# Bjorn Nyland cracks Model X Windscreen



## Matthias Fritz (Aug 20, 2017)

he just uploaded this painful demo of a crack in his windscreen while pre-heating. as we can all see the windscreen had more than one big ding already so that may have caused the crack while warming. it's not a good idea to leave that holes uncovered for a little time only, as dirt can move into it which makes it even worse.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

Yikes!

I am thankful for my year round warm climate even if I hate it sometimes


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## $ Trillion Musk (Nov 5, 2016)

Keeping your Tesla in a garage should help prevent this issue as well. 

Thanks to Uncle Bjorn for the sobering tip!


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## KarenRei (Jul 27, 2017)

That happened to me in my truck. And apparently a lot of people in the comments section. The problem isn't so much the heat as the ding he already had. While the heating was the reason why it happened at that specific time, it was still a "crack waiting to happen" either way.


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## $ Trillion Musk (Nov 5, 2016)

KarenRei said:


> That happened to me in my truck. And apparently a lot of people in the comments section. The problem isn't so much the heat as the ding he already had. While the heating was the reason why it happened at that specific time, it was still a "crack waiting to happen" either way.


Was it caused by a ding in your windshield as well? Makes me wonder what the chances are of cracking your windshield under the same circumstances, except without a ding.


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## MichelT3 (Nov 16, 2016)

This is a well known mistake, also with ICE cars. Too big temperature differences (hot water) can break glass. Use manual means to remove most of the snow and ice and do that gently, people!

In fact I have to say, I'm not that enthusiastic about Bjorn's video's, because he's often doing unsmart things or giving unintelligible or not very smart comments.

And you if course should cover up and repair window dings asap, especially when it's hot or cold, because they will be the start of a crack. Common knowledge. 
That's why repair of dings is fully covered by insurance in my country.


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## Maevra (Oct 24, 2017)

I generally appreciate all the stuff Bjorn does to his car because we learn from his experiments, but I was disappointed he didn't mention the rock chip in more detail for context. Of course, _*"windshield cracks from preheating the wrong way"*_ is a more attractive title than *"windshield cracks due to previous rock damage that was exacerbated by preheating vehicle without clearing snow off first."
*
Thank goodness most folks are intelligent enough to correlate the previous damage as the root cause of the bigger crack, but I cringed at some of the "haha poor quality windshield/Teslas suck" comments. There are just so many naysayers out there who love to jump on anything remotely putting Tesla in a negative light.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

I just had the windshield on my Leaf replaced a couple of weeks ago due to a crack that developed. I asked the technician what would have caused it to crack like that. There was a very, _very_ tiny little rock chip in the crack. You couldn't even see it - you had to rub your finger down the crack until you felt the tiniest divot. So, I wouldn't blame somebody for not noticing a chip that turns into a crack.

Here - see if you can spot the rock chip:


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## Maevra (Oct 24, 2017)

garsh said:


> I just had the windshield on my Leaf replaced a couple of weeks ago due to a crack that developed. I asked the technician what would have caused it to crack like that. There was a very, _very_ tiny little rock chip in the crack. You couldn't even see it - you had to rub your finger down the crack until you felt the tiniest divot. So, I wouldn't blame somebody for not noticing a chip that turns into a crack.


Yikes, that scares me a bit @garsh! Our windshield was hit by a pebble the size of a small fingernail and resulted in a nick on the glass. It's barely visible (size of the tip of a pencil) and doesn't look to have gone any deeper than a surface scratch so I haven't been concerned. However I couldn't spot the chip on your Leaf either, so now that has me looking more carefully.


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

Saw that. Nasty and it ain't gonna be cheap given the size of the glass.

I had it happen to a car I owned a long time ago. Everything is fine, woke up one morning to find a crack all the way across. Strange but in Bjorn's case I think he had a chip and those are weak points where the glass is stressed and could have been the culprit.

In any case the moral of the story is don't override the system's settings for pre heating and blasting hot air directly onto the windshield. Also, don't be an idiot : use your snow brush ;


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## KarenRei (Jul 27, 2017)

Maevra said:


> Yikes, that scares me a bit @garsh! Our windshield was hit by a pebble the size of a small fingernail and resulted in a nick on the glass. It's barely visible (size of the tip of a pencil) and doesn't look to have gone any deeper than a surface scratch so I haven't been concerned. However I couldn't spot the chip on your Leaf either, so now that has me looking more carefully.


Bring the scratch in to be looked at, and if the shop thinks it needs to be repaired, do so.

