Car window exploded - what could've happened?
 

I was doing 70 mph on I-80 when all of a sudden, my driver's side window exploded into the car, spraying glass all over my hair and clothes. It happened so fast that I cannot remember what occured just before and right after but I found myself pulling off the freeway to compose myself.

At first I thought it might've have been caused by sudden temp change as I was driving in snow then rain for the last 5 miles or so. I thought it could've also been caused by a rock kicked up by another vehicle. In any case, I am stumped.

Good thing I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and had my glasses on and had the presence of mind to pull off rather than panic.

this happened to the rear window of my friends Xterra this summer, except the car was parked and we were breaking down our campsite and getting ready to go home from our offroading trip. We also have no idea what happened

UFO?



Maybe you'll find some clues when it is light tomorrow. Sorry to hear that.

Dave

I had one do this once. It occured when I used the elec button to lower the window. The lowering mechansim in the door had come adrift and pulled one side of the window down only. BANG.

Nasty experience...

Edit- this did not occur in a 911.

If there has been a chip in the surface of the glass this can grow under the tension the glass is under and at some stage suddenly shatter.

I saw someone throw a peeble, like the size of lima bean, at a window as a joke, and it shattered. We couldn't believe it.

The window may have been under presure from being twisted slightly, and a small rock got kicked up and hit it.

Scary.

A little OT, but, I was "snapping" pennies in college to try and get them into an open second story window about 50' away and one strayed, hit a closed window (Doh, happened to be the RA's) and it cracked. Could not believe that a penny could do that at that distance. RA was cool about it, but he came running out, shouting "hey, you broke my window".

Dave

I betcha it was a rock, or perhaps a kid doing target practice with his pellet gun...

This crossed my mind as well but I was traveling 70 mph on the freeway on the left lane so whoever was shooting must've been a sharpshooter.

Happened to me once...best we could figure was the window came off track and was under pressure. I hit a bump and apparently the body flexed (it was a convertible) or cowl shake occurred and the window explode. Scared the bejeezus out of me.

I had a rock kicked up by a truck hit my drivers side window that chipped the window and bent the molding on the window frame. Swear I thought the window broke when the rock hit it but lucked out. This was in an '88 MBZ SEL tank.

Where were you on 80?


KT

In Penryn, going west towards Sac.

BB gun.

My first thought is bb or pellet gun. Saw a TV show a while back that made me think differently when driving by contruction areas or other roadwork where people are in close proximity to traffic. Seems this fellow and family didn't slow their car to the required 25 mph as the temporary signs had required and sped past the road crew at a much higher rate. A rock pinched off by one of the tires of the speeding car struck a worker and killed him. The driver was arrested.

assassination attempt

i would have gotten you if you werent driving so damn fast! i had to "lead" you way too much with my pellet guy.

glad you are ok. i think a truck tossed a rock. some of those big rigs get rocks stuck inbetween the tires. when they come out, it is like a cannon ball. you get random bounces with those things. a glancing blow from one of those, and your window will vaporize.

Just 2-3 weeks ago a driver was killed on I-5 by a trailer hitch that fell off a SUV, went thru the windshield and took him out. Passenger grabbed control of the car and kept it from crashing. Getting to be hazardous just leaving the house.

Glad you're ok.

Don

I had a small electronics rack that had a glass top that opened. It hinged in the back and rested horizontally over the turntable (that's a device that folks in the Middle Ages used to play music). You could open it upward to change records. One day I was opening it and it just shattered into a thousand pieces. There was no stress that I could feel. It was opening smoothly and easily and WHAM! It was tempered glass. Auto glass. And it shattered into a thousand little blunt diamonds. The diamonds were all over the room. I think the two glass panes and the plastic sheet in the middle were fighting with one another.

BB gun. How do I know?

Well, the cops sure can come into your friend's locked house fast when the 16 year-old girl - a new driver - stops, and one of the kids you hate in your 6th grade class points to your friend's window!

We'd been shooting cars to hear the "clink" of the BB against the metal (and shot at the kid too) and then we aimed a bit high.....

Took me a good deal of yardwork and weeding of other people's gardens (not to mention allowance) to pay the $160+ in 1970's $$$...

Karma though - the first new car my wife and I ever had - a 1995 Honda Odyssey minivan - got a deep BB ding in the driver's door after 2 weeks of ownership. Couldn't be mad, just ashamed and bemused.....