Will my 3 year/36,000 mile warranty cover a cracked windshield from body flex???

[SoCal Rebell]

I did a "defensive driving class"

at the track this weekend. Due to body flex (no rocks or anything) the lower passanger side part of the windshield cracked. I ran into Erik from EMI and he told me this is not uncommon and that Viper body flex sometimes cracks the lower right or left part of the windshield. Will Dodge cover this under the 3 year/36,000 mile warranty. Anybody have this happen to them? Opinions?

 

[Steve 00RT/10]

I had it happen when new(3 months old). I have 0 deduct on glass coverage so my insurance took care of it. The glass guy who installed the new one told me it was improperly installed from the factory--not enough sealer. I alerted the insurance co. in case they wanted to subrogate the damages back to Chrysler, but they didn't want to hassle with it. The glass guy also told me to let the car stand for 24 hours before driving to let the sealer set properly given the rigidity of the viper frame.

Had I not had 0 deduct on glass, I most definitely would have pursued it under warranty after finding out about the improper factory installation.

Good luck

Steve

 

[RockyTop]

Happened to mine on the driver's side and the dealer would NOT cover it under my extended warranty. The zone rep looked at it, said the car was modified and speculated that it happened on a track (which it didn't) and refused coverage. Rather than fight the $400 windshield battle, I decided to save my warranty from termination due to alleged modification and fight a bigger battle on another day. Later I had a $900 part covered due to damage likely caused by my wreck so it all worked out in the end.

 

[red98GTS]

A few words from pete the ex glass guy...ha!...you knew I couldn't leave this one alone, didn't you! Here's the scoop on broken windshields due to apparent "stress" or otherwise. MOST insurance companies, and I repeat....MOST....don't want to hassle with or get involved with WHAT cracked your Viper windshield. You can simply call them and tell them it's got a long crack in it and that's that. Provided you have the glass coverage and whatever your deductible is, if there is any, you get a new shield put in and go. Windshields generally don't crack due to lack of sealer. Stress cracks have been known to appear in several different makes and models of cars, some of them not even sports cars like the Viper.
IF you want to go back to the dealer for whatever reason, and try to get them to "warranty" the windshield for a stress crack, AND you can prove that nothing else could have cracked it due to the break originating from the very bottom edge, etc, then they might do it under warranty, as several of our club members have done. But, if they don't want to or it's too much trouble, just have your insurance company do it. Hopefully, you have zero deductible on glass, which is often a bit more money but not much. In my humble opinion, worth it. And, the 24-hour set up period your glass installer asked you to provide is not due to the Viper's rigid body, etc. This is the cure time on the urethane sealer that both seals and holds your windshield in and becomes part of the overall rigidity of the car. It actually is driveable long before that, but he wanted to be on the safe side. This is normal. But, obviously, glass shops cannot ask all their customers to "wait" 24 hours before driving off from the shop or after a mobile installation. Pete the ex glass guy and hot rodder with 15 LONG years of installations. Yikes.