Glass is a curious material. Extremely high compressive strength, but meager tensile strength, because there's always microcracks and they spread when the glass goes into tension, with nothing to stop them. So a way to make glass stronger is simply to give it a built-in compressive stress, so that for the glass to go into tension it has to first overcome its internal stresses - otherwise the tension is just relieving its own stress! When you do this to a high degree it's called toughened or tempered glass, but glass can be naturally prone to getting varying degrees of temper (a curious case is that of Prince Rupert's drops, which are made from dripping molten glass into water; the outside cools faster than the inside, shrinks, and compresses the interior). But anyway, the basic issue is that with glass, you've got a lot of internal and external forces at play, and so long as things stay in compression, everybody's happy - but if something goes wrong (such as a chip, or rapid uneven heating) that upsets the balance in a way that can put some part of the glass into tension... all bets are off.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

TrevP said:


> In any case the moral of the story is don't override the system's settings for pre heating and blasting hot air directly onto the windshield. Also, don't be an idiot : use your snow brush ;


In my case, the rock chip was microscopic, the weather was well above freezing, and the car was parked in an integral garage overnight.

Sometimes, you just get unlucky. That's why you have insurance.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

KarenRei said:


> Bring the scratch in to be looked at, and if the shop thinks it needs to be repaired, do so.


In North America, most car insurance companies will cover the entire cost of having a windshield repaired - no deductible required. So definitely get any rock chips repaired ASAP. Once it turns into a crack, you'll have to pay that deductible for a new windshield.


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## jmmdownhil (Sep 12, 2017)

garsh said:


> In North America, most car insurance companies will cover the entire cost of having a windshield repaired - no deductible required. So definitely get any rock chips repaired ASAP. Once it turns into a crack, you'll have to pay that deductible for a new windshield.


I have had 3 recent cars with rock chips "repaired" with a pressurized resin procedure. Each time the tech highlighted to me that the windshield could still crack after the repair (repair cost is refundable). Sure enough, the last car that was repaired developed a severe crack through the repaired chip a few weeks after the repair, and I had to replace the windshield. Each repair was less than $80 and was fully covered by my insurance. However, the windshield replacement was $700+, and was subject to my insurance deductible of $500. Windshields are not cheap. I wonder what a large Tesla windshield would cost.


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## $ Trillion Musk (Nov 5, 2016)

If glass is more susceptible to cracking, then having an all glass roof ain’t such a good idea after all?


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Safe Daddy Driver said:


> If glass is more susceptible to cracking, then having an all glass roof ain't such a good idea after all?


Generally, only the windshield gets hit by hard little rocks. I wouldn't worry about the other windows.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

jmmdownhil said:


> I wonder what a large Tesla windshield would cost.


$2300 for that Model X windshield.
Be glad Tesla went in a different design direction for the Model 3. 
https://electrek.co/2016/06/03/tesla-model-x-windshield-panoramic-cost-2300/


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## ahagge (May 6, 2017)

garsh said:


> Generally, only the windshield gets hit by hard little rocks. I wouldn't worry about the other windows.


On the other hand, apparently sunroofs shattering for no apparent reason is a "thing" nowadays. Hopefully the same won't happen to Tesla's roof glass. I'm a bit nervous about it...


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## MichelT3 (Nov 16, 2016)

ahagge said:


> On the other hand, apparently sunroofs shattering for no apparent reason is a "thing" nowadays. Hopefully the same won't happen to Tesla's roof glass. I'm a bit nervous about it...


Buy a non-PuP with steel roof (if you're worried for an extra glas piece of 2" by 3")


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

MichelT3 said:


> Buy a non-PuP with steel roof (if you're worried for an extra glas piece of 2" by 3")


We still don't have confirmation that such a thing (steel roof) will be offered.


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## Matthias Fritz (Aug 20, 2017)

Model X windscreen cracked all the way.
Update Video from Bjorn:


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

garsh said:


> $2300 for that Model X windshield.
> Be glad Tesla went in a different design direction for the Model 3.
> https://electrek.co/2016/06/03/tesla-model-x-windshield-panoramic-cost-2300/


That was an old price. It's not that expensive. $1370 all in. The glass itself it $880

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/posts/1602593/


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## Watts4me (Nov 25, 2016)

I didn't like that he was asking his viewers to help him pay for the replacement. After all it was his mistake to do what he did.


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## Prodigal Son (Sep 23, 2017)

Watts4me said:


> I didn't like that he was asking his viewers to help him pay for the replacement. After all it was his mistake to do what he did.


This is the latest and greatest form of begging. Sleeping on the street is so out of fashion. Now you buy expensive toys and rely on other people to support your lifestyle.


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## [email protected] Detail (Aug 1, 2017)

I have ClearPlex on the lower 40" of our MX windshield. Its like clear-bra aka PPF for your windshield. Having a quality installer is important, poor quality install lead to distortion. I'll have it on my Model 3 as well.


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