A defective electric defrosted can definitely shatter a rear window...

you said the hole went length wise. It could be that the line in your defrosted got too hot. This can be caused by other lines in the defroster being damaged and no longer conducting. You really have to watch to make sure you don't scratch the the lines on the glass. this can happen really easy if you carry stuff in the back of you HHR that hits the window.

Just a little food for thought.............

 

Ahh that sounds totally plausible. We do carry things in the back often...including the dog! I'm so glad that I didn't bring the dog into work yesterday morning, something told me not to, because if he was back there when it broke, I probably would've had a fit!

Thanks for the info :)

 

The same thing happened to me last spring. Sitting at a traffic light i pulled away and my rear glass blew out? Dealer said they had no other complaints of that sort, and could not give me an answer of why or how it could happen.
Rear defroster was on at the time, looked like it blew out from inside vehicle.

 

Well jerr, that's almost a little reassuring to hear that it's happened to somebody else. It looked like mine blew out from the inside also. Got the same response from the dealership as you.

 

The only good thing about it was it only cost 200.oo to replace. lol

 

It was your defroster. This is not something rare and happens more often than you think.

Any of the safety glass if it has a heat issues or flaw can just shattter in this fashion. I have seen this many times before.

 

Thanks for that info

 

ditto

 

No prob.

With the weather we are having this is prime time for this kind of thing to happen.

I am just cross the lake from you and we are in the same cold crap you are having just with more snow.

I also have seen people with small cracks in the windshield turn on the defrost blower and just watch the small crack move accross the windshield.

 

That really sucks ! I better pay attention so this doesnt happen to ours .