Windshield died

[CC58]

In May, 2014 on the way back from Indiana acquired a small rock chip in the upper center of the windshield which promptly cracked. In October 2015 acquired another rock chip in the upper right of the windshield which promptly cracked again. Both rock chips were very small. In early or mid 2015 we received a solicitation to join a class action lawsuit concerning Mazda CX-5 windshield cracks. My question is what came of the lawsuit and did Mazda make a change because of the so called "cracking problem"?

Welcome to the melee. Almost any car that suffers a rock chip will crack. That is not the issue. The issue are CX-5s that crack without a rock chip, sometimes while parked. Replacement glass will definitely not be Mazda original. The glass will be made in USA by one of several makers. Pittsburgh (PGW) is the best while Safelite glass isn't so great. Not sure PGW makes CX-5 glass yet. Would be interesting to hear results of that suit.

 

[Unobtanium]

The CX-5 is tightly sprung and alot of that energy winds up in the cabin. Not as tightly spring as a 1980 camaro with 400# springs, but not that far away. The CX-5 good handling is a result of that, but that energy is transmitted up to the cabin, and the glass. The chassis has to flex, regardless to how stiff it is, when springs are hard sprung. I like the suspension of CX-5, but wish there were aftermarket progressive springs available to soften it a little.

I've never seen a Z06 crack the glass, and we beat the piss out of them on the track when I was at Spring mountain. You can actually feel the whole car flex (and hear interior parts shift and squeak) just angling up drive-ways in it.

 

[Unobtanium]

New to the forum, hello everybody. I have some info concerning this thread on windshields. In May, 2014 on the way back from Indiana acquired a small rock chip in the upper center of the windshield which promptly cracked. Had windshield replaced and moved on. In October 2015 acquired another rock chip in the upper right of the windshield which promptly cracked again. Both rock chips were very small. Now I have had other vehicles with a rock chip that did not result in a crack and in fact our 2009 Corvette has a chip now that has not cracked. I bring this up for two reasons. I did not save the paper work but sometime in early or mid 2015 we received a solicitation to join a class action lawsuit concerning Mazda CX-5 windshield cracks. The second reason is that the second replacement windshield had a different p/n than the first. The last letter of the p/n of the first unit was an "A" and the second unit the last letter was a "B". My question is what came of the lawsuit and did Mazda make a change because of the so called "cracking problem"?

Yep, my Z06 and Jeep took some sickhouse rock strikes. As in, I saw the rock leave the ground in front of me from the tire of the semi. It was painful. Then CRAACKKK!!!...and nothing but some powdered rock and a small divot. NEVER a crack like my 370, infiniti, or mazda suffered.

 

[MikeM.]

I've never seen a Z06 crack the glass, and we beat the piss out of them on the track when I was at Spring mountain. You can actually feel the whole car flex (and hear interior parts shift and squeak) just angling up drive-ways in it.

Windshields don't generally crack due to chassis flex because they are mounted in thick rubber that has enough give to absorb chassis flex. Windshields have internal stresses in them due to the tempering process. Some have more than others - It's the luck of the draw. No car is immune to it.

Now you have seen Z06's with cracked windshields:

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums.../3062866-washed-car-windshield-shattered.html
http://www.z06vette.com/forums/f64/front-windshield-replacement-99997/
http://www.canadiancorvetteforums.com/threads/replacing-the-windshield-in-the-z06.4805/
http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c6-z06-discussion/2627325-z06-windshield-replacement.html
http://www.corvetteblog.com/2008/09/2008-2009-corvette-windshield-issues/
http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105736

Every car forum on the Internet will have windshields that crack for no apparent reason. This is not a CX-5 specific issue. Glass is fragile, it's subject to crack simply from a temperature change. This will be an issue with all cars until we find a transparent material to make windshields out of that is not fragile!

 

[bmninada]

Gotta agree with Mike on this one.

Someone needs to frame this. Mike and UB agreeing....

 

[bmninada]

The list is rather big!! http://www.mazdaforum.com/forum/maz...ring-w-smart-city-brake-support-system-31837/

 

[Unobtanium]

Windshields don't generally crack due to chassis flex because they are mounted in thick rubber that has enough give to absorb chassis flex. Windshields have internal stresses in them due to the tempering process. Some have more than others - It's the luck of the draw. No car is immune to it.

Now you have seen Z06's with cracked windshields:

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums.../3062866-washed-car-windshield-shattered.html
http://www.z06vette.com/forums/f64/front-windshield-replacement-99997/
http://www.canadiancorvetteforums.com/threads/replacing-the-windshield-in-the-z06.4805/
http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c6-z06-discussion/2627325-z06-windshield-replacement.html
http://www.corvetteblog.com/2008/09/2008-2009-corvette-windshield-issues/
http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105736

Every car forum on the Internet will have windshields that crack for no apparent reason. This is not a CX-5 specific issue. Glass is fragile, it's subject to crack simply from a temperature change. This will be an issue with all cars until we find a transparent material to make windshields out of that is not fragile!

CoC polymer would be a very good material, although likely cost prohibitive.

Agreed re: mounting/shock.

That said, I think the CX-5 has more issues with its glass than most. The glass on my windshield has cracked into a very funky "?" shape, which to me, seems to indicate some odd stress patterns maybe?

 

[Unobtanium]

Its not something you find in Home Depot, but I'm not sure brand/name it as that's not my business. It looks like a roll of home weather sealing tape, but specifically for windshields. Glass man installed this double backed foam tape on my 5.0 Mustang windshield replacement. He said he really liked it because it was so easy to remove compared to solid adhesives. Not only would it keep body stress out of windshield, it may even help absorb impact of slow moving objects preventing breakage. I know I'll ask for it when my windshield goes.

Windshield is a structural part of the car. Let me show you just how bloody durable they are in my experience. I don't want to go messing with how they are mounted. Here is a friend of mine and I doing some night training (also why I refuse to run a muzzle brake), but the overpressure is TREMENDOUS and the glass, if you were standing outside of the car, "jumps" off the vehicle at every point, even with the rear of the vehicle open. There is a LOT of flex in factory glass-mounting adhesive. A LOT. (you could feel the concussion even standing at the rear of the vehicle...and that was a 14.5" gun. I've been INSIDE cars with guys running a braked 10.5...and the glass only cracked in relation to the bullet holes. It did NOT crack from the mounted edge-in. Plenty of flex in OEM.

 

[Unobtanium]

Someone needs to frame this. Mike and UB agreeing....

It happens. When facts are facts, it's difficult not to agree, unless you're the kind to put ego before fact, in which case, you will have multiple preventable modes of failure in your daily life.

 

[MikeM.]

In 2015, Ford F-Series sold 780,354 units and Mazda CX-5 sold 111,450 units.

But F-Series is not the same as F-150. It includes the F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450. So your numbers are not directly comparable. The rumor was that the F-150 was Safelites most popular customer. Not F Series.

The real point of all this is that glass breaks in all vehicles. Breakage will not necessarily be evenly distributed across all models because some windshields have a more upright positioning which will naturally lend itself to harder rock hits. Aerodynamics of the rest of the car body can play a roll as well. But the glass in the CX-5 is made in the same factories and to the same standards as the glass in millions of other vehicles. It's gonna break and, from where I'm sitting, it appears to break at about the same rate as any other car (all the noise from the weak glass conspiracy theorists aside).