Exploding Rear Window!

[danspencer]

I've been meaning to join this forum for some time, as I've been the happy owner of an IS200SE (the new version with Sat Nav and Spoiler as standard) since Christmas.

I took it round Europe over the Summer and the Sat Nav never failed me once, even down the country roads in Austria, and up the Gross Glockener mountain.

Imagine my shock then last Thursday, when I went out to my car, got in, turned the ignition and;

I really hope the picture has come out OK or else I'm gonna look really stupid!

Apparently, this is down to a faulty connector for the window heater.

Anyone else had this happen? They say it's a one-off but I'm a disbelieving kind of person having previously owned a Rover.

To make matters worse, I picked up the car today from the dealer, and it's scratched all over the boot area, spoiler, and both rear side panels. The dealer hadn't noticed, but is now getting clearance to get it fixed.

[PQuist]

Never seen and heard of this before. Need some airbags fitted

[norkep]

WOW, a faulty connector can do this. Have to admit, this is the first time a ever known for this to happen due to a faulty connector for the heated elements.

Shame they messed your paint work up while fixing, hope you get this sorted soon.

[jmoz21]

That happened to my dads freelander when they first came out (1 of many faults).

our dog was in the boot at the time aswell

[The Editor]

Had this happen on a Vauxhall Omega one time - And saw what caused it !!!

Itr was a bl**dy great bird carrying a stone it it's beak that it dropped at just the right/wrong moment !!

Why this feathered thing was carrying a stone I will never know, but the effect was the same - EXPLOSION.... No rear window.

Got it fixed through autoglass and same thing.... The guy managed to scratch my rear pillar with his stanley knife. Luckily I was watching him at the time and saw him do it. He wrote it down on the job sheet and I claimed off autoglass no probs.

I think a lot of the problems now are caused by the glass being bonded to the bodywork with glue so strong it hold the car together. what ever happened to the olden days when you could push a screen with your feet from the inside and... POP !! :P

Cheers

The Ed

[Kazi]

I've been meaning to join this forum for some time, as I've been the happy owner of an IS200SE (the new version with Sat Nav and Spoiler as standard) since Christmas.

I took it round Europe over the Summer and the Sat Nav never failed me once, even down the country roads in Austria, and up the Gross Glockener mountain. 

Imagine my shock then last Thursday, when I went out to my car, got in, turned the ignition and;

I really hope the picture has come out OK or else I'm gonna look really stupid!

Apparently, this is down to a faulty connector for the window heater.

Anyone else had this happen? They say it's a one-off but I'm a disbelieving kind of person having previously owned a Rover. 

To make matters worse, I picked up the car today from the dealer, and it's scratched all over the boot area, spoiler, and both rear side panels. The dealer hadn't noticed, but is now getting clearance to get it fixed. 

←

Its not Alan Partridge is it?

[MrADeveci]

wow ! that's pretty shocking ! glad no one was hurt ............... kids etc.

[danspencer]

wow ! that's pretty shocking ! glad no one was hurt ............... kids etc.

←

As you say, it was lucky there was nobody else in the car at the time. The back seat was covered in glass.

Mind you, it would have been pretty serious if it had happened going along the M40 at high speed too!!!

Just as well it happened when it did for everyone's sake.

All I hope now is that they sort out the paint work quickly (and without argument!).

Dan

[MartinC]

Wierd one

you can see that small localised area withinn the black bonded part on the right where the glass has caved in, I bet thats where in propogated from.

So what was the dealers story? did they say the connection got excessively hot?

[crazylex]

Jesus, never heard of that before

[danspencer]

Wierd one

you can see that small localised area withinn the black bonded part on the right where the glass has caved in, I bet thats where in propogated from.

So what was the dealers story? did they say the connection got excessively hot?

←

Well, the dealer just says that the connection block was faulty and caused the heat.

I have to say, I'm not entirely convinced about this. What I forgot to say, was that I only turned the ignition to the first point, in order to set the GPS. I wouldn't have thought enough power would have gone through at that point (if any!); come to think of it, I'm surprised there's ever enough power to do that!

Yes, you're right about the section on the right. That's where it started, and the glass was melted in that area!

My main worry now is that the dealer has gone awfully quiet now I've suggested that they fix the paint work that got damaged at the time, and in transport to the garage.

There are 4 panels affected, only one of which I reckon could be T-Cut. The others are far deeper cuts/chips.

I'll keep everyone posted, but I was very interested to hear about the Land Rover with the same fault. The dealer's manager said that in his 30 year's experience, he'd never come across such a fault (I think at that point he thought I'd hit something and was trying to con a new window about of them, but all the same...).

I'm glad to hear nobody else has had the same fault with the IS200, or else really they should be recalling them. This could have been a lot more serious than it ended up.

[Kazi]

Wierd one

you can see that small localised area withinn the black bonded part on the right where the glass has caved in, I bet thats where in propogated from.

So what was the dealers story? did they say the connection got excessively hot?

