2002 Venture Window Shattered

[Stephiejo]

Yesterday we had the window of our Venture's sliding door shattered by a rock thrown by a neighbor boy. Poor little guy insists it was just "a pebble" and he was only trying to get our son's attention to come over to play. What surprised me was how it shattered so easy. Kind of scary, because what if we had been driving down the road when a rock hit it? Should it shatter that easily? It gave us flashbacks to when our patio table shattered and the glass was popping into a million little pieces. Has anyone else had a window break so easily on their Venture?

[MagicRat]

Glass that breaks into a million tiny (mostly) round pieces is 'tempered' glass.

For decades, all auto window glass (except for windshields) and a lot of other glass (that is used when safety is an issue) is tempered in the same way.
Generally your Venture glass is no worse or better than others.

Tempered glass is odd in that it is generally very strong and surprisingly, somewhat flexible. Yet at the same time, if the glass gets nicked in just the right spot, it can break easily as yours did.
I believe this glass sometimes has pre-existing areas of stress in it, possibly due to uneven cooling during its manufacturing. A small, pinpoint blow in just the wrong spot, especially at the edge will break it, yet a much larger blow spread over a larger area will not.

I personally have witnessed 2 examples of tempered glass breaking in this way. Once, I was removing the rear window trim on my '68 Thunderbird. I must have nicked the edge of the glass using the small trim tool, so lightly, I did not even feel it. But the glass still broke into a million pieces.

But that same piece of glass had been thumped very hard for many winters when removing/scraping off ice and snow.

So, for you, I would say its just bad luck. It has been a safety issue for some time that side and rear auto glass should be made like laminated windshields which are much more resistant to shattering like this. But as yet, governments worldwide show little interest in legislating this upgrade from the manufacturers, so we are all stuck with having to use old - tech tempered glass.

If you want to make the side and rear glass safer, get an aftermarket window tinting job done. The window tint film helps hold the glass together if it shatters again.

[Stephiejo]

Thanks MagicRat for the response. I really appreciate it.

[bigcoconut]

My wife's van had the rear hatch window shatter in the garage overnight. The previous day, she had backed into the garage door before it had opened all the way and I guess the door had scraped the window. The rear window washer fluid nozzle got ripped off. We left the van in the garage that evening and the window was just fine. Came out the next morning to find the tiny glass pieces all over the garage floor and also inside the van all the way to the middle row seats. What a mess, we're still finding glass pieces in the van, next to the candy corn and pretzels when we sweep.

Anyways, MagicRat is right, this "tempered" glass is designed to shatter to a "million" pieces on impact to prevent severe cutting injuries to passengeres in case of a wreck. The front windshield is "safety" glass designed to stay in one piece in case of an impact to allow the driver visibility during an accident. This as opposed to the your house window glass which will break into several pieces usually large shards that are very sharp and very dangerous to handle.

One last thing, if, may the good lord forbid, you ever get caught in flood or submerged in your van you want that "tempered" glass in your way so you can get out.

[Stephiejo]

Thank you bigcoconut. I appreciate the response. Its great being able to come on this forum and get answers to questions. I've turned to this forum many times over the last few years.

['97ventureowner]

It is amazing how much or how little glass can take before it breaks. Back in the early '90s I had a company vehicle, a mid '80s Ford Ranger. I was going down the road one day and was hit from behind by a drunk 73 year old woman who took her eyes off the road to change the radio station : There was minor damage to the back end of the truck, but her Dodge Dynasty fared much worse. A couple of days after the accident we noticed a distinct bow in the back window of the cab. When I took it over to the bodyshop for an estimate of repair, the estimator was amazed at the extent that the glass had bowed out so far and not shattered. He said it was like a time bomb and could shatter at anytime. I've had side glass in a couple of vehicles and have also seen the same in others break in the summer due to extreme heat,(when the windows are up on a hot day. Funny thing is it's broken into a million pieces yet is still "whole".