# Spontaneously Broken Rear Glass SEL



## thomgough (Jan 14, 2011)

My wife and I bought 2 new volkswagens less than 2 months ago and while driving last Saturday my wife's rear window exploded on her 2010 Routan with less than 2k miles. I am sadly not real impressed with the absolute run-around I'm getting from VW North Scottsdale as it's a week later and they are still dragging their feet on covering it under warranty (no impact points on the glass) Has anyone else had this type of experience? If so what did you do? I am posting a link to the flickr set with the High Res Photos of the aftermath. However she has been driving a brand new vehicle for over a week with broken rear glass and that is beyond un-acceptable. :thumbdown:


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## thomgough (Jan 14, 2011)

*Oops forgot the Flikr Post*

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157625795222724/

That show's the High Res photos can anyone else see why they are being so ridiculous about covering this under warranty?


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## napman41 (Aug 26, 2004)

1 week week no rear glass and still driving around ? If it was me I'd spring for the new glass and follow up with the dealer. Your wife must be a very special lady. Ive never heard of a glazing spontaneously self-destructing, though stranger things have happened. Are glazinngs covered by the warranty ?


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## VWDAVID (Jan 12, 2011)

*Ouch*

Sorry to hear Thom. I just got mine... 500 miles - but same color as yours.... with all the cold weather up here, will keep an eye on it.


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## thomgough (Jan 14, 2011)

*So they finally called*

:banghead: Yesterday they called late in the afternoon to let me know they were finally going to cover it under warranty (about an hour after I had scheduled the replacement via my insurance. Lame part.... They want us to drive 2 hours NEXT TUESDAY to drop it off and take a jetta wagon instead of a Routan. But I guess that's better than nothing. However the amount of time it took them to decide was a bit ridiculous. I'm also surprised no-one had the forethought to order the glass.... obviously it would need to be replaced and since it's only available through VW they should have just ordered it.


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## thomgough (Jan 14, 2011)

*Special Lady....*



napman41 said:


> 1 week week no rear glass and still driving around ? If it was me I'd spring for the new glass and follow up with the dealer.  Your wife must be a very special lady. Ive never heard of a glazing spontaneously self-destructing, though stranger things have happened. Are glazinngs covered by the warranty ?


As a Porsche Premier tech and then service advisor for several years (because my back was destroyed in an accident) during a former period of my life. I had never experienced spontaneous glass breakage either. However there were 5 adult witnesses with her at the time and they all backed up her story that it just spontaneously broke while turning into the Arboretum (not that I would doubt her) I found multiple instances in other makes Range Rover, BMW, Mercedes etc. after doing some research. In all those cases the dealer stepped up and handled it. I also spoke with a former Ford tinting guy and he said he had a summer when the rounded F150 came out where one out of 5 was having a rear window break when pulling into his bay to tint due to stress and imperfections in the glass. 

Also it was against my wife's principles & she did not want to let the insurance fix it. It was her opinion that VW should step up. So I followed her wishes. Though it has been really annoying seeing my wonderful wife's "new" car covered in plastic and tape in the back :facepalm:

P.S my wife says she has to stand on her principles "cause standing on your ####... is no fun."


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## Boosted2003! (Mar 10, 2009)

Thats crazy. I can see why dealership is stomped and I am sure VWoA is like this sounds fishy. I am pretty amazed by where it broke. It looks like when you see a stress caused crack in a windshield. 

Glad to see your dealership was able to help you out.


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## christyd65 (Apr 16, 2015)

*Same glass problem*



thomgough said:


> My wife and I bought 2 new volkswagens less than 2 months ago and while driving last Saturday my wife's rear window exploded on her 2010 Routan with less than 2k miles. I am sadly not real impressed with the absolute run-around I'm getting from VW North Scottsdale as it's a week later and they are still dragging their feet on covering it under warranty (no impact points on the glass) Has anyone else had this type of experience? If so what did you do? I am posting a link to the flickr set with the High Res Photos of the aftermath. However she has been driving a brand new vehicle for over a week with broken rear glass and that is beyond un-acceptable. :thumbdown:


I had the exact same thing happen to my VW EOS yesterday. Absolutely no indication of an impact just shattered glass blown away from my car and none on the inside. VW dealership of course said they have NEVER heard of this before and indicated no recalls or service bulletins. My warranty has expired so $800 later getting it replaced. Definitely going to show them this post and possibly BBB as well. Good luck


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## nerfjames (Nov 23, 2004)

*Misery loves company*

I know this thread is years old, but I thought I'd share my experience with my brand new 2017 Jetta SEL. We've had the vehicle for less than a week and it has less than 430 miles on it (bought it with 317 miles). Yesterday while sitting in a traffic jam due to a highway closure, my wife and I suddenly heard a loud boom. The rear window was completely shattered. We weren't moving, nor were any of the cars around us due to the highway closure. So we were able to get out and take photos and videos of the aftermath. There were no signs whatsoever of any impact point. 

We seem to be lucky that the dealership here in Fort Worth Texas are stepping up to fix this for us, but only after denying that it could in any way be faulty glass. And only covering it under a "good will" clause. Having spent the better part of the last 24 hours researching this problem online, I feel confident that it's entirely possible that the glass was faulty, as this problem does seem to happen sporadically to auto glass. While I agree its very rare, I didn't like being told that it's just not possible, as if auto glass is somehow the only industry in the world not subject to manufacturing issues.

So for those in this thread with similar issues, you're not alone. Here are some photos of the aftermath. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0f5idkMwRyzXj


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