←

Well, the dealer just says that the connection block was faulty and caused the heat.

I have to say, I'm not entirely convinced about this. What I forgot to say, was that I only turned the ignition to the first point, in order to set the GPS. I wouldn't have thought enough power would have gone through at that point (if any!); come to think of it, I'm surprised there's ever enough power to do that!

Yes, you're right about the section on the right. That's where it started, and the glass was melted in that area!

My main worry now is that the dealer has gone awfully quiet now I've suggested that they fix the paint work that got damaged at the time, and in transport to the garage.

There are 4 panels affected, only one of which I reckon could be T-Cut. The others are far deeper cuts/chips.

I'll keep everyone posted, but I was very interested to hear about the Land Rover with the same fault. The dealer's manager said that in his 30 year's experience, he'd never come across such a fault (I think at that point he thought I'd hit something and was trying to con a new window about of them, but all the same...).

I'm glad to hear nobody else has had the same fault with the IS200, or else really they should be recalling them. This could have been a lot more serious than it ended up.

←

Good luck with getting it sorted mate. Happened on my mums old Vauxhall.

[MartinC]

hmm its odd that you say you had only just turned the ignition to acc. So did you switch the rear window heater on?? Can't see why there would be any current flowing otherwise

Sorry for all the questions mate, just never seen this on any car and find it odd :duh:

[Monster-Mat]

the electrical connectiuons are on the other side of the glass, as in they are on the right looking from the rear of the car, not the left

i wouldnt worry, if the dealer is fixing all under warrenty

[danspencer]

hmm its odd that you say you had only just turned the ignition to acc. So did you switch the rear window heater on?? Can't see why there would be any current flowing otherwise

Sorry for all the questions mate, just never seen this on any car and find it odd :duh:

←

Exactly! I hadn't switched it on even, so my thoughts are that there maybe something else wrong that sent a huge current in the direction of the back window.

Apparently, the circuit block and surrounding glass were black.

Monster-Mat - Strange. The dealer confirmed that the circuit block was on that side. Could it have maybe switched sides on the 2004/5 model?

This just gets weirder and weirder!

[Steve ( West Mids )]

There is obviously something there on the right to cause that bit of damage. Only time I have heard of this was on the early Smart cars into this country, they used to explode. DCUK did a recall / replace on any that presented themselves at the garage.

[MartinC]

the electrical connectiuons are on the other side of the glass, as in they are on the right looking from the rear of the car, not the left

←

Thats the correct side then, as can be seen in the pic, to the right looking from the rear of the car

[Monster-Mat]

yep, i see the point now i scroll across, that point IS where the contacts are......

still cannot fathom why it has done it though

[MacRS200]

The melting point of lead (solder) is about 250 degrees C.

If you have cold glass and suddenly heat it up to 100C at a small point the stress will be like a centre punch, "bang".

[danspencer]

The melting point of lead (solder) is about 250 degrees C.

If you have cold glass and suddenly heat it up to 100C at a small point the stress will be like a centre punch, "bang".

←

It was more of a BANG!!!! than a "bang", but yes I guess that's it.

Still weird, as I wouldn't have thought that power would have gone to the window at that ignition setting, particularly as I hadn't switched it on!

All the best,

Dan

[danspencer]

The mystery deepens!

Still no news from the CEO, but I'm taking that as a good thing, that they're thoroughly investigating the matter rather than coming back with a rushed answer.

Saw my parents over the weekend, and despite the dealer saying "I've never seen this before in the whole of my 20 year career in the motor industry", my dad had a similar fault 30 years ago!!!!

This apparently happened in a brand new car, and it was the first time he ever switched on the rear window that it exploded!

Even back then, this was taken very seriously though, and he received a fair amount of compensation, which was apparently just as well, as the day he sold it, glass was still appearing in the boot area.

Of course in the case of mine, I never switched it on, which is why I'm completely bemused why it happened at all. But it does seem that exploding rear windows aren't so uncommon as first thought. :duh:

[Mr Morse]

There was a similar case over on IS300.net - window imploded for no reason. I'll try and dig out the thread.

[Mr Morse]

Here is the exploding window thread from IS300.net:

IS300.net thread

It doesn't unfortunately explain why it happened or what the resolution was though.

[danspencer]

Interesting, but I don't think it's the same cause unfortunately.

That one shattered all the way across, whereas the centre of mine actually exploded, leaving the outside relatively untouched.

Thanks for the link anyway. :)

[tredaug]

Wow thats wierd, but had the same problem on Saturday when i was driving and my driver window just went bang. I have an IS200 also.Nothing came trhough the glass not sure if it was because on the tint that held the glass together , except when i had a good look it look like some thing hit it. A bit unusual tho as what ever was use was really small from the mark on the glass so it had to be fired with great force. Still dnt know what it is. And i was driving the car in the inner lane with no cars on the side where the window had broken and all vehicles were on a stand still as the lights were red just as they turned green it happened