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Giant Windshield Crack

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DOBrien

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Verified Owner
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Location
Black Hawk, Colorado
Cars
2023 Air GT
I recently parked my car (Air GT, glass roof) in a secure outdoor airport lot for a 6-day trip. With the summer temperatures here, I installed the Lucid factory windshield cover to protect the interior. When I returned from my trip there was a crack in the window that zig-zagged from the bottom of the glass (below the wipers) all the way through the top center camera cover and beyond to the very end of the glass at the top of the car. There were no pre-existing pits, star cracks, or damage to the glass. The car was stationary the entire time. I am guessing that the summer radiant heat, and perhaps hot air trapped between that tight-fitting cover and the window, allowed the glass temperature to climb to a point where the frame couldn't handle the expanded glass. Something had to give. I understand this has happened to the occasional Tesla and it gets covered by warranty. The Lucid service center took photos, submitted them, and the mysterious factory people you can never talk to, denied my claim. So I'm looking at a $5,500-ish bill to replace a windshield. When Lucid denied it they simply suggested "turn it in to your insurance". That is wrong, the car was not in motion, unoccupied, nothing struck the car to invoke "comprehensive" insurance coverage. I haven't hit up my insurance company yet. An adjuster is going to want to take a look at a $5,000+ claim and he'll likely conclude the same thing I did. The car is still in warranty. I am wondering if anyone else has has this happen and what the outcome was?
 
Had a fairly similar thing happen- Wife's '22 AGT had a very small chip (nearly invisible) on the lower left side of the windshield, below the tint line. in just 24 hours, on a hot July day, a 6" crack had formed, and continued to grow over the next few days. Tried to see if the usual windhield repair places could do anything, but they were clearly out of their depth, despite having made several chip fixes to this and other cars over the years (yay Colorado). In the end, and after speaking with the Lucid service center guys in Denver, I took it to the shop they share space with- Nylunds. The windshield itself is expensive (~1,300 or so, as I recall), but the big bucks come from all of the sensor calibration that needs to happen. In the end, I paid the full bill ($5,200) and within a month or so, received a check from State Farm. Moral of the story (for me, anyway, living in Colorado as I do) is to keep an eagle eye on chips and get them fixed ASAP.
 
There’s simply no way to ascertain why or how the crack appeared. And the fact that the car was out of your control for 6 days probably doesn’t bode well in placing responsibility on Lucid.
 
Gandalf said:
Had a fairly similar thing happen- Wife's '22 AGT had a very small chip (nearly invisible) on the lower left side of the windshield, below the tint line. in just 24 hours, on a hot July day, a 6" crack had formed, and continued to grow over the next few days. Tried to see if the usual windhield repair places could do anything, but they were clearly out of their depth, despite having made several chip fixes to this and other cars over the years (yay Colorado). In the end, and after speaking with the Lucid service center guys in Denver, I took it to the shop they share space with- Nylunds. The windshield itself is expensive (~1,300 or so, as I recall), but the big bucks come from all of the sensor calibration that needs to happen. In the end, I paid the full bill ($5,200) and within a month or so, received a check from State Farm. Moral of the story (for me, anyway, living in Colorado as I do) is to keep an eagle eye on chips and get them fixed ASAP.
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I agree on all points... Colorado especially. Nylunds crew are great, but Lucid has denied every warranty claim I've had. There were no chips or any damage to the windshield, and none were showing within the crack. It went the full length of the window and no impact points are visible.
 
It’s not available in every state and every carrier doesn’t offer it but it’s worthwhile to look into full safety glass coverage. It’s separate from comprehensive and carries its own deductible, usually $0. I believe it’s required for insurers in Florida but everywhere else it is optional. It’s worth the $5-15/6 months for the peace of mind. It doesn’t help with this instance but may pay for itself many times over in the future.

FWIW, back when I had a Model 3 I noticed a crack in my windshield shortly after picking my car up from service that definitely itself was t there when I took it in. Despite having no proof that it wasn’t there prior to service, Tesla replaced the windshield at no cost to me. I’ve heard similar stories of them also replacing windshields for cracks that don’t show any obvious sign of impact. I believe that’s what you were hoping Lucid would also do.
 
Not sure how or why Lucid would take responsibility for something that is not a defect in their workmanship or parts. If you created an environment where the conditions means this might happen, it stinks but that isn’t Lucid’s fault. Unless you think that the Lucid specific windshield screen is defective and caused the crack, but it seems like this could have happened with any sunshade in place.
 
ecko04 said:
FWIW, back when I had a Model 3 I noticed a crack in my windshield shortly after picking my car up from service that definitely itself was t there when I took it in. Despite having no proof that it wasn’t there prior to service, Tesla replaced the windshield at no cost to me. I’ve heard similar stories of them also replacing windshields for cracks that don’t show any obvious sign of impact
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I had the same situation with Model X and Tesla replaced it under warranty as well.
 
prgarg said:
I had the same situation with Model X and Tesla replaced it under warranty as well.
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Lucid did the same for me, but it’s because my crack started above the trim line (it was the back windscreen) and thus I argued I couldn’t have caused it.
 
Leftlane said:
Not sure how or why Lucid would take responsibility for something that is not a defect in their workmanship or parts. If you created an environment where the conditions means this might happen, it stinks but that isn’t Lucid’s fault. Unless you think that the Lucid specific windshield screen is defective and caused the crack, but it seems like this could have happened with any sunshade in place.
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That's a rather inane comment... I parked the car and used a Lucid-supplied sunshade. And you think I caused it? Improperly installed windshields occasionally DO fail, most new cars cover that in their warranty as was the experience with Borski and Prgarg who posted above with their Teslas. We all paid two or three times the cost of a Tesla for our cars, you'd think Lucid would step it up a bit.
 
DOBrien said:
That's a rather inane comment... I parked the car and used a Lucid-supplied sunshade. And you think I caused it? Improperly installed windshields occasionally DO fail, most new cars cover that in their warranty as was the experience with Borski and Prgarg who posted above with their Teslas. We all paid two or three times the cost of a Tesla for our cars, you'd think Lucid would step it up a bit.
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To be fair, mine came from service that way.
 
DOBrien said:
I am guessing that the summer radiant heat, and perhaps hot air trapped between that tight-fitting cover and the window, allowed the glass temperature to climb to a point where the frame couldn't handle the expanded glass.
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Perhaps Lucid is guessing that didn't happen. Instead, a kid from a car parked close by placed a travel bag on your roof, or a bird ran into the windshield or some of a million other external factors that could have caused stress to the glass during the intense heat.

I'm guessing I'm not to blame for something I didn't cause.

Your case is a really horrible situation, but I didn't automatically blame the manufacturer. Can you review cameras from the parking lot owners? And, I guess, sometimes bad things happen. Like a rock from a passing truck. I guess that is why I have insurance.

Sorry it happened - replacing a low-volume windshield is a very expensive repair, especially when loaded with electronic doodads that need to provide high-tech functions.
 
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