¿What causes cracks in the windshield of cars?

Lider AutoGlass & Tires are specialists in sale and installing  windshield for cars, thats why we are committed to investigate the causes that can damage the windshield.

Maybe it happened to you. One day, when you take your car to go to work or just for a ride, you notice that you have a crack in the windshield but you do not know how it happened. What is the cause?

Cracks in the windshield can disconcert anyone, especially when there are no signs of it. And as time goes by, the crack gets bigger and crosses the entire windshield, distorting your vision. The answer lies in a few basic physical facts and also some very obvious reasons.

The windscreen is of all the glasses of the car, the one that breaks most, followed by the lateral glasses and the rear ones. This can happen for different causes that are included in three big blocks: impacts received during the circulation of the vehicle, damages caused by the climatology or vandalic acts.

Direct impact, stones on the road

The most obvious and dangerous cracks in the windshield can be attributed to the random impacts of the route, particularly gravel, stones and rocks. They can be thrown from behind a vehicle or driven out through the street by a car that passed in the opposite direction.

Obvious strokes are shown as chips or large holes, which can be extended with primary cracks or «spider webs». Some pieces of small gravel can leave only a small pit or splinter, sometimes microscopic in size, which can be very difficult to detect. These small wells or chips collect moisture, this moisture molecules can expand and contract, pushing the glass in all directions, eventually forming a groove. These wells and splinters, if not repaired immediately, can expand and cover the windshield.

Gravel impact cracks are the cause of 80% windshield breakage and can cause windshield resistance to decrease by 70%.

Another factor in this block may be the fall of a branch or other object in the glass. Be careful where you park the car as it may suffer unexpected damages. Likewise, rain with large hail, can impact the glass and cause glitches and obvious cracks.

Structural Deterioration

It may also happen that your windshield has received a slight impact that you have not seen at the time, or that there has been a thermal shock. That is, a large difference between the temperature inside and outside the vehicle.

On the other hand, keep in mind that a manufacturing defect of your car can also cause this spontaneous deterioration and a subsequent breakage of the windshield.

Most of the cracks have their origins very close to the edges of the windshield at a point of about 3 inches. Due to the manufacturing process, a weak point occurs from time to time, caused by a thermal effect during the casting process.

The very nature of the windshield edge exposes you to more adverse stress as it joins the windshield mounting gallery at the end. The larger middle area of ​​the windshield can flex and absorb shock, while the edge of the windshield should withstand the heavier and heavier stress loads it faces.

Other causes in this block are the variations in temperature that expand and contract the windshield, and can regularly produce small cracks that travel along the length of the glass. If the vehicle’s interior air registers 75 degrees (23 ° C) and the outside air temperature reads 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 ° C), the inner layer of glass can expand while the outer layer of glass shrinks, causing a distortion. Any small defects that exist in the windshield can cause stress and begin to crack. More temperature variation, with the addition of moisture in the windshield, can accelerate the trip of the crack.

Vandalism

This cause is inevitable, but the fact that your vehicle suffer an robbery attempt or other vandalism can also put your windshield at risk.

Remember that an impact on the windshield, for whatever reason, compromises your safety, and if it occurs, you will need to replace it.

In Lider AutoGlass & Tires we offer the service of sale and installation of windshield for your car, if you have a crack, however small, do not think more, visit us, 1677 W Evans Ave, Denver, CO 80223