Cracked windshield from... negative temps?

[RideThePigGir]

So I went on a quick jaunt out to Walgreen's at lunch and what do I see when I get back and parked? This nasty

View post on imgur.com

The only thing I can think of that might've caused it was that when I was pulling out onto the main road from my office complex, a small chunk of ice flew off my hood and hit my windshield in the general area where the crack appears to be originating from - 2-3 inches to the right of where the passenger-side wiper attaches, you can see a slightly darker area in the crack, which is also the bottom of a really narrow "V" formed by the entire thing. Hard to see in the pic; it's over a foot long, end to end, and probably closer to 18".

Anyway, could a tiny little ice chunk + negative temps cause a >4 year old, under 50k car's windshield to get this brittle? It just seems out of this world to me, especially for a German car, unless there was some kind of previous impact (which there hasn't been in my 2 1/2 weeks of driving the car). We've had some insanely low temps recently, which are even worse today and tomorrow (highs of -2f to -6f), so between that and the ice chunk, it's all I can think of...

Anybody else have ideas? I don't scrape my windows at all to get ice off normally; I just blast the defroster/washer fluid and use a car washing brush until it slides off. Also, is it safe to drive if it keeps spreading? It seemed to have spread at least an inch or two just from the Walgreens parking lot back to where I work (less than two miles), but I may have just been freaking out a bit

Thanks in advance for any advice. I'm probably headed straight for CarMax after work, because there are two other things I need to have them look at while the car's still under the 30-day warranty, but I'm wondering if I should stay off the highway or anything to get there - this is my first cracked windshield in ~15 years of driving!

[RideThePigGir]

Nevermind, ignore my panicky, nutball wall'o'text - CarMax's 30-day warranty actually covers it. I knew there was a reason I bought it from them =)

[RideThePigGir]

Well, maybe not... they're going to try and screw me even though their 30-day warranty does specifically include glass, and does not have any exceptions that would have even prevented me from driving the car with a spreading crack for 29 days of the warranty and getting it fixed last minute, let alone this. Will update the story after my inspection tomorrow morning.

*edit* I'm a shadetree attorney, but if somebody else could take a quick read through this and see the same logic that seems to apply to a cracked windshield claim being covered (so long as they can't prove that it was a result of abuse/misuse, which AFAIK, they can't - mainly since it hasn't occurred), it would be much appreciated - CarMax 30-day limited warranty

[mleskovar]

If there's any indication that something.....rock, ice, bird, baseball bat, etc....hit the windshield it won't be covered. If it cracked because of stress/ temperature it should be covered. It could have been previously hit by something then filled in and fixed as well and in that case it won't be covered. Hard to tell unless you know what to look for. Any indentations or 'star' pattern along the crack is proof of foreign object damage which is only covered if you have insurance for it.

[Dackelone]

Your windshield and all glass on the car are covered under your comprehensive insurance policy. zero fault and zero deductible in most states.

[RideThePigGir]

Originally Posted by mleskovar

If there's any indication that something.....rock, ice, bird, baseball bat, etc....hit the windshield it won't be covered. If it cracked because of stress/ temperature it should be covered. It could have been previously hit by something then filled in and fixed as well and in that case it won't be covered. Hard to tell unless you know what to look for. Any indentations or 'star' pattern along the crack is proof of foreign object damage which is only covered if you have insurance for it.

Yeah, I looked all around it with a flashlight last night and I couldn't see any spiderwebs or anything, so I have to assume it was just the weather. Damn -15F temps... I should take her back to AZ where she grew up

[RideThePigGir]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Your windshield and all glass on the car are covered under your comprehensive insurance policy. zero fault and zero deductible in most states.

Yeah, but I want my rates to stay cheap for such great coverage... or is that what zero fault implies? CarMax completely flipped around and ordered the parts + offered to pay for a rental (in writing ), so I don't think there's much reason for me to put it on my insurance, except for the convenience of having somebody like Safelite come out and just do it while I'm working.

[Dackelone]

A comp claim can not hurt your ins record. Sounds like your getting it taken care of anyways.

[RideThePigGir]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

A comp claim can not hurt your ins record.

You learn something new every day. to you, good sir!