It's a window shattering mystery. You're driving your car when all of a sudden your back window explodes.
Drivers say it's a dangerous defect and dealerships aren't paying for it.
Tom Esper of Ann Arbor says it happened to him.
“I started my car with a remote starter which you normally do in the winter,” he says. “Literally, five minutes later I put my dog in the back, I start the car, start moving, my window just explodes.”
Tom says he was inside of his Ford F-150 back in December, and it was the first time he used his remote starter.
He says once he realized he and Lucky were OK, he did some research.
“There's either a defect in the window or a defect in the defroster heating up too much,” he says.
Then he called some Ford dealerships.
“I’m not having any luck with Ford getting this thing replaced,” he says.
Tom says he was told it will cost over $1,000 to fix the window. He says he thinks Ford should be the ones to take care of the cost - that's why he's been driving around with a shattered window for 2 months.
He believes there's defect
“I literally put it in drive and barely rolled the tires and the thing just blew out,” he says.
We found more than 30 owners of the F-150 who made similar rear window complaints to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration within the last few years.
Clarence Ditlow from the Center of Auto Safety in D.C. has seen the complaints on his website, too.
“The F-150 has a fairly unusual rear window because it segments,” Ditlow says. “And the defroster wiring across it contains a defect that's causing the rear windows to shatter.”
Ditlow says, “They should either recall the F-150 and fix it or have a lifetime unlimited warranty for replacement of it.”
We contacted Ford, they didn’t want to sit down with us for an interview, but instead issued a statement:
There are many reasons that could cause glass to break. We use tempered glass in our windows, which meets all NHTSA safety requirements and is designed to reduce the risk of injury from glass by breaking into small pieces.
This rear window clamor is not just with F-150s. Owners of Ford Escapes, Toyota 4Runners and Honda Civics are also fueled with frustration, saying they don't know for sure what's causing it - and, like Tom, they aren't getting any help from car companies when it comes to paying for it.
We did reach out to Toyota and Honda as well about complaints of rear windows shattering, they told us they weren't aware of any widespread issues and needed specific information for each complaint – like customers name, vehicle identification number and dealerships they visited - so they could look into further.
In the meantime, experts say if you have had this problem, make a complaint - both online and with the car company. And if you get it fixed, keep your receipts.
