Spontaneous windshield crack?

[stadia]

My 2018 Model X windshield cracked today, without any sign of physical impact. I am wondering how. We went to a local county park. The windshield was fine when I parked and put up the sunlight shield (from inside). I found the crack 1.5 hours later when pulled down the sunlight shield to go home. There was not any sentry video. The car is dusty and had no sign of vandalism. The car was park in a parking area at least 15 feet away from the road and windshield was toward away from the road. Have people experienced spontaneous glass break? Could it be a Tesla defect?

I am using Tesla insurance. Should I expect that Tesla insurance pay for Tesla repair if it is deemed not a manufacture defect? I heard a few times that insurances refused to pay for the repair done by Tesla service center or bodyshop because of their high price.

Thanks.

 

[sacfan]

My 2018 Model X windshield cracked today, without any sign of physical impact. I am wondering how. We went to a local county park. The windshield was fine when I parked and put up the sunlight shield (from inside). I found the crack 1.5 hours later when pulled down the sunlight shield to go home. There was not any sentry video. The car is dusty and had no sign of vandalism. The car was park in a parking area at least 15 feet away from the road and windshield was toward away from the road. Have people experienced spontaneous glass break? Could it be a Tesla defect?

I am using Tesla insurance. Should I expect that Tesla insurance pay for Tesla repair if it is deemed not a manufacture defect? I heard a few times that insurances refused to pay for the repair done by Tesla service center or bodyshop because of their high price.

Thanks.

 

[sacfan]

At least in California, windshield damage is covered by all auto insurance. For some companies (if not all) the deductible is zero despite your deductibles elsewhere. This is my understanding; please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[njhtran]

I’ve never heard of this. I hope it’s true

 

[sacfan]

I’ve never heard of this. I hope it’s true

Just check your actual policy or call the insurance company to ask to know for sure. If you find out something different, please post it.

Addendum:
My original answer might be somewhat misleading. Windshield glass is covered under the “Comprehensive” coverage of your policy. However, I assume that most of us have comprehensive coverage given the cost of these vehicles. Whether or not there is a deductible probably depends on your actual policy. You might want to check in advance to see if you have 0 deductible for glass breakage or whether you would have to pay your usual comprehensive deductible. Given the cost of the windshield glass, you might want to pay the few dollars asked to upgrade to a zero deductible just on glass breakage. See the attached:
Do You Have the Right Insurance Coverage to Fix Windshield Damage?

 

[JamesLondon]

This happened to me last month in my Raven Model X. It was a really hot day for the UK. I logged onto the app to cool the car down before going out for a drive. I happened to notice the internal temperature was 60° C.

I went to drive the car 10 minutes later and noticed a crack had appeared on the right hand side of the windshield. It started in the bottom right corner (beneath the blacked out section) and ran at a slight upwards angle, about a quarter of the way across the bottom of the screen. I’ve only managed 1,000 miles on the car since new (due to Covid lockdown) and there was no visible chips / damage to the screen.
I booked it in for service, and Tesla conformed (once they had inspected it) that it was a stress fracture and they would replace it under warranty.

I did a bit of research and stress cracks can happen to all cars. It appears they usually happen in the first year of ownership.

If your crack starts at the outside edge of the windshield, and there is no damage to the windshield (Tesla ran a pen down the crack to feel for chips) then I’d put it down to a stress crack.

There are several posts on this forum if you look for stress fracture or stress crack.

 

[JamesLondon]

And here is a photo

 

[Doutt]

My 2018 did the same thing. Tesla replaced it under warranty.

 

[stadia]

I checked the crack. It's on the inside layer. So I think it was very likely due to the unbalance stress and should be under the warranty. I have an appointment with Tesla Service Center next week. I will let you know what they will say.

 

[stadia]

The Tesla service center took it as a warranty issue. So I didn't pay money for the repair. They inspected the crack and didn't see any impact. It's a happy ending.

 

[ElectricSteve]

Stresscracks are "normal" in all cars, especially when very large temperature differences are involved.

 

[stadia]

It didn't happen to any of other cars I ever owned or drove. It was a typical mild afternoon, in 80's Fahrenheit or high 20's Celcius, no rain nor hail. During my research I heard someone else said this kind of crack happened as "normal". However that does not mean it isn't a defect. The larger the glass is the higher risk a defect could occur. I am happy that Tesla stood behind their warranty. The high price we paid was towards to the technology and service.

 

[KentuckyX]

It didn't happen to any of other cars I ever owned or drove. It was a typical mild afternoon, in 80's Fahrenheit or high 20's Celcius, no rain nor hail. During my research I heard someone else said this kind of crack happened as "normal". However that does not mean it isn't a defect. The larger the glass is the higher risk a defect could occur. I am happy that Tesla stood behind their warranty. The high price we paid was towards to the technology and service.

The only car I've ever had this happen with was my Model 3. It occurred on the back glass where I had added tint. I'm not 100% positive the added tint caused the problem but there was no other evidence of any sort of outside influences (rocks, hail, etc) that could've caused it.

 

[ElectricSteve]

During my research I heard someone else said this kind of crack happened as "normal". However that does not mean it isn't a defect.

Oh it is a defect for sure. What I meant with „normal“ is that it happens a lot. I drove Audi, Peugeot, Volkswagen and Mercedes before 2014 when I got my first Tesla and it happened to me several times over 25 years of driving. I drive 50000+ km per year on average. And it always happened to me on hot summer days. Mostly windscreens, occasionally on large rear glass panels. Never on side windows (they would break under some burglary love...).

 

[Service]

That is rough! Usually there be some physical impact. Should be replaced through the warranty.
<a href="Auto Glass Repair, Windshield Services, Akron, Ohio">Auto Glass Repair Akron</a>

 

[Bogobec]

Got the same thing this morning after defrosting the car. No visible impact, goes all the way accros the windshield, at the bottom.
Winter time here
Just scheduled a service appointment, hopefully it will go under warranty too.

 

[Bogobec]

Well. Bad news. Tesla won’t cover it under warranty. It seems that they found a small impact along the crack. But I don’t agree. Seems more like a chip of glass that took of when it broke. It doesn’t look like a regular rock impact. But what do I know. So disappointed. I’m going to keep it like this. Can’t afford to have it change right now.

 

[Les236]

What was their estimate to change it?

 

[DCGOO]

What was their estimate to change it?

Same thing happened to me last week. Estimate was roughly us$1600, I run with $250 deductible comprehensive, so 250 to me. Tesla however found no evidence of any impact, actually it appeared the crack was on the inside, so they covered it under warranty. I canceled my insurance claim.

 

[Bogobec]

Same thing happened to me last week. Estimate was roughly us$1600, I run with $250 deductible comprehensive, so 250 to me. Tesla however found no evidence of any impact, actually it appeared the crack was on the inside, so they covered it under warranty. I canceled my insurance claim.

About the same but in CAD$. And I have a 500 deductible. I was really hopping it would be covered under warranty. Oh well.