Sibsy

I was on my way to work today, I had gotten off the highway and was driving down a regular street, doing about 50 km/h. All of a sudden, I heard a loud pop and when I looked in my rear-view my back hatch window had a huge gaping hole in it. I pulled over and signaled the driver behind me to pull over to see if she saw anything hit me.

She said that she didn't see anything...this is just so bizarre. I can't figure out why this would happen. Some think it might've been the chance of kids with a pellet gun or something to that affect...but at 8:20 in the morning, it just seems a bit odd to me....especially since I wasn't at a stand still.

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.

SmootHHR

Having a hole in the window is odd. From what I understand, the glass should simply crack (spider) but not shatter to where it is falling out. That sounds like an object hit it.

Sibsy

Yes, it was very odd. The "hole" went lengthwise...almost the length of the back window itself...but there was still glass along the top, bottom and sides...a good few inches at least. I did notice that around the edge of it, where the glass meets the actual car, was shattered in parts too.

bk94si

That's what safety glass does when it is hit. I go with the pellet gun theory. Either that or a flaw in the glass.

843de

That really sounds like projectile damage, I'd file a police report if you already haven't, might be some kid/loony/idiot taking pot shots at passing cars.

NYCHHR

Were you using your rear window defogger this morning?

Years ago on my Honda Accord, I was using the rear window defogger. Got home, got out of the car, shut the door and the entire rear window shattered and fell in. I thought the same thing as you and wondered who did something to shatter the window but there was no one around. The defogger had overheated the glass and the vibration of closing the door caused it to shatter. A few months later I received a recall about this issue from Honda and they reimbursed the replacement glass.

If this was the cause, Chevy probably won't cover this. That's why they have a timer on the defogger now so it hopefully won't overheat.

If you did have the defogger on and it overheated, you may have gone over a bump or pothole which caused enough vibration to shatter the glass. This could be the explanation based on my experience.

sleeper

Yes, my 1st thought also.

silverbelle09

happened with my pt when i had it it was a cold morning i had the defroster on stopped at the store opened the hatch to place the groceries in shut the hatch and bam glass everywhere

Jeda13

Only time I saw glass go on a car was my mom's 78 Monza. Someone had tossed a rock at it and the hole was golfball sized, until later that evening. Bit by bit, the glass fell in until it was gone.

Jim

Sibsy

Yea, I used the de-fog and the wiper definitely before I left. I know it was on for pretty much my whole drive to work, so maybe it was just faulty glass with a combo of weather change. I'm also wondering if it had something to do with wiper....a pressure point, maybe something stuck in it...because the length of the break was that of what the wiper would cover.

I just don't think a pellet gun would cause such a HUGE hole though, that's the only reason I rule it out. It was such a strange looking break...I did call the police just incase it was some crazy kids though.

Thanks for the info and opinions...sounds like maybe it was a defogger or faulty glass issue. I got the window fixed today while I was at work...had to pay the $300 deductible though.