[bugeye]

Today my rear window shattered, i.e., exploded. While sitting in the sun in a parking lot the rear window shattered with enough force to send glass to the back of the front seat and several feet to the rear and sides of the car. The glass still in place in the upper right corner showed stress lines in a radial pattern from a point at the corner of framing. I think the glass was in contact with the metal trim and our current 90+ temp's in MD put enough stress to shatter the window. Suggest you run a feeler gauge around the inside surface to see if this is a common condition.

The fact that it shattered with such force suggests that it is locked/glued in a fixed position so that it is stressed in hot conditions. Of course there is the added possibility that my particular window had a defect that caused the failure.

Curious if any others have had this experience. Did a site search with no results.

Currently at the dealer being assessed for warranty repair. [2009 model, 2 months old, 2004 miles]

 

[quackPOT]

You sure something didn't impact your glass? I live in Phx and our glass gets WAY hotter than yours and I've never heard of anyone's glass (xB or otherwise) just exploding due to heat. Sounds fishy. Hope you have glass coverage in your auto policy, should the dealer not replace it (wouldn't surprise me).

I just replaced my windshield from a rock impact. Cost me $0

 

[clark]

I agree with quackPOT. I'm also in Phoenix and 90 degrees is a chilly summer day here I think you had a defect or some kind of projectile broke your window.

On a side note, quackPOT I see you have a sportbike in your avatar. We have common interests.

 

[Guest]

We had 102 deg temps here in WA this summer and mine was fine to. Thats really odd to hear about your back window breaking like that.

 

[Hellen4Wheels]

I live in Texas and so far this year we have been living on the sun's surface with temps way over 100º on a regular basis. This is the first time I have heard of a window of any kind breaking on an xB. Sorry to hear it happened to you.

It does seem as though someone struck that window with enough force to cause it to implode. I'm sure since it is a fixed window, it would be more affected by being struck. I just hope this is the only time this does happen.

 

[bugeye]

It is useful to hear that no others have had this experience. Regarding impact, I think it is highly unlikely. I looked at the rear glass after I parked because I opened the hatch. No glass defect. When I came back to the car 1.5 hrs later the glass had failed. A worker nearby stated that no one was near the car at the time.

The fracture/stress lines in the upper, right area point directly at a section of the interior framing. It would be highly coincidental for an exterior impact to just happen to hit at this point. Hence my hypothesis that the glass was in contact with this point of metal. And there a a fleck of paint missing on the metal at this point, further suggesting direct involvement.

Just to add a seed of doubt to the discussion this happened at a golf course. But the parking location is directly in front of the clubhouse, with no play areas nearby. In fact the area in back of my car is asphalt, with about 20 paces to the clubhouse entrance. Further, I was there at 7 a.m. and found the broken window at about 8:15, after playing 9 holes. In that time only another 5-10 players entered the course. And the 'starter' was nearby the whole time, attesting that no one was nearby. So golf was a non-issue. But I suspect this will help the non-believers.

And to repeat my previous suggestion: Testing the framing with a feeler gauge for direct metal contact might be a good idea.

P.S. I am sure missing driving the XB while it is at the dealer while Toyota makes up its mind if it is a warranty repair.

 

[Eric]

You probably don't need someone else to mention this, but I'll chime in anyway - it's been in the triple digits here last week and several times previously this summer, as with any summer in Sacramento, and I've had no problems.

 

[Geezer]

Probably a stray bullet outta DC or Phiily. Which way was your xB facing?

 

[EPHIOS]

Will this be covered under warranty, guys? I am pretty sure this privacy rear glass is expensive.

 

[bugeye]

Toyota declined to repair it under warranty. Claimed they had no experience with such failures. Dealer cost to repair was $750, including a standard hazardous waste disposal charge of $40.
After market quote was $600 for the glass. Did not get to the stage of getting a full, installed price.

 

[Brewski]

Toyota declined to repair it under warranty. Claimed they had no experience with such failures. Dealer cost to repair was $750, including a standard hazardous waste disposal charge of $40.
After market quote was $600 for the glass. Did not get to the stage of getting a full, installed price.

Did you look into your "comprehensive coverage" on your auto insurance? Here in Florida I think that it would be covered without a deductable....

Brewski

 

[xbomb]

you think it got that hot at 8:15 am?

 

[r2d2michael]

bringing back from the dead...

so what was the total cost? I just had a rock go through my rear glass.

 

[SumthingMessy]

I sense a phx meet? been itching to start showing stuff off to fellow xb drivers

 

[rosyposy]

Hello..I have a Scion XB 2006..it is still like new..only 10K miles..that being said, I went outside last night (after midnight) to get something I left on the front seat. When I shut the door, the back glass just shattered! It sounded like someone was throwing gravel at the car! What a mess..I have never seen anything like it. It just happened "spontaniously"-no objects hitting it or anything, and, it wasn't hot outside! Anyway, I am covered and Safelite is repairing it next week. Has anyone ever heard of this? ThankS - Rose in GA

 

[Brendan Tnias]

10/06/2017 I have a 2008 Scion Xb with low mileage -less than 8000 miles. Today while backing out of a parking spot in a Costco parking lot my rear window suddenly shattered. I was completely astonished. I stopped immediately and got out to look, wondering if I had hit something but there was nothing to hit. A man in a stopped vehicle who was waiting for me to finish backing out saw my rear window break, and it did make a loud noise as the entire glass panel burst into thousands of small pieces and a large center area fell our partly inside and partly outside the vehicle. I was completely baffled as there was no sign of a projectile nor even a clear preference of any force being from the outside or inside as far as the fallen glass indicated. A Costco employee came over to ask what happened and I said I had no idea why it burst into a mass of tiny pieces. He mentioned that perhaps there may be something about this type of car, Scion Xb, as a friend of his had had one and one day when he put something in the back and closed the hatchback the same thing happened, the whole glass window seemed to burst into a thousand pieces.

 

[Nigel7]

Today my rear window shattered, i.e., exploded. While sitting in the sun in a parking lot the rear window shattered with enough force to send glass to the back of the front seat and several feet to the rear and sides of the car. The glass still in place in the upper right corner showed stress lines in a radial pattern from a point at the corner of framing. I think the glass was in contact with the metal trim and our current 90+ temp's in MD put enough stress to shatter the window. Suggest you run a feeler gauge around the inside surface to see if this is a common condition.

The fact that it shattered with such force suggests that it is locked/glued in a fixed position so that it is stressed in hot conditions. Of course there is the added possibility that my particular window had a defect that caused the failure.

Curious if any others have had this experience. Did a site search with no results.

Currently at the dealer being assessed for warranty repair. [2009 model, 2 months old, 2004 miles]

I just had the same eperience in Florida in my 2006 XB. I was standing in the parking of a Hardees talking with my grandaughter and it just exploded. Really weird because I had just been telling about an asteroid hitting the earth. and 10 minutes later this happened. Really strange.
Craig M.