For many car owners, when a windshield needs to be replaced, they simply find the lowest priced available option and use that place’s services. Unfortunately, that may be a poor decision because your windshield is a way more important safety feature than you may realize. Here’s what you should know and how to be able to find certified installers that keep the integrity and safety of your vehicle intact with a correctly installed replacement windshield:
From a safety point of view, the windshield could be the first item of defense if you get into a bad accident. Consider that there are three important ways that the windshield protects you and your passengers.
1) The windshield is a component of of the car’s cab enclosure formed by the doors, roof and glass. When engineers design a vehicle, they design the cab to be crush-resistant in case the vehicle rolls over. Part of that design criteria is that the windshield is a sturdy design (with the proper materials and correct thickness) and be attached to the vehicles with the correct adhesives. If the above criteria are not met, your cab could crush easier if a rollover ever happens.
2) Another feature related to safety is the windshield-airbag unit. The engineers factor in the windshield’s strength when designing airbag deployment mechanisms and action. If your vehicle’s windshield blows out when the airbags are deployed, who knows what could happen. The system is designed to work with an intact windshield.
3) Finally, the windshield also prevents people from being ejected from the car if a front collision happens. According to the AAA, 30% of all fatalities are because of people being ejected from the involved car. Sadly, a high percentage of this occurs when a car runs into a still object and people are ejected forward.
The point of the above three safety issues is to drive home the fact that your car’s windshield is an essential safety feature and you should ensure that any replacement windshield you chose is a good one. You shouldn’t use a company that uses inferior windshields and adhesives and shows off that they do cheap installations. And this is a thing?! Yes. An investigation by the ABC News program 20/20 on the safety of windshields shows “repair” people from inferior shops incorrectly installing low-cost windshields and doing so with inferior adhesives. The involved shops weren’t big retailers but advertised “inexpensive windshield repair” in local advertising or on the internet.
As a consumer, you have the internet to help you when deciding which company to use when looking for your windshield replacement. One thing that should be stated is that if you choose your local major-brand car dealer, you are probably going to get a first-class job. The thing is that the dealer probably doesn’t replace the windshield themselves but works with a top-notch local firm they have a relationship with. For the other places that advertise cheap windshield replacement, they might perform just as good work but look them up on the Automotive Glass Safety Forums site.
Thanks to: Thompson Hyundai
