My Prime was broken into yesterday - the glass pulverizes

Lots of good info on this thread. Thanks for the update.

 

Had a Bimmer broken into years ago; passenger front side. Was finding bits of that stuff for the next three years, including under the folded over carpeting splices under the front passenger seat. How the glass even ricocheted that far amazed me. I don't even recall what was stolen, but it was less than a hundred dollars and not very important. The amount of glass that was peppered all over the car from such a small window was amazing. I can also remember being very angry over all the BS I had to do to get it fixed.

 

Alright, you got me curious. What's an extreme event wind site?

 

A place where you can get 140mph winds, extreme wind shear, and extremely high turbulence, all having nothing to do with a hurricane, tornado or supercell.

 

In other words, the Front Range. LOL! I got blown over on my motorcycle north of Golden one night.

 

No, since we're directly in front of Eldorado Canyon, we get something close to twice the wind you get a mile or two on either side of us. The canyon acts as a natural wind tunnel.

People generally over-estimate the amount of wind they are feeling by a factor of two. I've seen reporters standing in hurricanes telling the audience that the wind was over 100mph where they were. It wasn't. You can't stand up in 80mph winds no matter what shoes you are wearing. At 70mph at sea level (at head level), most people will be on their knees at best. I've been outside here when the wind was 100mph at head level and I had to crawl on my chest to avoid being blown over. I've seen 30,000 pound ISO containers blow around in 90mph winds. We even had one go rolling away once.

140mph is quite astonishing to witness. Yet, I had some students I work with in Puerto Rico during Maria's arrival, and they recorded a wind gust at their University of 210mph.

 

The side widows are designed to fragment to allow fast access by emergency workers (I used to be a volunteer EMT/Firefighter). If we come up on an accident and need to pop the window (the door cant be opened without power tools which can take time), we'll pop the window with a small spring loaded punch... BUT if we have a few extra seconds we'll throw a piece of tack paper over the window (similar to what used to be the fashion to line kitchen shelves with). That way once the windshield shatters we'll just peel the vast majority of the glass away and minimize the number of fragments hitting the occupants.

But you simply can't laminate the side windows. If you did and we can't get the door open quickly there would be no easy way to start an IV or give someone oxygen quickly, or in the absolute worst case, use a fire extinguisher in the passenger compartment prior an engine showing up and getting a charged line to the car (it wouldn't matter once the engine shows up even if the window was there as engine nozzles (at least all the ones we ever bough) had hardened penetrator tips that can be used to punch through walls, car hoods, etc. in order to get water into places that you don't have immediate access to... they would go through a laminated window as if it wasn't there).

 

Thank you for your volunteerism and the explanation for the non-laminated side windows.

 

But the front windows on our Primes ARE laminated. Roll down the window and you'll see two rounded edges with a seam in the middle. I assume it's for noise reduction, and it's more common in luxury cars.

It's probably not designed for strength like the front windshield laminate which has to withstand stuff hitting it at high speed. I don't know how much strength the acoustic laminate adds. Hopefully not too much so that first responders can still access the inside of the vehicle, and so occupants can escape in an emergency.

In fact it might not even be a plastic layer like the front windshield, it might just be two pieces of glass glued together.

 

I was curious about the mention of a special vacuum used to remove glass from cars and found this.

You can buy the attachment mentioned on Amazon for $23.95.

 

Or the plastic layer isn't the full size of the glass, making it easier to remove once the glass is shattered.
Or the fact that it is only anchored on one side is enough for emergency access. Windshields are laminate and glued in on the way around.

 

I lived in Boulder in the '80s. The Chinook winds blew over 100 mph one winter day, and shattered a West facing window on the house and side windows on the cars. A neighbor's house down the street had the roof completely blown off. Power poles were blown down and we were without power for 5 days.

 

Are you sure that's a break in attempt?
It looks identical to the damage to my front window a falling baseball made a few years ago on one of my prior vehicles.
Comprehensive took care of it.

 

Windshield blowing out...

 

Ok... you got me interested so I did a bunch of research. Apparently back in 2011 the NHSTA passed some new rules actually REQUIRING advanced glazing (lamination) on the side windows. It seems that there is a sufficient number of idiots who still won't wear their seatbelts who end up making Mr Darwin happy when a vehicle rolls. So to prevent that from happening all side windows, starting in the fall of 2017 must be laminated.

Interestingly enough, they have also issued new extrication guidelines for first responders. No longer will a simple hole punch be usable to gain access to the vehicle when the door is inoperable:

"If the side window is the only option for getting inside a vehicle, consider breaching it by using standard laminated-glass removal techniques such as a recip saw, glass master or axe. A window is not an ideal initial entrance or egress point for a medic or rescuer to assess the patient, but it is sometimes the best option. To breach the side window, create a purchase point in the lower corner closest to the doorsill, insert a recip saw blade or glass master and cut along the top of the doorsill from window frame to window frame. Next, slip the blade upward into the cut and pull out just enough to fit in a gloved hand. Grab hold of the glass, bow it out and then pull straight downward; the whole piece should separate from the window frame. "

Now, sit back and imagine how long that will take to happen. Usually you'll have some first responders who go directly to a crash site and others that follow on with the ambulance (which takes more time as they have to go get it first). So now all first responders who go to crash sites will need to carry a sawz-all in their car.

Do you think every police car has been equipped with a sawz-all to allow for quick extrication or patient access?

Can you imagine if the car is on fire and the only way out is though the side window which you can no longer simply break?

I always carry a seat-belt cutter and a window punch in my center console... but now I guess that's going to be useless.

This seems like a HORRIBLY bad decision. People who wear their seatbelts are going to die because other idiots can't be bothered.

uggg

 

From what I understand, if in an accident and your door is jammed shut, there are various devices to shatter a side window to extricate yourself or allow a 1st responder to tend to you. Laminating the side windows would make it very difficult or impossible to exit a vehicle with inoperable doors. Imagine your car catches on fire after an accident and the laminate side windows won't shatter to allow you to escape.