Woke up yesterday to find a nice 4 inch crack in the bottom right-hand side of the windshield (see attached photo). I looked carefully for chips on the outside and found none. For those of you with experience persuading the dealer to replace, under warranty, a windshield cracked due to reasons other than rock/stone chips, how do you think I should go about approaching it?

I know it's up to the dealer's discretion whether or not to replace, so I'm worried i'd waste a few hours driving to the dealer just to have them say it's not covered. Is it technically covered under the bumper-to-bumper if no outside object caused the crack?

thanks for your help

 

If the car is really new, they may replace it as "goodwill", but like you said, they don't have to.

S

 

Yes they will do it under warranty, there were several that got replaced here in Dallas, they cracked during a freeze/defrost last winter. Mine cracked I went in and they found a chip where it started so make absolutely sure there are no chips. Mine was about the size of the end of a toothpick, easily missed. It doesn't take much at all to start one.

 

my car isnt new (2004) but it has low miles (15k). I guess i'll have to take a look at the crack with a magnifying glass. I just don't want to waste a half day at the dealer just to have them look at me like i'm crazy.

 

Call ahead of time and talk to the service manager to see what their stance on it is.

 

I had the same issue. I took it in and talked to the service manager. She looked at it and said Mazda would cover it. They pulled it and sent it to Mazda and gave me a new windshield, no charge.

 

Use the "fingernail test" -- drag your fingernail from one end of the crack to the other. If there is any kind of initiating chip in the glass you should be able to feel it. You can also try the shaving-cream trick. Smear some shaving cream over the area and "squeegee" it away with a credit card, or the wiper blade. The traces that remain will reveal any pockmarks.

Don't worry too much as long as you've made a reasonable effort to satisfy yourself that it wasn't from a stone, etc. If the Dealer thinks it was, they should be able to show you why.