OT: Need car advice

Old 04-06-2008, 09:16 AM
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OT: Need car advice

And I get the best advice from you all here on this forum.

I was driving on the freeway yesterday, humming along, minding my own business, when the front passenger window exploded and blew shattered glass all over the inside of the car. Fortunately I don't allow the dogs to ride in the front seat so they were in the back, and I had no passenger sitting there, and it wasn't raining very hard at the time.

My first reaction was WHAT THE *(&^(%*&%^(*&^!!!!???!!!! as you might imagine!

My second reaction was that the car next to me must have shot at me (almost unheard of in this area, this ain't LA after all) or thrown something at me. But, the guy driving the car next to me looked just as surprised as I felt.

I managed to write down his license plate number just in case, then got off the freeway and went to a friend's house nearby to help me clean it up and all.

Now I've got to get the window replaced. But what on earth would make a car window just explode and shatter out of nowhere like that?? Anyone else have anything similar happen to them?
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Old 04-06-2008, 09:21 AM
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I dont have the answer, but I had the same thing happen on the freeway in Denver a couple of years ago. It was my back window and it scared me almost to death.
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Old 04-06-2008, 09:27 AM
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not to be a pessimist, but i'd wonder if it was a bullet or something. Have you checked your car for a lodged bullet? I'd be tempted to call the police just in case there is another one of those shooters out on the loose. Because honestly, I can't imagine what else would have caused a window to shatter like that. Maybe a large bird?
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Old 04-06-2008, 10:09 AM
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A long time ago someone dropped a brick from an overpass and did that to my car.

Recently my back windshield did just that - exploded for no reason. It was explained to me as something to do with temperature change in the car.
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Old 04-06-2008, 10:49 AM
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I had a front windscreen do that a while ago, it had a little chip in it that I hadn't bothered to get fixed and when I was driving in cold weather with the heater on inside it just shattered.
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Old 04-06-2008, 12:01 PM
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Were there any large trucks driving in front or around you? They can get little rocks under their wheels, which then get launched into the air at top speed, which can then hit and break windows. That happened to my window--it was a earth shatteringly-loud noise from a tiny pebble that a big semi threw into my window--the window didn't shatter, but it has a big crack in it now...it is so unnerving, though! :wtf2
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Old 04-06-2008, 12:09 PM
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Temp differences between the inside and out along with a chip in the glass.
A rock or pebble kicked up by a car or truck tire.
A bullet.
A twisted frame putting preasure on the glass and a jolt from a road bump.
God trying to tell you...change your underware?
*LOL*

Many reasons why it could happen. Just say Thank you Lord that you are ok. Glass can be replaced, you can't.
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Old 04-07-2008, 06:54 PM
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Thank you all for your replies! I was surprised how many people have had the same experience. I just never know what the real world is like, ya know? I come here for validation and grounding.

I made an appt to have it replaced, and the girl answering the phone had never heard of a car window just exploding like that! I scared her. But, at work this am, I talked to the guy who manages the fleet of cars for our division, and he's had two cars do that. Once might have been a temperature differential on a very hot day, but he thinks most often it's a rock riccocheting off the car alongside you.

This being a major interstate, there's always big rigs. And we sand and gravel the roads in winter for traction, although most of that has been swept up by now, but there's always rocks on the roads from sand and gravel trucks not covering their loads. And there was a car right alongside me when it happened so it was probably a rock bouncing off him and into me.

Yes we did look for a bullet when cleaning up the glass, but no sign of one. And I'd changed my undies that morning so God can hardly ask for more than that!

And ... no one hurt. No one was sitting in that seat at the time, and I was headed home anyway, and I park in a garage at home. Only $200 to replace it ...

Made it one of those days where there's just too much being dumped on me. An opportunity to practice some recovery - stay calm, don't take things personally, and ask for help when something out of the ordinary happens.
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