gbrucken

Had a stone hit my windshield today and now there's about a 2 foot crack across the glass, so it more than can be filled. I called a couple of auto glass shops (after filing a claim with insurance) and they can't get the parts to re-mount the rain sensor for the wipers. One was not comfortable trying to align the camera use for the lane keep assist/lane departure warning system as well. Insurance company says they won't pay fully for dealer to do the work (thinking they'll probably use OEM glass which is really expensive). Anyone had any success here in getting a windshield replaced via insurance? How did it turn out? Thanks.

rosen39

Where do you live? In Massachusetts, if the car is 2 years old or less, you have the right to ask for OEM glass. Many aftermarket windshields are just as good. In fact, some OEM glass is made by these aftermarket companies.
As far as the installation of the lane keep assist "eye" or camera, they insurance should also pay for the installation and recalibration of that feature. That is happening more often with auto manufacturers offering that feature. Hope you are not dealing with "Flo" from Progessive Insurance.

gbrucken

Appreciate the reply. I live in Ohio and I don't believe that we have any such law. I do not business with "Flo", although their headquarters is about 45 minutes from my house. Working with a large Illinois-based insurance company in this case. I've never had an issue with any other replacements, but this one seems a bit more complicated with the added equipment. They told me that I could take it to the dealer for the replacement, but of course, I would pay the extra cost beyond whatever is their limit out of pocket. They didn't seem to think that a glass shop would have any trouble calibrating that camera and getting the part for the rain sensor. I'm not so sure on that.

Tomorrow, I'll call my insurance agent for his thoughts and the dealer to see if they have a recommendation based on their experience. Maybe a glass shop does the glass replacement and the dealer does the rain sensor and camera calibration? Insurance is to essentially put the car back to its condition right before the stone chipped my windshield (after paying my deductible, of course). That seems like a reasonable expectation here.

I seem to have bad luck. This is the 4th straight car that I've had to replace the windshield due to flying debris on the highway...7th time since I've been driving. You'd think I'd be an expert at this by now! I appreciate your comments on the replacement glass. In the past, I've always insisted on PPG glass as the replacement and have never had a problem making that happen. The windshield is actually a structural element of the car...not something that you want to replace with a cheaply made product even though that's what the insurance company always seems to prefer.

Curious as to anyone else's experience?

Thanks!

Carbon2008RDX

Sorry to hear about your windshield misfortunes. Have you inquired with www.safelite.com yet? I believe they have several locations in Ohio.

chickdr

Our '16 Advance suffered a similar fate at around 10k miles. We filed through insurance and asked for OEM glass since the car was 6mths old. Safelite did the repair with OEM glass in my wife's parking lot at work. No issues since...

gbrucken

Appreciate the replies. After a bit of work between the insurance company, my agent, a glass shop and the dealer today (at one point getting them all together on a conference call), we have a plan. A local glass shop recommended by the dealer has ordered an OEM windshield through the dealer's parts department (cost for windshield was only about $450, according to the dealer) and will install it. Cost of windshield and installation will be direct-billed to insurance (after taking out my deductible). Dealer will then align camera for about $120. I pay for that out of pocket and submit receipt to my insurance agent who will get me fully reimbursed. While car is tied up, I get a free loaner from the dealer. This is a great solution and I appreciated everyone coming together to make this work today. Persistence (friendly persistence) pays off, but it should not have been this hard or time consuming.

It seems like insurance companies and glass shops have not entirely figured out how to handle this new technology. With more and more vehicles gaining front-facing cameras, this will continue to be a problem until insurance companies realize that there is more to replacing a windshield than just replacing a windshield and that local glass companies can probably make more money if they can get equipment to properly to align these cameras so that this is literally a one stop shop.

Maybe this might help out someone else who suffers a similar fate in the future...

Comfy

Wow. That was super illuminating for us. Thanks a lot.

kipsy

i have never had to pay a deductible for a windshield.

chickdr

That sounds way more complicated than it needs to be. Safelite removed the broken windshield and replaced it with a new OEM unit in the parking lot of my wife's office. No alignment necessary and all of sensors work just as they did before. At least insurance is paying for it.

gbrucken

Just to follow up, following the windshield replacement, the camera did not work properly. It would signal when the car went left of center, but not off the road on the right and the lane keep assist function did not work at all.

