Anyone ever hear of a windshield cracking and smashing due to cold?

[Eric1285]

My dad parks his X5 outside on our driveway. He's been doing this for a few years now since it takes up too much room in the garage. We recently had the coldest day/night so far this year here in Jersey. My dad was getting ready to leave for work and had just thrown his stuff in the trunk of his car. He closes the rear hatch and the rear windshield just completely shatters and falls in. Has anyone ever heard of this happening? I'm sure he didn't close the hatch with any more force than usual. The only thing I could think of is the cold (probably about 10 degrees F or so in the middle of the night, 20 degrees at the time of the incident). We've definitely seen temperatures just as low in the past so he's wondering if it may have been vandalism. Apparently he didn't notice whether or not the glass was already cracked when he was loading his stuff.

We had a company called Safelite come and replace the glass for a pretty good price ($230). The repairman commented on how it was very unusual for the glass to fall in towards the trunk. We live in a safe neighborhood and don't usually have problems with vandals. There are a couple of kids who would do stupid things like ring the doorbell and run away but that stopped 8-9 years ago. The driveway is open so it's unlikely that anything hit the car. Could it have just been the cold or would it take something more than that for this to happen?

[David Fermani]

Yes, it could, but the company that did the install was Safelite:

Windshield Repair and Auto Glass Replacement - Safelite AutoGlass

[Lumadar]

I've seen it happen from heat... I was on a road trip, riding shotgun and I put my feet up on the dash and BARELY pushed on the windshield with my toes...and whamo, a nice spiderweb! Scared the you-know-what out of me...

I think we were crossing a desert area in Colorado in the summer and it was about 100 degrees outside.

[Eric1285]

Originally Posted by David Fermani

Yes, it could, but the company that did the install was Safelite:

Windshield Repair and Auto Glass Replacement - Safelite AutoGlass

You're right, thanks.

[Labster]

The windshield in my jeep actually got a crack in it this past week because of the cold. Couple of the nights dropped below zero and it developed a small crack that keeps spreading. I'm gonna wait till after winter to get it fixed.

[skuz]

10F should be quite easy for cars. Over here, cars are exposed to temps sometimes below -22F. I never had glass shatter on me. I doubt glass' composition differs between US and Canada.

Could it be a small defect in the glass itself ? Or perhaps some water infiltration between the glass and the rubber seal and froze, creating some stress on the glass.

[Eric1285]

Originally Posted by skuz

10F should be quite easy for cars. Over here, cars are exposed to temps sometimes below -22F. I never had glass shatter on me. I doubt glass' composition differs between US and Canada.

Could it be a small defect in the glass itself ? Or perhaps some water infiltration between the glass and the rubber seal and froze, creating some stress on the glass.

I don't really know what could have caused it other than the cold. I doubt there was a defect in the glass since it's been fine for almost 6 years. It hasn't been garaged for the past 3-4 years so it's definitely seen this type of weather before. It's possible that some water got in there somewhere. I guess it's just a freak accident.