F*&^@W*g windshield!

The OP lives in a Commonwealth....which is sort of like living in any other US state except that their road maintenance standards may be a little different...
Getting a broken windscreen twice in the same year - or whatever, might be bad roads, bad driving, bad luck, or bad equipment - but I'm thinking that despite Toyota's world-famous frugality it's not from an overly-thin windscreen....and it's mostly just.....bad luck.
I'm presuming that the windshield thickatude for the A-model Prime is about the same for the Base, and I just haven't heard of people grumbling about egg-thin windshields in Priuses breaking more so than the more plebeian wireless Priuses.
When I first saw a Prime in person my glassy thoughts were how much that swoopy REAR glass was going to be to replace!

@ insurance....
The economic purpose of insurance is risk or financial management, which is much different than avoiding financial loss - which is impractical.
Most insurance companies are publicly traded.
Nearly ALL of them are state regulated, and as loathsome as I find their practices to be, they have a legally binding, fiduciary responsibility to their owners not to pay out dozens and dozens of glass claims to their policy holders while charging the same rates to "luckier" drivers who may go multiple decades without any claims at all.
All claims are....claims, and they ALWAYS get written down somewhere.

Me?
I use insurance when and where I have to.
I "have" to have liability, and I choose to carry comp and collision with $1,000 deductibles.
I've replaced 2 windshields that I remember in the last 30 years and I've probably had a half dozen smaller dings repaired. I replaced the glass myself, because I had a teenage driver and It made sense to do do it that way at that time.
I carry 6-digit liability and medical and my rates are very low.

How low would be irrelevant to the discussion because a 19-year-old Dodge Challenger driver in a high risk state with 10 tickets is going to be a different liability risk than a septuagenarian Prius driver with a clean record, no claims and a residence in flyover country.

The point is....
Insurance companies can and do keep track of glass claims.
Sometimes you can save a little bit of money by letting them fix a stone chip or even replace a windshield - but I'd be careful about making a habit of it.....

Good Luck!

 

Yep, esp.considering there's no visible difference. Advanced dashboard, on the other hand, has the cutout so you can't just slap it on a Premium. VW uses same parts across models but lists under different part #'s, often shamelessly charging a premium.

 

I had a Ranger, 2WD with rear ABS. Needed to replace the rotor/hubs. Since 4 wheel ABS Rangers outsold rear wheel only models, replacement ABS rotors were cheaper than the non-ABS ones used on my truck. The technical difference between the tow was a steel stator that the ABS sensor used to track wheel speed.

There was no technical reason why Ford couldn't just use the ABS rotors on all Rangers. There was an economic one in that the ABS one would cost them more to put on non-ABS trucks. That is the likely case in regards to the Prime windshields. Now if non-hud windshield deliveries were delayed, it could be cheaper to put HUD ones on non-HUD cars than stopping the line.

Having had two chips in the Camry's windshield in two years, i support the bad luck argument. However, various regulations and costs have lead to using thinner layers of paint and even sheet metal. So thinner windshields can't be ruled out.

 

If by regulations you mean CAFE, then yeah I would not rule it out either.

 

Yes, glass is heavy.
Thinner doesn't need to mean weaker though. Mazda's SkyActiv suite makes heavy use of boron steel. The body panels are thinner and lighter, but stronger than a comparable amount of standard steel.

 

Salamander said, "I would look for another carrier."

Very true. It is always a good idea every few years to shop around for insurance coverage at better rates. I bundle my home, auto, earthquake, umbrella, and rent house policies together for my convenience, then offer the package to other insurers. I get good rates and service from Safeco. Farmers would cost more. Amica is lower on some, higher on others, total about the same, not worth changing. Next year I'll see what USAA offers (I qualify).

Sometimes another agent will show you coverage you're buying and don't need. (If you can afford to write a check to cover the loss, don't spend the money on insurance for it.) Other times another agent will tell you of cover you can buy that is a very good idea. There is no industry standard for "full coverage." It's whatever your agent puts in the policy. It's always good to have different eyes look things over. Sometimes the variance in rates between companies for the same package will be surprising.

 

Because of flooding our highways have become demolition derby around here. Well, today I was driving home, going the speed limit, when a pickup passed me with traffic coming from the other direction. He just got back in the correct lane and then I heard it. A rock from him hitting my windshield. After reading how soft the window seems to be I knew I had a crack but did not see one and when I got home I cleaned the windshield looking for a chip. Nothing. I feel so lucky.

 

I am currently on my third windscreen and was informed at the last fitting that this one will last longer, which suggests to me that there has probably been some subtle changes in the screen spec on the latest production run of glass.
Apparently the original screens were very weak at the edges so a stone chip there would result in a massive crack which is exactly what happened to me (twice).

In Norway a replacement costs over US $3000 but I believe a lot of that is due to the work involved recalibrating the cameras.

 

I share your expletive-ridden sentiments, OP. I Live in So-Cal; Bought my 2020 Prius prime in late September...windshield got a huge crack by mid October. Insurance claim sent me to safelite—which took months! 2.5 weeks ago (mid-December) the new windshield FINALLY got installed and everything recalibrated ($500 out of pocket deductible right before Christmas—ugh!) and now there is another crack in the new windshield.Seriously, Wth!?

 

If rock LIKELY came off some big truck you can go after them for damages. Not exactly sure, I guess you just need to get truck's lic plate, and you might end up wasting time at DMV and Small Claims.

I was observing Small Claims court for a Civics class and trucking firm was being sued for windshield damage and Trucking manager says "but our trucks have a sign that says 'Not responsible for damaged windshields' and 'stay back 200ft'" which was basically full admission his company was knowingly breaking windshields, and only school buses and fire trucks (and maybe trucks hauling gasoline or TNT) etc get to tell other drivers to "stay back".