Just my luck to have a rock hit my windshield last week. It was on the passenger side bottom, along the black edge. It grew from a size of slightly larger than a quarter (which meant I couldn't fill it) to a terrible line that is growing towards the driver side on the lower third. About 18" over the course of 5 days. I'll be contacting insurance for replacement and I've received a quote, which I thought would be good to share with you. The following prices includes the glass and installation labor: Front Windshield: $1,068 Rear Upper Glass: $1,246 Rear Lower Glass: $661 I did find it surprising that the unique rear upper glass was just slightly more than the front windshield. I had suspect the curved rear glass was going to cost around $1,500. At the same time, front windshield isn't that special, but expensive. It was going to cost around $300 for the calibration on top of the replacement cost. On a side note, I hadn't installed my new dash cam yet. Since they're going to pull off the windshield, I wonder if I should ask to route the power cable during installation. i would have an easier time tucking it into the headliner and down the A pillar. That's if they would even let me. Anyways, hope none of y'all ever have to deal with a cracked glass.
Keep in mind that the windshield is laminated (Acoustic glass) and needs to be optically clear for the monocular camera, HUD and rain sensing wipers to work properly. It does sound a bit more expensive than I thought (My Gen 3 cost about $600 CAD and it's an acoustic windshield but no TSS-P obviously)
The windshield will be coming from Toyota. The glass shop will be holding onto my car for 3-4hrs to install the new windshield and recalibrate the camera, so everything will be back to spec when they're done.
Been there, done that, two weeks after delivery of my New Prime. I had to wait 3 weeks for the part to arrive from Japan. Your posted cost including the installation is probably similar to mine. I was quoted $680 (parts only) for the front windshield from Toyota. There was not aftermarket part yet, and seem not even now. I am not sure what the installation cost was, but my Toyota dealer did the front facing camera calibration for $150 which was reimbursed by my insurance. I was extremely glad that I had no deductible insurance. Yes, they will detach them and re-attach them to the new windshield, then re-calibrate the camera.
Ahh ok. That explains the higher cost. Mine is a 3rd party (but I did the research and apparently Pilkington is a reputable glass maker. Pilkington glass is stamped on the bottom right)
My glass company quoted me around $500 to replace my front windshield (I will have to go to Toyota to get them to realign the front sensor).
3 months after buying our Prime we suffered a cracked windshield (Nov 2017). We got it replaced from SafeLite (IIRC) for about $400. At the time, they had to refer us to the dealer to get the sensors re-calibrated or aligned. The dealer tried to claim they could not do it on an aftermarket windshield. I called BS. I believe I was right. They ended up doing it although they claimed they couldn't do it correctly but it seems to work now. After they had done the alignment, I went back to SafeLite and it turned out they now had the info they needed and could have done the alignment. My insurance agent was not pleased by Toyota's claim that the aftermarket windshield was unsuitable noting that windshields are a highly regulated commodity. I have a deep seated distrust of Dealer service depts operating from the premise that these are the dealer's cash cows.
Price seems to have come down nicely. If your Prime was replaced with aftermarket glass in Nov, the aftermarket windshield must have became available then. In Aug last year when I had my windshield replaced, there was no aftermarket windshield and Toyota OEM parts were on backorder nationwide and cost $600 parts alone. I have not had another incident since the repair, but it is still the same as the original one, thinner, lighter, and prone to crack.
I just went through a windshield replacement through Safelite for my 2018 Prime Advanced 2 weeks ago and it was a horrible experience. I went to their shop because the sensor would need alignment and they could only do that at their shop. After arriving, they indicated their alignment machine was down and I would have to have the dealer do the calibration. Not happy but let them continue. 2 hours later the technician came over and said he could not get the old windshield out and they were going to put all the techs on it. Another hour goes by and he returns to say they put in the wrong replacement windshield, were going to have to order another one and they would have to get me a rental because my car was not drivable. Turns out that they had put in an aftermarket windshield and the camera wouldn’t clip in to the windshield. Safelite researched it and said only a Toyota windshield would work so they put one of those in 3 days later. Unfortunately, they then came and said they had lost the camera attachment parts and would have to order new ones from the dealer. So 2 days later they called and said it was ready for pickup. I discovered really filthy A pillar trim pieces caused by the difficult windshield removable and made them order new trim pieces. I finally got my car back to drive until the trim pieces came in and then found that the rain sensing wipers didn’t work. They did get everything finished when I returned. The rain sensor required a new sticky pad to adhere the sensor to the windshield. Be sure you verify that the rain sensor works before leaving as it is easier for them to just restick the sensor to the windshield than ordering and installing a new pad. I don’t think I will use Safelite again - it took a week and a half for a simple windshield replacement.
OMG! Thanks for sharing your horror story, and sorry for your pain. I'm saving it and will show it to the glass shop before I have them work on my windshield.
I hope I never need to have a windshield replaced. I'm assuming I could just have it done by my dealer. Right? At least I'd have some confidence they would use genuine Toyota parts and the skill/tools to calibrate the camera/rain sensor etc.. Do reputable insurance companies object to that (replacement by a dealer) and force you to a 3rd Party (Safelite)? Thanks, J
If & when my Gen4 cracks, Safelite told me I had a choice of OEM Toyota brand glass, or aftermarket. He swore they were equal in quality. $1,000 for Toyota windshield, and $600 for aftermarket. I dont have glass insurance. The Prius windshield sure pits easily! Mine looks bad already, and I rarely drive the freeways. I beieve most dealers farm out the work? An outside company comes in to install? Or they deliver your car to an auto glass shop. Not sure, all dealers are different. check first.
Does your dealer replace windshield? When I had my PRIME's windshield replaced, there was no parts available nationwide. I had to wait for shipment from Japan for 3 weeks. My insurance recommends using Safelite for glass replacement, but since they could not get a parts, I had to order it through Toyota dealer. However, my Toyota dealer, despite having a dedicated body shop, do not work on glass replacement. They subcontract with glass shop for that. I ended up with glass ordered by Toyota dealer, and replaced by subcontracted independent glass shop, and car had to be recalibrated by the dealer. But glass shop did the replacement at the dealer site, so all were done in single day and took about 3 hours total. And with no deductible insurance, there was no cost to me, though the calibration cost had to be paid to the dealer and later reimbursed by insurance company, since the dealer would not bill insurance company directly.
I did a double-take, when I read this, regarding a body shop custom-painting a roof. Not for a repair, just on a whim, for a custom roof colour: In this thread: Painted roof... | PriusChat
