Hail Storm Test - Involuntary Of Course

[yrwei52]

One of the worst thing living in North Texas is the severe weather. I always say, we have pretty cold winter with snow and ice, really hot summer with above 100F temperature; during the short couple of months in spring and fall where the temperature is nice, the severe weather will come at no time with hail and tornado!

Last year, a small tornado touched down just a block away from our house. And we just had our entire roof replaced due to hail damage two years ago.

And here again happened last night. The weather forecast says "most cloudy, windy and warmer", with high at 84F. We had three cars parked on the street totally unaware the hail storm was coming, unfortunately our 2016 CX-5 is one of them. The golf ball-sized hail was coming down at 10:15PM. It lasted about 10 long minutes!

Although I hate this hail storm test, and our almost new CX-5 will be scared forever, but here are the outcomes nevertheless when we checked them this morning:

• Our 2016 Mazda CX-5 and 1998 Honda CR-V are suffered dozens of hail dents on hood, the same on the roof but seems a little less. Strangely the 2001.5 VW Passat has no dents can be spotted. It seems to prove many people's beliefs, German cars have stronger sheet metal on body parts.
  
• The windshield on our CX-5 developed a long circular hairline crack, Windshields and rear windows on CR-V and Passat have no damage. I also checked other cars parked on the street, none of the windshields cracked. It's funny that I was joking to my wife during the hail storm that I hope the windshield on our CX-5 can survive this hail as I fully aware the weak windshield issue on CX-5. Unfortunately the results of this hail storm further proves the CX-5's windshield is indeed weak! Overwhelming number of complaints against CX-5's windshield at NHTSA website is not a fluke!

I hope the Dent Doctor can do some amazing things to repair these big dents on our CX-5. Any recommendations to a good Dent Doctor place or body shop in our area is very welcome!

Time to call my insurance agent but I imagine their phone will be ringing all day long!

 

[Unobtanium]

Japanese glass is the weakest there is. That is my opinion after all 3 of my Japanese windshields have broken multiple times. I have had ONE American windshield break, and it was a crack that was fixable. Sample of about 5 windshields from Japan, but still...

 

[bmninada]

This forum will tell you either or all of the following:
1. The windshield thickness was carefully designed to provide the required toughness while maximizing fuel economy.
2. The size and point of impact determines whether there will be a crack or not. Sometimes a 1 foot fall can break a leg whereas a 10 feet fall - doesn't.
3. The extreme engineering marvel commonly called SkyActiv system will self heal the wind-shield, shortly thru the controlled flex of the body.
4. % of complaints does not mean CX5 wind-shield is weak.
5. Somehow would tell you that they had the exact same car which you're stating is stronger but broke whereas the CX5 didn't.

Bottom-line is this: If you seriously believe CX5 wind-shield is indeed weak, you need to highlight this to Mazda Corp. As far as I am concerned I have a crack in the wind-shield due to a tiny stone which was corrected by Geico free.

 

[bmninada]

Japanese glass is the weakest there is. That is my opinion after all 3 of my Japanese windshields have broken multiple times. I have had ONE American windshield break, and it was a crack that was fixable. Sample of about 5 windshields from Japan, but still...

Disagree to an extent. In my 2007 Rolla and 2010 4Runner (both Jap) I have witnessed this: (a) Years back when GPS was $$$, someone tried to break my wind-shield in Rolla and they were caught 'cause they hit it multiple times, till it broke. (b) 4Runner suffered thru IMMENSE instances of off-road driving with stones, chips, what not thrown at it (wind-shield) and not a single crack, yet.
I think yes - they might be weaker but among the manufacturers there's a difference. Mazda's appears to be the thinnest. There's a place here in NJ which offers for $200 a bullet resistant film (by 3M) maybe I ought to bite the "bullet" and do it.

 

[yrwei52]

This forum will tell you either or all of the following:
1. The windshield thickness was carefully designed to provide the required toughness while maximizing fuel economy.
2. The size and point of impact determines whether there will be a crack or not. Sometimes a 1 foot fall can break a leg whereas a 10 feet fall - doesn't.
3. The extreme engineering marvel commonly called SkyActiv system will self heal the wind-shield, shortly thru the controlled flex of the body.
4. % of complaints does not mean CX5 wind-shield is weak.
5. Somehow would tell you that they had the exact same car which you're stating is stronger but broke whereas the CX5 didn't.

