The easiest way to crack your windshield

[spk74]

Moderators, if this should be under DIY, please move it.

Does anyone ELSE know what happens if you open your hood with the windshield wipers up? Hopefully I am the first and the last but I will not post pictures.

Thank you.

[TP 135i]

You are not the first and will not be the last.........
This issue has been discussed (unfortunately) for a year.
It is also noted in the owners manual.
Sorry for your misfortune

[Lester]

This has happened to at least a half dozen others. There is very little anyone can do except keep bringing it up to warn new owners. There is a subtle warning in the owner's manual.

[Mega Man]

Youch! Is that yours, Lester?

[JTdrivin1]

that pic is mine, when i did it within the first month of ownership last year.

[Lester]

Originally Posted by Mega Man

Youch! Is that yours, Lester?

No - I don't take credit for that one, just sharing it. BMW should put a warning sticker on the steering wheel and make you sign a letter stating that you understand the consequences of opening the hood with the wipers up,

[spk74]

I'm curious how much this is going to cost me. Should I trust an auto glass company or take it to my dealer? Did the windshield wiper need to be repaired or replaced?

It really sucks because I have tickets for the vintage car races up at Mid-Ohio tomorrow...and it is supposed to rain. Should I risk it? My windshield is in almost the exact shape as in the picture.

[BrokenVert]

Originally Posted by spk74

I'm curious how much this is going to cost me. Should I trust an auto glass company or take it to my dealer? Did the windshield wiper need to be repaired or replaced?

It really sucks because I have tickets for the vintage car races up at Mid-Ohio tomorrow...and it is supposed to rain. Should I risk it? My windshield is in almost the exact shape as in the picture.

Tracks usually don't let you race with a cracked windsheild. I just replaced my windsheild with an OEM one and it ran me $600. Thank God for insurance.

[Pim]

Hi SPK 78, this happened me to(stupid me !!!). My car is only 4 days old .... did you have other damage then the windscreen like the bonnet hinges, paint of the bonnet ?

[Lester]

There are so many ways to say this. Why can't BMW simply place a warning like this somewhere?

[Pim]

Originally Posted by JTdrivin1

that pic is mine, when i did it within the first month of ownership last year.

Did you have any other dammage to your car ? Wipers, paint, bonnet hinge ....?

[Linoleum87]

Originally Posted by spk74

I'm curious how much this is going to cost me. Should I trust an auto glass company or take it to my dealer? Did the windshield wiper need to be repaired or replaced?

It really sucks because I have tickets for the vintage car races up at Mid-Ohio tomorrow...and it is supposed to rain. Should I risk it? My windshield is in almost the exact shape as in the picture.

Just got mine fixed last week thanks to a rock cracking it on the highway. I got it done for just under $500 cash, but perhaps the glass is more expensive here in Canada.

[AchtungF80]

Another way of cracking your windshield is to draft a dump truck.

[supraking]

mmm, I'd say it's much easier to crack it with a baseball bat. But that's pretty easy too. Yikes!

[Excitmnt94]

ouch...yeah...painful way to learn. we had someone do that here...so EVERYONE now knows...

[singular]

How about an interlock mechanism that doesn't allow the hood to be raised if the wipers are up?

Or have the nice Nav unit lady say something like "hey dumb a** - put your wipers down!"

BMW could even charge extra for these options.

[dick w]

Just so I understand so as not to ever do this:

"wipers up" ?= wipers not in park position as in turned off car in mid-wipe
or
"wipers up" ?= wipers in park position but blades tipped away from windshield as in when squegeeing windshield or maybe changing wiper blades?

Not that either one is probably a good preparation for opening the hood…

EDIT: OM quote above says "against the windshield" which I interpret as discussing case #2, not #1. Correct?

[ghjkser]

you should not be opening your hood if you do not understand what "wipers up" means

[Lester]

Let's call it Wiper "Arms" Up instead. When the arms are away from the windshield such as you describe - for changing blades, or squeegeing, applying rain shield etc.

If you look closely at the photos above, you can see that the base of the hood acts as a lever against the curved part of the wiper arm mechanism and forces them against the windshield with enough pressure to crack the glass. BMW could have designed the hood with a 'notch' to clear the wipers and avoid this problem.

[KeithLM]

I did this too last year, and my cracks were almost identical to JTdrivin1, you can see cracks in the different layers that criss-cross. Interesting how much like mine that is.

Insurance is the best way to go. I just let USAA handle it, they sent Safelite to my office and they fixed it in an hour, cost me the deductible and I saw no change to my insurance.

When I did this I was raising the hood and heard the pop, and since I had seen other people do it I knew immediately what I had done and lowered the hood. I ended up with minor nicks in the paint at the edge of the hood where it contacted the arms, and that was the only other damage. I don't know what would happen if the hood was raised all the way, you might do more damage to the wipers, but you probably won't damage the hood much.

[dick w]

Originally Posted by ghjkser

you should not be opening your hood if you do not understand what "wipers up" means

"Wipers down" seems pretty unambiguous. The same cannot be said for "wipers up".

"Against the windshield," the OM phrasing, also seems unambiguous.

[HondaGoneRogue]

A guy did this yesterday when we were washing our cars. Had 900mi. on it. Beautiful Saphire Blk\Coral with M package. I felt sooo bad. He came over to my bay and said "guess what I just did" I said, you cracked your windshield. Sure enough. There needs to be some other form of warning besides that weak little note in the manual.