rear window exploded!!

[lokuputha]

Iv'e never heard of this before:

My dad has a 1999 Passat. He was driving down the highway and his back window just exploded. Nothing was thrown or shot at it. Does anyone know what could have caused this??

VW cars, even the new ones, suffer from relatively stiff frames...notice i didn't say rigid, they are too stiff sometimes...this causes vibration harshnesses to travel to other parts of the car...on the highway the frame could have sent in a vibration frequency that matches the natural harmonics of the rear window causing it to vibrate and shatter. car companies do all these tests before they release any car model...but its a 1999 VW go figure.

in turn, Honda is very good at developing frames that are both rigid and impact resistant...rather than making the entire frame one stiff body, with analysis they strategically place chassis reinforcements throughout. This ensures a light and strong chassis with minimized harshness characteristics.

point of the story....buy a Honda

[NAiL05]

This isnt the first VW I heard happen. I heard it happen on a local forum. Mainly Jettas though. Its wierd.

[Akira_kj]

its tempured glass.End of story. probly had a nic or something from a rock and shatterd from the vibration of driving on the highway.

All it takes is a minor nic or improfection in the surface of the tempured glass for it to fail. tempured glass is strong untell the surface is damaged. Then its brittel like egg shell. In all actuality it was probly a small crack from slamming the trunk or hatchback that destroyed the surface tention of the glass. then all it takes is rolling the window down or a small bump/vibration at speed to create enuf pressure to complete the failure.

Tempured glass is intened to fail after the surface is damaged. Its better than huge shards of glass hitting you in the face when you get in a wreck.

[lokuputha]

its tempured glass.End of story. probly had a nic or something from a rock and shatterd from the vibration of driving on the highway.

All it takes is a minor nic or improfection in the surface of the tempured glass for it to fail. tempured glass is strong untell the surface is damaged. Then its brittel like egg shell. In all actuality it was probly a small crack from slamming the trunk or hatchback that destroyed the surface tention of the glass. then all it takes is rolling the window down or a small bump/vibration at speed to create enuf pressure to complete the failure.

Tempured glass is intened to fail after the surface is damaged. Its better than huge shards of glass hitting you in the face when you get in a wreck.

isn't glass tempered to release some of the internal stresses that occur when it is rapidly cooled in quenching processes?

[pax217]

isn't glass tempered to release some of the internal stresses that occur when it is rapidly cooled in quenching processes?

Nah, you're all wrong. It's just a Volkswagen.
-pax

[wills_accord]

its a volkswagen.

x2