Bottom-line is this: If you seriously believe CX5 wind-shield is indeed weak, you need to highlight this to Mazda Corp. As far as I am concerned I have a crack in the wind-shield due to a tiny stone which was corrected by Geico free.

I do suspect the windshield on CX-5 is weak not only by the number of complaints filed at NHTSA, but also by knowing Mazda in Taiwan has extended windshield replacement warranty due to owner's protest. I couldn't call Mazda North American Operations to complain as our windshield didn't crack. Now I have legit reason to call them.

Most of time people go through insurance to replace cracked windshield in the US. They didn't spend a dime so they couldnt care less to weak windshield issue.

 

[yrwei52]

Japanese glass is the weakest there is. That is my opinion after all 3 of my Japanese windshields have broken multiple times. I have had ONE American windshield break, and it was a crack that was fixable. Sample of about 5 windshields from Japan, but still...

If you noticed the windshield of our 18-year-old Honda CR-V survived the hail storm although the number of dents are similar to our CX-5.

BTW Unobtanium, would you please mention that term again? You said it when a guy's CX-5 involved an accident and you reminded him to do that...

 

[madar]

Sorry to hear about that. My CX5 got baptized by hail 2 weeks after we got it. Was half inch and came down about ten minutes. I was horrified, but fortunately absolutely no damage was done. No paint breakage, glass damage nothing! I was really surprised.

 

[Unobtanium]

If you noticed the windshield of our 18-year-old Honda CR-V survived the hail storm although the number of dents are similar to our CX-5.

BTW Unobtanium, would you please mention that term again? You said it when a guy's CX-5 involved an accident and you reminded him to do that...

You lost me there...?

Also, 18 years...probably different products at thay point.

 

[CX-5um]

yrwei sorry for the hail damage man. Sucks. I bet some other cars will see cracks develop later on though.

 

[craigo]

I've had a car totaled by hail before (pocketed most of the money and kept driving it). And my last Mazda spent a month in the shop after being beaned by tennis ball sized hail one night. That storm pitched ice through my house windows. Here's the thing though, the sheet metal and glass on all modern cars is thinner than even a handful of years ago due to the desire to reduce weight and increase mpg. This of course means hail will beat the crap out of it.

My folks have a 2 year old Acura that you can easily push the door metal in with your hand. Once you get to golf ball sized hail, the only cars I've seen come out of that relatively unscathed were much older and had really thick steel you could stand on.

 

[yrwei52]

Sorry to hear about that. My CX5 got baptized by hail 2 weeks after we got it. Was half inch and came down about ten minutes. I was horrified, but fortunately absolutely no damage was done. No paint breakage, glass damage nothing! I was really surprised.

Yeah, hail falling from the sky is really terrifying. Glad yours didn't get any damage like ours!

 

[yrwei52]

If you noticed the windshield of our 18-year-old Honda CR-V survived the hail storm although the number of dents are similar to our CX-5.
BTW Unobtanium, would you please mention that term again? You said it when a guy's CX-5 involved an accident and you reminded him to do that...

You lost me there...?
Also, 18 years...probably different products at thay point.

Found it, but don't know whether I can do the same, filing diminution of value claim, in Texas? To whom? The insurance company?

If you end up not having it totaled (doubtful), also file diminution of value claim.

 

[yrwei52]

yrwei sorry for the hail damage man. Sucks. I bet some other cars will see cracks develop later on though.

Yeah, it really sucks! I checked, all the cars near my neighborhood, or talking to friends living in the same city, nobody suffered windshield damage like our CX-5. Hail and tornado are two things here we're always afraid of. We've been thinking of moving to California to enjoy the really nice weather, such as San Diego like you had been! But the housing is getting too expensive there nowadays!

A friend of mine in South Lake, west of Dallas, and his son in Bay area, California both bought CX-5 under my recommendation. Remember the picture shot a while ago of a CX-5 in San Diego with front license plate mounted on the tow hook thread? That's his son's. My friend's CX-5 also suffered hail damage on the highway while going to work last week. He just called from his Mazda dealer. He's traded in damaged 2015 CX-5 Touring and got a brand new 2016.5 GT with the help of $10,000 insurance money!

