E36 bmw rear window shattered by itself

[thehuman]

Had some fun and games today . My e36 rear window shattered with no outside influence

 

[Jola]

I've also had this on an older BMW.

 

[MickeyD]

Happened to me two years ago as well... in the Greenacres parking lot (Game side). My Ford Focus rear windscreen also shattered. Old man walking past almost had a heart attack and waited for us to return to tell us what had happened.

 

[HavocXphere]

Had same on a city golf. Seems to be temp differences causing it. Or as a secondary theory someone with a weedeater kicked up a piece of gravel.

 

[Captain Beer]

Had same on a city golf. Seems to be temp differences causing it. Or as a secondary theory someone with a weedeater kicked up a piece of gravel.

I remember this being an issue on the Corsa Lite when the rear window demister was in use.

 

[thehuman]

Visiting scrappers weekend

 

[Dolby]

Just like the Sony phones!

 

[LinuxMan]

What causes the windows to break on it's own?

 

[genetic]

What causes the windows to break on it's own?

Spontaneous glass breakage is a phenomenon by which toughened glass (or tempered) may spontaneously break without any apparent reason. The most common causes are:

• Minor damage during installation such as nicked or chipped edges later developing into larger breaks normally radiating from point of defect.
• Binding of the glass in the frame, causing stresses to develop as the glass expands and contracts due to thermal changes or deflects due to wind
• Internal defects within the glass such as nickel sulfide inclusions
• Thermal stresses in the glass
• Inadequate glass thickness to resist wind load

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_glass_breakage

 

[LinuxMan]

Interesting, Thanks Genetic.

 

[FNfal]

Had the same happen many years ago with my Corsa lite i was sitting in the car when it happened . nearly shat my self and jumped out to see who threw shyt at my car .
It was still new so opel replaced it free .

 

[Lawnchairman]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_glass_breakage

On the Corsa it was a latent defect. In your case it was bad luck as per the wiki.

Wonder if this could happen to bulletproof glass.

 

[Voicy]

I remember this being an issue on the Corsa Lite when the rear window demister was in use.

Yup. Happened to my old Corsa and my cousin's.

 

[genetic]

On the Corsa it was a latent defect. In your case it was bad luck as per the wiki.

Wonder if this could happen to bulletproof glass.

Bullet-proof glass is usually made from different compounds of harder and softer glass, allowing it to deflect somewhat, so it won't spontaneously shatter.

 

[Coasti]

Some years ago my dad's car window also randomly shattered while he was driving. He thought it to be the temperature or vibration or whatever, but while cleaning the broken glass from the car, he found fragments of what must have been a stray bullet.