anyone ever heard of the rear window shattering with little cause on a 1998 chevy prism?

Question

Chevy Prism 1998. Rear window shattered- no good reason why, no collision- no debris that could have broken it. We noticed it after slamming a door on the vehicle.

Answer 1

It is not unusual for tempered glass to shatter without reason. I wouldn't say it had to do with the car, unless there was a previous accident that put the body under stress. I've had backglasses pop while carrying them, and while they are in a storage rack. If you had an older Ford, I would say a metal burr on the pinchweld would be the suspect. But it is not a prism problem, if that's what you were wondering.

Answer 2

I remember something about air pressure inside the car was not properly vented when slamming a door quickly and blowing out the backglass...call a few glass companies for quotes and claim in on your insurance. Check for TSB's on your car model and Toyota Corolla which is what your Prism is based on.

Answer 3

there are many factors in auto glass breakage for example: temperature change (cold outside / warm inside), glass weakens with age sometimes it only takes a pebble or a piece of sand in the right spot to break it, most objects like glass have a breaking point due to a certain sound frequency I had a rear window shatter because of a loud exhaust from a passing car

Answer 4

Don't know if you purchased it new or not, but it may be that it was broken once before and the new one was not installed correctly (not seated correctly) and was binding. When you slammed the door, too much force at the binding point and KAPLOOY!!!!!

Answer 5

Apparently your car is pretty air tight, when you slammed the door it had enough air pressure to break the window.