 

[yrwei52]

I've had a car totaled by hail before (pocketed most of the money and kept driving it). And my last Mazda spent a month in the shop after being beaned by tennis ball sized hail one night. That storm pitched ice through my house windows. Here's the thing though, the sheet metal and glass on all modern cars is thinner than even a handful of years ago due to the desire to reduce weight and increase mpg. This of course means hail will beat the crap out of it.

My folks have a 2 year old Acura that you can easily push the door metal in with your hand. Once you get to golf ball sized hail, the only cars I've seen come out of that relatively unscathed were much older and had really thick steel you could stand on.

If our CX-5 also get $10,000 damage estimate which I doubt it, I don't know if I'll do the same as my friend just did, trade the damage goods in and get a new one. Or like you did, just pocket the money and run. I do need to replace the windshield, which should be expensive even if I'd pocket the insurance money.

I do feel those German cars have stronger sheet metal even for the newer ones. I was really amazed our VW Passat suffered no dents, but the other two Japanese ones have that many deep dents.

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

Keep us posted on what insurance says. Luckily we never get hail here in WA state anywhere near that size.... I can't say never but it would be a freak storm.

I don't really have an opinion either way on strength of CX-5 windshield but I haven't gotten as much as a ding that required a repair in mine. Just stating my experience so far. Very familiar with the threads on topic.

 

[paris1]

What, no pictures?

 

[yrwei52]

Keep us posted on what insurance says. Luckily we never get hail here in WA state anywhere near that size.... I can't say never but it would be a freak storm.

I don't really have an opinion either way on strength of CX-5 windshield but I haven't gotten as much as a ding that required a repair in mine. Just stating my experience so far. Very familiar with the threads on topic.

I've set up an appointment with Travelers' adjuster in coming Sat. Haven't dealt with auto insurance for more than 15 years. I hope Travelers' adjuster would be as generous like my friend Safeco's. He ducked his CX-5 under a overpass with full of 18-wheelers when he saw the hail coming. He covered the front a bit and his major damage is at the rear, He got broken taillight lenses but the windshield was fine. He said it's going to take a month~2 months to repair depending on which collision center, and the whole roof and hood need to be replaced. He didn't want at least a month of wait time and he decided to make a swap. He got black/parchment 2016.5 GT (without Tech though) which he likes. He said now he felt better his CX-5 now is newer and at the same GT trim level as his son's!

 

[yrwei52]

What, no pictures?

That'd be an ugly sight. I did make some shots for a How-To post just a couple of days ago which looked very nice. Now the whole thing looks different.

Wife drove the CX-5 away for work this morning and I didn't have any chance to take pictures.

 

[madar]

memories...

 

[yrwei52]

I;ve always known silver exterior can not only hide the dirt very well so that I don't have to wash the car too often, but also work better to resist Texas heat than darker colors. Now I've found another benefit, ir can hide the hail dents very well too!

I went to Travelers claim center specially set up for this hail storm yesterday. It's at an abandoned Cadillac dealer next to a Volvo dealer on Hwy. 75 in Plano. Apparently that Volvo dealer also suffered heavy hail damage on all the new cars in the parking lot. I was there for more than an hour and checked many cars got damaged by hail. Out of more than 30 new Volvo cars lined up in two lanes in the opposite direction, I saw none got windshield damage. In my lane for outsiders, I saw two, an Chevy pickup and an Honda Odyssey, have minor single line crack, lot less than mine with "不" shaped cracks from sensor area spread to four corners. And both vehicles suffered heavy hail damage with hundreds of dents and requires a new roof and hood!

I don't think I can do the same thing like my friend did, swapping the damaged goods to a new 2016.5 CX-5 as the insurance money is not great. I guess I do need to find a good PDR place with reasonable price. But the largest dent on right rail did break the paint, which means re-painting is required. I'm still afraid of the new painting will not last as long as the factory paint from my past experience. So avoid painting is my goal but it seems to be inevitable.

At least 40 nicks on hood according to adjuster, a new hood is required.

About 35 nicks on roof and rails. The largest one broke the paint on right rail. These should be all PDR work.

A large hail hit the sensor area, the weak spot, of the windshield, created "不" shaped cracks to four corners.

More than 30 new Volvo's lined up in two lanes waiting for damage estimates. Our CX-5 is circled.