Driving my 2009 Cayman in the rain this afternoon (40 degrees) and my windshield implodes spontaneously. I heard a loud boom (like a fire cracker went off in the cabin) and noticed my windshield with several circular cracks from the rear view mirror outward like a ripple in the ocean. I thought a tree branch or rock hit the window, but there is no evidence of that... has this happened to anyone else? It is almost like their was too much pressure inside the cabin which caused the cracking.
Crikey! First I have heard of that.
Let me call Mulder. One for the X files.
What was your speed? Sonic boom? Hail?
My Gawd! A hull breach. You need an escape-pod or an ejection seat for that kind of thing.
Have you ever had a wreck or body damage in the past that may have contributed to abnormal pressures on your wind-shield? That's all I can think of.
This was a common problem with 993 rear windows back in the 90's but I have not hear of this being a problem with the Cayman so hopefully just an isolated problem, but please let us know what the dealer has to say about it, I would hope it would be covered under warranty.
Its not internal overpressure, unless you also noticed your ears bleeding from the ruptured eardrums......
Could be a flaw that wasn't caught by inspection or was considered subcritical in length and configuration. Could be thermally induced, but the differential temperature between 40F and cabin, even with defrost at full blast, that probably would require a flaw. Could be a otherwise OK windshield that was at the limits for shape and size that went kaflooie due to bending induced in the glass that wouldn't have been there had it been closer to ideal shape/size.
I was cleaning my Audi A4 windshield yesterday and couldn't believe the localized bulge towards the top of it, or the fact that I hadn't noticed it before. Yet, its 7 years old and, knock on wood, still fine.
Chalk it up to bad ju-ju, unless you want to spend a lot of time diagnosing it. Just from this site, you can see that odds are you won't encounter it a second time.
I don’t know about other states but In the State of Florida if you have comprehensive on you insurance policy. Your windshield is replaced free of charge. Basically your deductable is waived. If you have State Farm any window is covered and the deductable is waived.
Certainly an odd problem and one I don't care to experience. There were a few reports on the 335i list of sunroofs exploding. A few had dealers refuse to repair them.
You didn't say but did you get a face full of glass?
The fact the the cracks appear from the rear view mirror is interesting. I had a dealer replace my rear view mirror and when putting on the new one they broke the glass (from just the pressure of putting on a new mirror).
They didn't seem overly surprised that it had happened.
Freaky. Lucky nothing worse happened, like slamming into something while you were trying to figure out what happened.
Teach you to drive in the rain...
just kidding, hope the fix goes well and swiftly for you.
A bamly day by Massachusetts standards. The heater was probably on 70-72 degrees. The stereo wasn't that loud either
The car was purchased new from a dealer with 6 miles on it... no crashes to my knowledge.
Massachusetts insurance carriers cover 100% of windshield replacement cost no matter what the cause.
No glass shatter inside the cabin, just 100 cracks and one freaked out driver... DRIVE BY!
How fast were you driving?!
Comet.
You git hit by one. Well, what was left after entering the atmosphere. Just a single ice crystal flying at a million miles a second.
That's my theory.
Did you notice any water vapor on the outside of the windshield that was impossible to see with the naked eye?
Any strange lights or missing time?
Black helicopters testing new equipment again, call your local congressman and tell them you know what they are up to.
