Can Your Windshield Shatter on Its Own?

While it is very unlikely for a damage-free, properly installed windshield to shatter, even the smallest damage can weaken the glass and among extreme conditions, even initially small chips and cracks can cause windshields to shatter unexpectedly.

Windshields feature a sandwich-like structure comprised from layers of glass and plastic, each layer reinforcing the other ones and being reinforced by the other ones. When your windshield sustains damage, even a small one, such as a crack or a chip, it is usually only the outermost layer that gets affected. However, if that small damage is neglected, it can be quickly aggravated by wide temperature variations, by pressure or by another impact. Wide temperature changes can cause the already damaged glass to expand or to shrink, generating tension to which the weakened glass responds with shattering, while the impact caused by tiny stones jumping from the road can also cause your windshield to fall apart. Windshields being made from safety glass, they don’t break into sharp pieces, like the glass in windows. The shattering usually affects only the outer layer of the windshield, causing it to fall into many small shards kept in place for a while by the other layers of the windshield, but even so, any car with a shattered windshield is undriveable.  It's best to act and have a windshield replacement Strasburg professional come out and replace your windshield as soon as your windshield is compromised.

First Posted on: Can Your Windshield Shatter on Its Own?