dougbert

Last night it was cold and snowy here in Denver. I didn't have my scraper because I had cleaned out the car so I used my hand to wipe the snow off of the back of the car. I ran the defroster on my 2002 Type-S, dealer-tinted window and it was fine when I took my briefcase out of the trunk. This morning the window was in a million shards only held together by the tint. I called the dealer to see if they would warranty it and he

His questions to me? "Is your window tinted? That could've caused it" (uhm, it's a dealer option, right? so why offer it if it's going to cause this)

"How many miles are on your car? 32,000? That's probably too many to warranty some glass."

"Is your garage heated?" (how many people actually heat their garages? what is this, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?)

He finally agreed to contact the district rep to see if he could cut me a deal, but I never heard back from him. Otherwise, it's $800+ for a replacement from the dealer.

I'm kinda torn. Is it a warranty issue or not? It just shattered on it's own in my garage. I have $1000 deductible on glass for my car so I'd be paying for this on my own, but I kinda feel on this acursed paint-peelin', tranny eatin', glass shatterin' car, that they owe me some of that $30k level customer service they promised me when I bought the car. So far, I'm not really seeing it.

check out the pic
db

njtls

damn...that sucks....dont know what you can do aobut it but i know it takes very little to shatter a rear window like that..a smal crack at the edge could cause all that...

ArN 2000 TL

wow...is it possible that when you closed the trunk it shattered?

dougbert

I think I would've noticed it. It was imediately obvious when I walked into the garage this morning.

JMTL

im a little lost so you used your arm and cleared snow off of it before you left(work?) and then ran the defroster and then just parked it in your garage when you got home and when you woke up the glass had shattered? glass shattering like that would be caused by very fast heating...on a very cold piece of glass

dougbert

Yea... I didn't have my brush/scaper thinggie with me and so I used my hand to get most of the snow off of it. It still was fogged up so I ran the defroster to get rid of the rest of that pesky visibility problem (isn't that what it's for?). Then I drove home (15 minutes) and parked it in the garage (and, yes, when you turn off the car, the defroster goes off too... since the guy from Acura seemed to think that maybe I just irresponsibly left the defroster on in the car while I went into the house... no, it doesn't make any sense to me either). I took my briefcase out of the trunk and closed the lid. I am anti trunk-or-door slamming FREAK so that wasn't it (and, beside all that... just how hard would you have to slam the trunk lid to shatter a window?!?... one would think you wouldn't have much a rear decklid left after a maneuver like that). And in the morning it was shattered. Period. There's no big marks on it like it got hit with anything or anything that indicate it might've been an 'incident' waiting to happen.

It just is what it is...a broken window. Acura is going to be the last place that I'll replace it unless they are going to cut me a super-sweet deal (free or half-price come to mind). It's just higway robbery. $800+! Whatever lady!!! When I had to replace my front windshield for a big crack, they wanted about the same, and I got one from Elite Auto Glass for less than $300...but this time, I have that whole defroster and integrated radio to deal with too...and I'm an AM radio junkie and it sounds like crap now...barely audible... so I'm just concerned that I get what I need.

I guess I'm just suprised because I've never ever seen anything like this.

JMTL

well i was making sure i got the story right, but the only way that would happen like that would be turning the defroster on a very cold window and your defroster worked very fast, or it got smashed...can't really think of anything else if it would have cracked it would be one thing but the whole window is totally broken that is really weird and tell acura your car is under warranty and to quit *****ing :thefinger:

njtls

well you can obviously show that it wasnt hit since its all still intact...theres got to be soemthing defective unless they find it chipped somewhere..cause saftey glass doesnt crack...you could just ***** to them,...say it must have been the defroster....and those are not suppose to shatter windows

nym31mp

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh siht

Bxscig

Damn.... I would think maybe if it goes from extreme cold to extreme heat it might crack it with a little force or something....

dougbert

Well, it was only in the 20-30's (it was snowing). I certainly don't consider that extreme cold. I'm going to give Acura some grief today and probably end up calling the 800 number if they won't play nice. I'll keep you posted.

dlpickering

I'd say you had defective glass since day 1 and it finally gave. The dealer questioning the mileage on your car is full of **** and trying to get out of a warrany claim.
I would take this as high as you need at Acura corporate to get them to accept responsibility.

shimbo519

PLEASE dont tell me that could have happened because it was 20-30 degrees.....the temp drops to nearly sub-zero here....o man....now im paranoid..

fsttyms1

i would really complain. something had to be wrong with the glass to begin with. the defroster alone couldnt have done that. its -11 deg here and my defroster hasnt done that to mine.(i have tinted windows also) a heated garage couldnt have done that (mine is heated) when you whiped the window off with your hand did you have a coat on or something with a button on it (made of porcilin)?? that is about the only thing that would cause the window to blow apart like that with out a impact mark of something hitting it. other wise it had to be a glass defect.

nick79

my garage is heated and my rear window is tinted and it doesnt effect my window.

