New prius- new crack in the windshield - who makes the OEM glass?

I can't help you with the glass but I've been driving around with a chip for so long I don't remember when it happened. I'd keep the original windshield until it doesn't pass inspection. The installer is more important than the glass. If you take it to the dealer they will just subcontract the job to the "glass man" who will drive onto the lot & replace the glass.

 

Daikon-Japanese turnip which I do liked pickled

 

That's sort of off topic, don't you think? :madgrin:

Re: Manufacturer of OEM glass - [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahi_Glass_Company"]Asahi Glass Co. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Asahi - Morning Sun which I do liked in the morning. :madgrin:

 

Welcome to the cracked Prius windshield club. We didn't have our Prius for more than 3 months before it suddenly with no other cars around developed a massive crack. In my opinion the Thai glass (AGC on the window stamp) sucks. I've never had any windshield crack like the Prius and the one apparent difference is the source of the glass. I've had many cars take serious hits, get star cracks, etc. but never a long crack that appeared instantaneously from a small chip, and from an unseen event.

Mine cracked about a foot immediately. If you want to try a chip repair do it ASAP or it will likely be too late. When I polled members it was apparent that almost all chips turned into serious cracks that required windshield replacement.

Look at the window for the three letter DOT manufacturer code. You can find the manufacturing source online.

In intend to try the PPG rather than the Toyota for replacement. I still have no other chips, just the giant crack, so this appears to be a glass defect, perhaps caused by improper annealing, or perhaps by a thinner outer glass layer for Toyota specs--it looks much thinner when examining the crack. Toyota has had some trouble with material selection as I've noticed in failures of a several parts on my Tundra (4WD rear end housing bolts--can you say "oh my God!" expensive?, AC knob, rear window pivots.) Then there are the various recalls on the Tundra: O2 sensors and now the frame corrosion issue. By comparison to the Tundra my Honda and Nissan had far fewer troubles. I miss their reliability.

My Tundra has PPG OEM and has many chips for which I can recall the event, including at the margins, with nary a crack (not even a star crack.) That's my primary basis for trying PPG on the Prius...although cost and insurance scoring is perhaps a better consideration in your case.

 

I don't know if any of PPG's Prius glass replacement is considered "OEM" by Toyota proper or not. AFAIK all of the GenII glass is from Asahi in Thailand, but I don't have any firm source for that.

However, Toyota does use PPG glass for other OEM's. My Tundra still has the original glass and it is PPG. The difference is likely assembly location: the Tundra is built in the U.S. With as well as my Tundra glass has held up to some hefty stone hits, I'm not hesitant to use PPG for the Prius...if it has all the other little bells and whistles.