The mysterious 'exploding' rear windshield

[Rob (215)]

Has anyone heard of this freaky thing of the rear windshield shattering for no apparent reason. It happened to me when I was driving awhile back and wanted to know if anybody else experienced it. I already ruled out nothing hit it even tho it sounded like someone shot at me, it just exploded!

 

[CmdrPopNFresh]

yes. there is a recall or tsb for the rear window hinges...they get loose and crack the glass around the holes where they bolt through and then after a while........CRASH......suddenly you have glass all over the place. one day at work this guy was washing an explorer in the washbay and the rear glass shattered for no reason and he hit the deck cause he thought someone was shooting at him from the road......it was hillarious.


hey it could be worse...it could be like an acura suv(i forget the model)....they seal so tight when theyre new that the air pressure from slamming a door can blow out the back glass! i saw that happen once at work too. holy crap that was scarry!

 

[Rob (215)]

That's great !! now i don't feel so crazy when i tell other people what had happened. nice recall tho, u can only tell if and when it happens. thankfully i was able to hook up with safelite online within 2 hrs. and had it replaced that next morning for about $200.

 

[celly]

I've only heard about this issue with 3rd gens. You've got a '00 which is 2nd gen. I've owned three 2nd gens and have never had any issues with the rear glass. Don't get me started on the rear wipers.

 

[Tom G]

Happened to my '94. Just sitting in the driveway.

 

[Blee1099]

The only time I had my rear glass shatter on my old 97 other than when someone broke the rear glass at a shopping center was when I had it in the garage and closed the garage door with it still up.. Glass everywhere.. lol

 

[Rob (215)]

not to get you started celly but what the hell is really up with the rear wiper? it either works or it doesn't (only when it wants to) and when it does... it barely if at all makes contact to the glass! anybody knows what the deal is?
i got a fresh blade on it and everything.

 

[Charlie]

Well, mine still doesn't hit the rear glass the best, but it is better. I put some wd40 on the hinge, and also pulled the arm off, and bent it in a little more.

 

[celly]

not to get you started celly but what the hell is really up with the rear wiper? it either works or it doesn't (only when it wants to) and when it does... it barely if at all makes contact to the glass! anybody knows what the deal is?
i got a fresh blade on it and everything.

Just a poor design. I love my Explorers, but the rear wipers suck. :thumbdwn:

 

[vroomzoomboom]

my rear wiper was doing the same thing. all i did was tweak the arm on it a little. now it makes a full sweep

 

[eXcali]

I had a buddy with one of those nissan crossovers. One day we were BSing after work, it was a pretty warm day in the 90's, full sun. He pulled out of the parking lot and boom! I thought he tossed his gunbelt in the back seat and accidently discharged his glock. It sucked for him because he only had that thing for a week.

As for the wiper arm, I make it a point to rebend mine about once every week or two. I think it's because of how tightly it sits in the holder.

 

[YountExplr]

yeah I had my rear glass shatter on me while driving on the highway...thought it was a rock that my trailer spewed out, I guess not.

 

[SteveNYC]

Count me in....

Heck, I thought I was the only one that this ever happened to...

About a year ago I put my car through the car wash. It came through and the guys were finishing the drying and cleaning the interior. I know that sometimes they let some cleaning fluid pool on the privacy cover in the rear, so I opened up the rear window to check. No problem, so I lift my right hand behind my head to get the window and WHAMO! the whole damn thing shatters right over my head. Suffice it to say that it scared the **** out of me when it happened.

You know every employee in that carwash was looking at me and saying to themselves "thank God I didn't touch that guy's car."

I could never figure out what caused it. I just assumed that maybe the defroster did something. I had no idea. Wow, this is wild to read.

As it turned out I had full glass coverage on my insurance, so it was replaced for free the next day.

 

[Rob (215)]

Lucky you steve! just think of these rear windshields as a ticking time bomb waiting to explode thanks to ford's craftsmanship. don't worry, i'm hearing now that our explorers ('95-'01) aren't the only ones with this issue.

 

[toypaseo]

:scratch:

Makes me want to pull a spare out of the junkyard for $32...

 

[jbracefan1977]

:scratch:
Makes me want to pull a spare out of the junkyard for $32...

whoa reading through here makes me want to do the same too.. at least if it happens to me I wont be running **** scared... or Ill still be **** scared.. armors in

 

[96eb96]

Its not common on the second gens but it sucks when it does happen.
I know the struts wear out and also people slam the glass with great force. That could contribute to stress cracks and failure later on. Could this be a factor?

 

[Fusion213]

You know, I thought that someone came by and hit my rear windshield with something, but now that I read about this(7 years later), I think my rear windshield exploded.

 

[SteveNYC]

Its not common on the second gens but it sucks when it does happen.
I know the struts wear out and also people slam the glass with great force. That could contribute to stress cracks and failure later on. Could this be a factor?

It could always be a factor, you're right. But I will say that in my particular situation, I hardly ever opened the glass back then. No exaggeration... I could count on one hand the number of times I opened the glass. I just always opened the entire lift gate. So when it broke, it was just so damn odd.

Reading this whole thread, I look back at it and laugh now since everything worked out ok. I know for certain that if I had seen that happen to someone else, I probably would have laughed myself silly. It was just so odd. I must have looked ridiculous. You know what they say... if you can't laugh at yourself, you can't laugh. I'm just happy that I had more composure than the guy that CmdrPopNFresh mentioned! LMAO!! He's right, that must have been hilarious! Heck, to this day I still touch that rear glass with kid gloves. HAHA!!

 

[briwayjones]

Yup happened on my '00 sitting in a parking lot. It exploded outward probably because of the curve. Sent glass all over the parking lot. I think it was probably more of a problem with the '98 and newer with the curved rear glass.