Also, In school i park outside where the temp goes -15 or more some nights with windchills of -25 or more and never had window problems where it would crack.

thumpy

man .. thats wierd. I've had tinted windows in all my cars since 1986 and live where its Zero or lower every winter and never seen anything like that unless the window experienced an impact.

2007AcuraRL

Window tint didnt cause that. You could call 3M, Llumar, and every other tint maker and they will confirm that. Your glass was under some extreme stress to cause the entire window to shatter, not just crack in one place. I'd say it was an anomile --- and a defect in the glass since new. Did you call a glass shop and get an opinion or two?

I would insist that Acura replace it under warranty. There is no evidence it was hit with an object, because if it was, you'd see an impact area in the glass. And there is no truth to the rear window defogger causing it, because it doesnt heat up the glass to high enough temperatures, nor that fast. And EVEN IF it were the defogger, the fault would still rest with Acura unless they had a warning in the manual or some other conspicuous spot not to use it in extreme cold, which would defeat the point of the rear defogger.

dougbert

Well, well, well! I called Acura and the person who answered said that the head of service was out having lunch with the district manager; so I hustled and went and picked up my car and took it down there to show him. On the drive there, the glass around the edges all started falling out and I was sure the whole thing was going to come crashing in. I managed to make it there with about two shards of glass (maybe just one!) holding the whole thing in place. The guy came out and looked at it and at the photo that I brought with me in case the window was completely gone by the time I got there. He made some phone calls and some more calls and then after a good half hour came back out and said that they would warranty it after all. It makes me so very glad that I drove down there and showed it to them.

No loaner car though... ...they were all out of them (probably all of us guys with bad transmissions have them) ... oh well, you can't win them all. But it's better than the $800+labor from Acura or the $465 from Elite Auto Glass.

The one thing I did find out is that the glass place that was going to replace it for me for $465 couldn't get me one with an integrated antenna. I don't know how bad that would've made the radio sound but my AM stations kept cutting out every time I hit a bump in the road. I don't know how I could've gotten around that short of sticking a coathanger on my rear decklid!

By the way, the new TL is swwweeeeeet! Not that I'm looking or anything! I'd rather keep this one until I find something MUCH better to replace it with (or until they discover that the TL's are just randomly blowing up!... I used to think George Bush was the third sign of the apocolypse... now I realize that I was wrong... it was the arrival of the TL-S!).

me

@cUr@-TL

hummm.. i do


@cUr@-TL

nick79

dougbert


when they told me they dont have any loaners left. They had me wait until someone drove me to a rent a car place which i was able to rent a car for free

of course the car was crappy but better then a taxi.

dougbert

I actually don't "need" a loaner car this week, so it's okay. I'm sure they would've arranged something if I'd pushed for it, but I really felt like did me right on this and I'm not having to spend THAT much on the taxi's so I'm not terribly worried about it. (run on sentence!). I'm going to borrow a car until Tuesday when the window should be in and done.

NYDesi80

HOLY CRAP, I didnt even know that this was possible!! Just one suggestion, go to multiple dealers and see what they say. Its all a dealer discretion. I've experienced that a lot!

Z Factor

Sorry to hear about it.

The things you guys go through living up north is just unreal to a lot of us in warmer climates.

dougbert

The rear window has been replaced free of charge! It looks good, the radio works again (the antenna is in the rear window, right?), they vacuumed the car, cleaned it up inside and out, and THEN they even re-tinted the window to match the existing tinting on the rest of the windows!!!

Whatever I have to say about the problems with the car itself, the dealer keeps treating me right. It sure leaves me confused. I used to LOVE the car, now I only like it. But the dealer keeps me satisfied. It certainly keeps me from just running screaming away from the car and getting a different vehicle.

If you're in Denver, Mile High Acura is definitely the place to go.

db

(this has been a non-paid testimonial for MH Acura)