Spontaneous Window Combustion
 

Has this happend to anybody else? Walked into my garage this morning to find my driver's side window like this. Garage was closed, doors were locked, no signs of anything falling on or having hit the window. Ideas?

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...e/IMG_3539.jpg

WOW! Nope, never seen or read about that happening before.

:iagree: That is scary :eek:

I've read of a window shattering due to being all closed up and extreme heat (usually outside) but never in a garage. How hot does your garage get?

WOW!! Never heard of that.... Maybe someone was sleep walking and did that. :willy:

I don't think car glass does that anymore. Back in the 60's my dad had a car that had the rear window shatter due to heat but I think glass has changed a lot since then. My car sits outside sometimes when it's 110º for a few hours. If that happened to car glass still I think here in Vegas I'd be seeing broken glass all over the place, but I don't.

My garage is insulated, but it was about 38 degrees this morning. The sun shines on that side of my garage in the morning but I still find it hard to believe it could cause that. I live in Michigan so maybe it was a Blackhawks fan.

That happened to my shower door in my house once. Nobody was in that room when it shattered on its own. My guess is I was using CLR to get rid of hard water stains a few days before the incident.

I have never seen car glass do that but I had something like that happen to an ashtray. Three other people in the room with me. None of us smoked or were within ten feet of it and it made a little "plink" sound and split itself in two. No one belives me when I tell that story.

Had that happen to my Suburban rear window. It was about 20 degree's outside and I had been running the rear defroster. Got to work and when I closed the driver door the window blew out. Looked just like that. But never seen anything like that on a garaged car.

Best guess..............

Very pissed off cat got locked in the car.

Have seen it happen on other cars before but it usually happens at high or low temperature extremes. If your garage was insulated and attached to the house I doubt the inside temp was that close to 38 degrees. My insulated garage that is attached to the house will get down to about 40 degrees if the outside air temp is around 20 degrees for at least 15 hours.

Auto glass is layered and there could have been a stress between the two layers that caused it to disintegrate like that. It is covered by your comprehensive insurance. Hopefully, you have full glass coverage so the only thing it will cost you is some time making phone calls to get somebody to come out to your house and replace the glass.

One thing you should remember to do when they replace the glass is to make sure the inside of the door is swept out with a good vacuum cleaner. Some kid shattered the passenger side window on my 86 and it took several years after the window was replaced before all the glass pieces stopped falling out of the drain holes in the door.

Bill

Side windows aren't layered safety glass, they're tempered. The giveaway is how it shattered into a million little pieces; that's how tempered glass breaks. Plus, if it was layered safety glass, there wouldn't be a hole on the left side as the glass would be held by the plastic layer sandwiched in the glass.

I've never seen it happened to an unattended car locked inside a garage, that's weird for sure.

Had a glass door shatter once. Never seen a car window do that.

Any "innocent" children in the house?

Glass
 

I am home builder and I see it on sliding doors from time to time. The company usually reports that a tiny chip in the glass can help this situation along. It can be triggered by almost anything. Heat,cold and vibration are some of the causes I've received. Blackhawk fans have never been mentioned.

My guess is the top edge of the window glass was chipped in the spots where the roof side moulding screws are, causing an obvious stress point. Just the conditions and boom. Here's the part in a bulletin that I'm talking about (the bulletin is about multiple fixes for the multiple reasons the removable roof could rattle)
Bulletin # 08-08-67-013G Doc # 2667353
Condition #5
Some customers may comment of a snap, pop, creak, or rattle coming from the side of the roof, above the door window.

Cause
The upper edge of the door windows may be contacting one or more of the screws that attach the roof weatherstrip retainers to the lift off roof panel. To verify this condition, lower the windows approximately 12.7 mm (0.500 in) and test drive the car. If the noise is still present, move ahead to the next condition.

Correction
Inspect the front leading edge of the door windows on both sides for evidence of contact with these screws. This is best done by completing the following steps:

Lower both door windows and run your fingernail across the edge of the glass, feeling for chips.
If a chip is detected, place a crayon mark on the window below the chip so it can be seen when the window is in the full up position.
Close the door, raise the window and note the position of the crayon mark at the weatherstrip.
Open the door and check that location for a screw in the weatherstrip retainer. Ensure that the screw is fully seated and there are no burrs on the screw head.
Reseat the screw or adjust the door window down to make sure the window is no longer contacting the screw. Check that all weatherstrip retainer screws are fully seated.

:(l would be pissed

Wow. I never heard of this, but a quick google search found it happens on occasion with automotive glass. That sucks!

:iagree: