Shattered rear glass

Auto glass is tempered. That puts incredible strain in it. The purpose is to make it stronger and to ensure that if it is broken, it will end up in tiny pieces as seen above that won't kill you.

Now, if you put a small scratch on a tempered glass sheet the forces will concentrate there, probably eventually getting strong enough to cause the sheet to fail (shatter). Hatch glass is sometimes installed poorly, such that it touches the steel body. This point will rub and that will cause the tempering forces to concentrate there, eventually shattering the piece. This includes the little piece below the spoiler.

There is usually -no way- to tell what broke the glass if it falls apart. If it shatters and stays together you -may- be able to tell where the failure started.

A side window break such as that just posted is -usually- caused by an external force. Rock, BB, bullet, but usually a rock if on the highway. Most BB guns or pellet guns can't break auto glass unless at very close range. Even a 22 cal bullet has a hard time unless it hits almost perpendicular.

Windshields are even stronger, as they are made of two sheets of tempered glass with a plastic sheet in between. The law requiring this was passed years ago after people were horrified by the blood and gore involved when humans try to fly through ordinary glass. It almost sounds funny, but I'm glad they didn't have colour film then.

 

it most likely was an external force which caused the side window to shatter.

but also its possible if the chassis flexed a tiny bit and bent the door frame.

 

Thanks for the replies, Anyway, what ended up happening was I took it to the Toyota dealership and they were extremely cool enough to put it under my warranty. It didn't cost me a dime to repair my rear passenger window. It was even done within the next day! I cannot be more pleased with Toyota right now. Just wanted to follow up with info incase other people were wondering.
:bounce:

 

Sweet!

 

That is great!!

 

Our 2008 had the rear window shatter spontaneously while it sat in the garage. The replacement was just over $400. Toyota won't even acknowledge this is a problem. In my view it is a. glass which didn't meet specs. b. inadequate specs for the glass. c. design of the frame in which the glass is mounted doesn't adequately insulate it from the shock of closing the hatch. Apparently the RAV4 has a similar problem. My next car may well not be a Toyota.

 

I'm the new member of the shattered back glass club. Judging by how many people have been writing in here about their experience, it is obviously a design flaw. Just found out I have full glass coverage, so I'm not sweating it. Hopefully, their newer models don't have this particular problem.

 

Its best to always open a door to relieve the pressure when closing the hatch. Don't think that matters? Sit in the car with the windows and doors closed and have someone close the hatch. Alot of pressure.

Back in 2007 & 8 I remember a bunch of complaints of shattered windows closing the hatch.

Pull it down till its about 2 inches from closing using the inside cavity than with same hand now on the Toyota emblem push it closed with just enough force to lock it. Don't wing it down hard or fast as that hatch is pretty heavy.

I believe constant hard closing of the hatch is one of the reasons the body seam cracks right at the valley next to the hinge too. Many reports of that seam where the quarter panel meets the roof cracking and then leaking water into trunk.

You never know about it till you hear water sloshing around in the trunk.

 

so this happened to my 2009 Prius today. my wife was in slow traffic when the rear window popped. looking closely it seems there is a radiating crack from under the center of the wiper outward, it also looks like the Defroster wire in that area is burned. its possible it was burned after the crack. here are a few pictures. the background looks as if something is near the inside of the window, its not. nothing from the inside of car damaged the window. this is the oddest window issue i have ever seen.

 

ouch! i cannot figure this out. it doesn't happen too often, and always a surprise.

 

yes very bizarre but yesterday was really cold coldest day of the year so far 35 Saturday night in the Tampa area. Maybe the hot defroster on the super cold window found a soft spot in the window.

 

I had it happen to the hatch on my 06 in Feb '16 when the temp dropped down to around 40 over night. Looked almost the same as your pics except the separation was complete on both sides top to bottom. I came out to go to work and though "wow there is frost on the rear window! I didn't think it got that cold." When I got close saw it was shattered. Mine had been wrecked by the previous owner but I had driven the car for 2 years with no issues. Thankfully Budget-U-Pull-It had the complete hatch for $45 plus tax.

 

This just happened to me yesterday. 2009 Prius. The temperature dropped to -3 degrees F last week. Yesterday it was around 36 degrees, and there had been a severe windstorm during the night. (I'm not all the way convinced that weather is a factor, because I've owned this car since 2009, and it's been through extreme weather many times before.) Around 4:30pm I opened the rear passenger door, put my snowboard in the car, closed the door, and heard a strange noise. It turned out to be the sound of the small dark hatch window spontaneously disintegrating into a pile of tiny cubes.

 

welcome!
very strange, there must be a few defective units or something.

 

Happens every time I forget to move the car before I mow the grass around the gravel driveway. 3rd time yesterday.