Windshield crack issue

[PamG]

Only had my CT200 a few months, hardly done any miles and love it. However, one day I got in the car & noticed a crack has appeared from top middle of the windscreen down a little,  then hooks across to the left around the position of the rear view mirror. I thought it was a trickle of rainwater at first. It's smooth & no obvious chip so I took it to the dealer to look at. IThey've had it over bank holiday to assess & have concluded now there is a tiny chip, although not visible I would say to the naked eye..I suggested it could be a fault or 'stress' crack I've read about but they're insistent it's a tiny tiny chip, although its smooth to touch.  The crack does now seeem to have moved slightly further during the time they've had it and I pointed out that the crack seems to have expanded in length but they conclude that's a chip & to be done by my insurance. I wonder if anyone else had an issue with this?

[Finzky]

Sorry to hear your problem, maybe to investigate further you will need to find some of the independant exprets to observe the windshield and based on that you can go back to lexus dealer.

 

[200h]

lexus main dealers are as tight as a ducks ???? if they can get out of changing something they will.

maybe buy a secondhand screen and have it fitted this way you will know its an oem screen

here is a breakers that has a few ct's for breaking

http://www.car-transplants.co.uk/

 

[Farqui]

Sorry to hear that you've acquired a crack, are you sure it wasn't there when you collected the vehicle?  If not, then the dealer isn't going to be any help.

Get a specialist like Autoglass to check it, if it's a chip then maybe they can repair it?  If the chip repair develops into a crack then Autoglass will replace the screen, you may have to pay an excess but I've heard this being done FOC.

Good luck getting it fixed.

[stormchaser]

Have read about this on the US CT forum.

I would get Autoglass to look at it as Farqui said. Sadly it will need to be replaced as it's cracked.

Good luck.

 

 

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[Wass]

I don't believe that something so fundamental as a windscreen crack could be anything other than an owner issue. The reason I have for this belief is the quality control shown by Lexus over their products. If there were to be a problem with windscreens the issue would most likely appear would be throughout the CT range due to the shared bodyshell of all models of CT. An issue such as this would have been the subject of a recall both in UK and across the pond. 

 A fault with windscreens would cause Lexus some serious headaches and would be the sort of thing to be dealt with during pre-production trials and would , at worst have appeared in the early 2011 cars rather than in 2016, some 5 years after the first models rolled out. I would expect this sort of issue to appear in other marques ( notably european in origin) but not in Lexus. My 2011 Lexus still has its original windscreen which is actually marked up with its own identification number which matches all of the other windows on the car. Mine shows a number which starts 200 and is followed by a chain of other numbers.

Most cracks in laminated screens start from a small chip. The chip raises stress and allows a crack to develop. A crack will continue to develop seemingly on its own but is actually assisted by thermal expansion and contraction experienced between day and night temperatures, defrost heaters etc.Claiming on the grounds that the crack got worse while the car was at the dealers is like saying your favourite football team lost a game while your car was at the dealers... it would ,most likely have happened anyway. Cracks will normally continue until there is nowhere else for them to go ie they will go from edge to edge if left long enough. This probably wont help to get your problem fixed for nowt but it might help you towards understanding the issue in a little more detail and getting the windscreen replaced in a more timely manner via either your own insurance or straight out of your pocket.

[PamG]

Thanks for the helpful replies here. However Lexus called to say they've had someone re-assess the windscreen and confirmed the crack had started at the top edge and perhaps not a chip. It wasn't about cost as it was covered on the insurance but I had googled it & read about a 'stress crack' happening on other cars, although they were other models, and just thought it was worth querying with them even just to bring to their attention. I'm pleased to say they've done the right thing and agreed to replace it under the warranty.

[PamG]

On 22/04/2017 at 0:35 PM, Wass said:

I don't believe that something so fundamental as a windscreen crack could be anything other than an owner issue. The reason I have for this belief is the quality control shown by Lexus over their products. If there were to be a problem with windscreens the issue would most likely appear would be throughout the CT range due to the shared bodyshell of all models of CT. An issue such as this would have been the subject of a recall both in UK and across the pond. 

 A fault with windscreens would cause Lexus some serious headaches and would be the sort of thing to be dealt with during pre-production trials and would , at worst have appeared in the early 2011 cars rather than in 2016, some 5 years after the first models rolled out. I would expect this sort of issue to appear in other marques ( notably european in origin) but not in Lexus. My 2011 Lexus still has its original windscreen which is actually marked up with its own identification number which matches all of the other windows on the car. Mine shows a number which starts 200 and is followed by a chain of other numbers.

Most cracks in laminated screens start from a small chip. The chip raises stress and allows a crack to develop. A crack will continue to develop seemingly on its own but is actually assisted by thermal expansion and contraction experienced between day and night temperatures, defrost heaters etc.Claiming on the grounds that the crack got worse while the car was at the dealers is like saying your favourite football team lost a game while your car was at the dealers... it would ,most likely have happened anyway. Cracks will normally continue until there is nowhere else for them to go ie they will go from edge to edge if left long enough. This probably wont help to get your problem fixed for nowt but it might help you towards understanding the issue in a little more detail and getting the windscreen replaced in a more timely manner via either your own insurance or straight out of your pocket.

The crack wasn't there one day, the car had been overnight in the garage. It was when I drove out of my garage the following morning was when i noticed the crack had appeared. Maybe I was just unlucky and had a faulty windshield. Anyhow I'm pleased to say it's now fixed

[Finzky]

PamG what was the damage. I made on my one scratches all around, because had a lot of dust (and small rocks) on my vipers and when I tried to use screenwash and wipe windsrean all small rocks scratched my windscreen... :( Very very annoying.

[PamG]

No Eric there was no scratches that you could feel, not visible  to the human eye anyway. The crack came from the top of the windscreen down the middle and hooked to the left, up around the rear view mirror. You could run a finger over and it was smooth to touch.