Took it back to the glass shop today and they found a small piece of foam was partially blocking the camera view, adjusted it and everything now works.

They told me that, unless the camera power/data cable is unplugged, it should not need recalibrating if you use the OEM windshield as the tolerances on the windshield are tight. It simply clips into a mount that is already fastened to the windshield, so it's pretty hard to mess up. However, If you use OEE glass, all bets are off as the manufacturing tolerances may not be as tight and the mount may not be exactly where it was on your original windshield making the camera off and in need of recalibrating.

Seems to me that, in this case, using the OEM windshield might actually save some money as the insurance company saved about an hour of dealer labor.

The disclaimer...However it's done, be careful when first using the system after the replacement so that you don't suddenly find your car shifting into an unintended lane.

Lalin

7 windshield hit by debris is more than bad luck. Perhaps you drive to close to the car in front of you.
I have been driving for 40 years and only once I had to replace a windshield due to a crack.

charlie65

I've been driving for over 50 years and have had more than 7 windshields replaced due to rocks being tossed up from oncoming vehicles, never from one following too closely. Road crews are not laying sand down anymore for winter traction as it blows off the highway too quickly..... the sand is now about 3/16 minus in size so it sticks to the road longer.... that's the problem. I fixed the problem by going south for winter to get away from winter driving conditions (and shoveling snow!!!) but guess what, another freak'in rock in my pickup truck windshield from an oncoming gravel truck this past season near the Mexican border. I'd call it just plain bad luck, or the law of averages relative to the miles one puts on per year, as well as which part of the country you live in, how much winter driving you do and probably a lot more variables.
Note: I used to put 30,000+ miles a year on my vehicle, if that means anything. (Not counting the company rig is used to drive, as that would add another 15,000+ a year and a few windshields too) I'm down to 20,000 since I've retired.

If my RDX ever has to have the windshield replaced, I think I'll take it to my Acura dealer to get the work done...

gbrucken

I wish that I could say that driving too close was the problem. As an example, in the latest incident I was using the adaptive cruise control with the following distance set in the middle, set at 65 MPH and the car (a small Kia) in front of me kicked up a stone and the crack immediately spread across the top of the windshield. That seems like a reasonable following distance to me. As I recall, most of the 7 were in the winter from flying rock salt on the interstate during heavy traffic. I drive about 25K miles per year. Interestingly enough, less than 24 hours after getting the new windshield installed last week, I was hit again with a stone chip driving 55 MPH on a 2 lane road, ACC was set to 55 MPH and following distance was set in the middle. Fortunately, when I went back to the glass shop to see if it needed to be filled, they said that it did not, that it did not penetrate the outer layer of glass and it's not in the line of sight.

I think that I just have bad luck...

Charlie65...according to State Farm, you indeed can have the work done anywhere you'd like and give them the bill. However, this insurance company will only reimburse their "normal and customary" charge, which may be much less than what the dealer charges, leaving you to pay the rest.

CanTex

The only time I ever replaced a windshield was on my '70 Barracuda. I have vivid memories of driving along a twisty road that bordered a golf course and seeing this golf ball headed to my windshield in slow motion. The replacement was too small because whenever it rained there was this waterline across my thighs, the console and the right seat. The dealer claimed the opening was too large as my car was an early build. Huh. The replacement worked just fine.

I just used SafeLite to repair a stone chip and was impressed. I'd consider them for a full replacement.

Doobiewah

Come to Northern Arizona! Unfortunately, it is a way of life around here.....you can be driving on a stretch of road with no vehicles anywhere near you (at times with none in site at all in front of you) and a rock will bounce up and smack the windshield. Many hits come from vehicles travelling the other way on a two to four lane highway, too. I have learned to get into the glass shop quickly for a repair before the temperature swings speed up the expansion of the damage.

charlie65

Thanks, but I live in BC, Canada where we have Provincial run insurance. They dictate which glass shops are approved by them so my insurance covers the damage/replacement. I pay the deductible as long as I've taken out the extra insurance to cover loss/damage.