guitrblus

I know this has been mentioned before, but if so many people are complaining about the easily chipped/scratched windshield is there a chance to just go to the Mazda dealer and have them replace it free of charge? My sister has a 3 and she claims the same problem. What do you guys think?

StewC625

Not if it's from road damage, which virtually all windshield damage is from. No chance they will cover it. Only if it was chipped and scratched at delivery do you have ANY chance at all.

Your insurance might, however, if you can pinpoint when it happened.

Elara

nope, won't cover it. But insurance will if you get a big crack in it. My original windshield bit it three months ago.

markd

I got a large crack running across the top of my windshield--not from road damage, but from the cold, if you can believe it. It iced over a few weekends ago here in Atlanta, and when everything thawed out, there was probably an 8" crack near the mirror on my windshield. I wonder if that woud be covered by Mazda...?

EandGWZ

Hmm...that sounds coverable. (ie cracked windshield due to cold)

StewC625

nope - won't be the case. Chance are you had a very minor (and I mean MINOR) rock impact near the edge and the uneven expansion/contraciton rate caused the windshield to flex a bit near the weak spot, and pow.

Trust me, if they can't see the impact with the naked eye, they will look with a magnifiyer. My deaker did that to me with my Acura. VERY hot day (96 degrees), car parked in the sun for about 2 hours so it got very hot. Driving along, I hit a bump with must have caused the car to flex slightly and I heard a very low CRACK and a crack appeared in two different directions on my windshield like in an instant. I called Acura, and they told me to bring it in for a look. It took the service manager about a half minute and he found the smallest little rock chip dead centered on the crack near the lower right corner of the windshield, another one at the intersection point of the cracks and another in the upper left corner of the windshield.

Suddenly, it was my ins. co.'s problem. $200 deductible later and I had a new windshield.

Jaguar

The window will be covered under warranty if they can't find any impact point. I just recently had a stress crack start in my windshield and called the dealer. Took it up there and they confirmed that it was a stress fracture. It took them about 1 1/2 weeks to get the new windshield in. Going in on Monday to have it replaced. This is strange because I did a search in this forum and found alot of others with the same problem. Must be a manufaturing defect. Hope this helps.

markd

Dammit! I haven't inspected the crack yet, and I'm crossing my fingers that you're wrong, Stew, but I have a feeling you're right (even though I've never heard a crack on my windshield), since I haven't heard similar incidents from anyone else in cold-weather climates. Phooey

Although, if Jaguar's story is similar to mine, maybe there's hope yet!

Jaguar

My crack started in the middle bottom of the windshield and ran up and over to the driver's side and back down again. There was no sign of impact. Just look at where it had started and look for the impact. If it has happened to others including myself, you might be a victim too!

StewC625

mine was weird because the chips didn't cause the cracks - thermal expansion did, but it cracked right on the chips because the chips caused weak points. In Acura's eyes (and my dealer fought for me, actually), that windshield would have dealt with the thermal stress just fine without the rock impacts.

Jaguar

The dealer had to call their district rep. to get the authorization. It saved me a couple hundred. This just seems to be too common of a problem. I think at one point I saw that there were at least 11 people on this forum that have had the same problem. I don't know, as long as I didn't have to pay for the new windshield. Good Luck Markd!

jsh1120

The fact that Mazda will resist, if possible, covering the windshield has been covered by other folks here. Frankly, I find it surprising that even "stress" fractures are covered. As manufacturers have looked for ways to reduce weight in their vehicles, windshields have become more and more fragile. In my first 20 years of driving I think I probably replaced no more than one or two windshields. In the last ten years, I've replaced at least six. It's not just a Mazda problem. I've replaced windshields in Volvos, Hondas, and two Mazdas.

valpac

iTrader: (2)

Read my recent post. They will look REAAALL close. Odds are against ya. Sorry

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...3&postcount=12

beachdog

Doesn't insurance in all states cover windshields under comprehensive? Comprehensive for windshields is $0 deductible here.