some sort and finally gave way.

More pictures:

 

[Altes]

Given the current state of roadways, the sheer volume of gravel truck traffic and the number of breakins in the SF bay area I looked into and got 0 deductible glass coverage. its paid for itself 10 times over as my old BMW glass was super expensive and super thin. continuing on the Tesla

 

[mspohr]

The online safelite quote for the glass is $338 if they come to you. Interestingly, when I did it again to see if it would be cheaper if I went to one of their shops rather than have them come to me, it went up to $488.

I wonder what Tesla will sell that glass for directly?

I'm going to pull of the panel tomorrow and clean all the broken glass out inside. I don't want anyone near it until then.

I had the right rear window replaced on my S at the Rocklin SC. It cost $630. Insurance paid for it less the deductible (was broken by a thief).

 

[GoTslaGo]

There was another car in the far lane on the video at the end. It is just nosing in at the last second. Could you check the video following this segment as well?

 

[Bangor Bob]

FWIW, breaking a side window from an impact is hard. REALLY hard. When I was much, much younger I worked at a wrecking yard crushing cars one summer - when we were bored we'd throw brake drums at side windows. Most of the time they'd just bounce off. Brake drums are not light.

Conversely, it take a surprisingly small force against the edge of a window to break one. If there was something trapped under the chrome pushing on the edge of the window, a bump could give enough of a shock to do it.

 

[skitch23]

Hate to ask this question, but any chance of a bullet fragment in the back seat?

Edit:

Just watched your video at slow speeds, doubt it.

I was thinking the same thing. We had a freeway shooter in Phoenix last year... the suspect they arrested and later released was in the news again just yesterday because they gave him his gun back.

 

[deonb]

There are lots of reports of spontaneous blowouts if you look.

Sure, but the odds of both happening at exactly the same time without an outside actor, has got to be lower than winning the lottery.

 

[ChadS]

About 20 years ago (so it was obviously not in a Tesla), I had something identical happen on a road trip. A truck passed me on the right, and then our right rear window blew out, without us seeing or finding any projectiles.

We always assumed it was a glancing blow from a rock kicked up by the passing vehicle (and the guy at the glass shop concurred), but of course there's never any way to be sure.