Windshield Blowout !!!

Well I was on my way to the dealership today in my CS Performance 6M vin #180 with 1100 miles to discuss a color mismatch on my areo pkg. When at 60 mph the rear windshield exploded! The temp in Charleston was 84 F windows up, air on low, tunes on low (who can listen to the Bose any higher). I thought a shotgun had went off in the car. I looked in my rear view to see what had happened. Wow, the entire glass was crystal. I pulled off the interstate and when I got out of the car and took a look I couldn't believe my eyes. Not a single hole, but the entire rear glass was shattered. I closed my door and the glass just fell into the car.

I was already pretty unhappy with the areo package the dealer installed that looks like it came from a silverstone. I will post a picture tomorrow. The sales manager showed me an email from Nissan that said Infinity and Nissan CS panels did not quite match. Give me a break. A blind man could do better. I received the car on Labor day and the areo pack was installed a couple of days later. I have been patient with the dealer but I think all of you waiting should know the quality you are buying.

I have owned seven new Nissans prior to my 350Z. The delaer did put me in a new Maxima while he gets new glass from Jacksonville. I hope the glass is a fluke and the paint get's squared away. I requested a meet with the district rep.

Not smiling in Charleston

Is there some relationship between the aero package and the windshield or is the windshield totally unexplained. I do not have the areo package on my Z but needless to say I have a rear windshield. I whould really like to know that my rear shield is not going to blow at any time. I rather feel that driving while gripped by terror tends to make the experience less pleasant.

That Sucks. I have CS w/Aero too, but was installed right away, NO color mismatch at all, def. no rear window blow out, sounds like a weird fluke, can't imagine a recall on that one.

:huh: Holy crap, let that rear window be a fluke...please keep us informed, hopefully you can find out what caused it!

I have heard of this happening in lots of other cars. It's a big piece of glass and if it didn't fit just right or wasn't fully stress relieved there can be increadable internal stresses built up. The littlest thing can set it off. I woke up one morning and my RX7 windshiel was cracked all the way from left to right. No chip, no falling branch, nothing. I doubt that it will happen again in the same car unless the rear deck lid is warped or something.

After seeing this thread, I wanted to be sure to post a reply about a jarring experience I had today with my 3-week old 350Z involving the driver's side window. I still really have no idea what caused it to happen, and I hope it is a freak occurence, but I want to put the information out there just in case.

I was out driving on the freeway today, heading home after stopping at the dealer to pick up my new license plates which had just arrived. I was probably going about 65-70 mph -- it was sunny and good weather for Houston (about 71-73 degrees). I was in the far right lane of the freeway when, out of nowhere, my driver's side window completely SHATTERED. It sounded like a gunshot in my ear. Fortunately, it did not cause me to get into an accident, and I was able to safely pull over. By the time I stopped, most of the glass was still hanging in the window, although it was cracked into hundreds of pieces. From the looks of it, it appears that whatever caused the stress began at the top center of the window, because there was a length-wise uneven hole there (maybe about 3-4 inches across, 1/2 inch deep), as well as long cracks which radiated out from the hole (every part of the window was shattered, but the longer cracks were visible where the glass was buckling).

I still don't know whether a rock hit the window, or if something else caused this. I don't remember hearing anything strike the window, and I certainly didn't see anything. A man who was following behind me and who pulled over to see if I was okay said that he didn't see anything strike the window -- he just saw it shatter out of the blue. I can't help but think that one possibility is a defect in the window, perhaps related to the automatic "window seal" feature which raises the door's windows a 1/4" when closed.

In any event, just putting the information out there, and hoping it was a fluke...

My husband was driving my brandnew 350z yesterday in generally good conditions for Washington (overcast and about 50 degrees). He was driving on the interstate just taking an exit when the driver's side window blew out! The care has only 350 miles on it-it didn't even have the permanent plates! Does anyone know of a web site or consumer group that has addressed this? thanks

ok now I'm freaked out...

I own a 2003 Nissan Maxima SE. I was driving to work today and, like NoProblem initially stated, my rear glass exploded while merely idling at a stop light. There was a loud muffled explosion, and I nearly soiled my shorts! I looked around but no one else was reacting to what I thought was a large explosion in the area. I ducked, bobbed and weaved for a few seconds, in case I was caught in some crossfire, then looked into my rear view mirror and noticed that my rear glass was intact, but shattered - as was I. As I pulled into a 7-Eleven parking lot, the glass gave way and fell to pieces. I live in San Diego county so we don't have temperature extremes and my car has an auto shutoff for the Rear Defrost in case it had been accidentally engaged, so I'm not really sure what happened here. I do know this: I wasn't moving, it was a nice morning with temps about 55 degrees, there was no heat/air on, I had the moon roof opened slightly and the stereo was low and listening to talk radio so there was no Uber Bass music playing. And yet, <BOOM!> and I'm down nearly $300.

Happy Valentine's Day to me, I guess.

Similar story. I was driving my 2005 G35 Sedan on the interstate this morning (outside temp was about 55F) when I heard a loud pop and looked back to find that my rear windshield was completely shattered. At first I wasn't sure if there had been an explosion or someone had shot at the car. Once I pulled over, it looked as if the break radiated out from the very center of the rear glass. Within a minute or two most of the rest of the glass that was hanging fell. I found this forum post searching to see if this was a common problem with G35s. Anyone else???

Having time to reflect upon this, I'm guessing that my Rear Defroster never disengaged, super-heated my glass and the glass expanded. With the frame at a fixed size, the glass had nowhere to expand but out/in/up/down and exploded.