Windshield Crack - Not Covered by Warranty

[LucidGoosey]

Sitting in my '24 Pure Thursday morning, turn on the defrost and about 2 minutes later I hear a loud bang. I look over, and there's a massive crack that appeared in the windshield on the passenger side.

I call Lucid Support, they ask me to send pictures but that "a cracked windshield is never under warranty, no matter how it happened". They make an appointment at the service center the next day.

The next day, I bring in the car to the studio. The service manager - who I have zero issue with personally, not blaming him for this - runs a pen down the length of the crack and it catches on the tiniest - like, invisible to the eye - chip and says "yeah, this is what caused it - as soon as you have any chip in the windshield, using the defroster will crack the window. You just got unlucky."

I argued a bit, saying that we lived in Canada and are always going to get little chips here and there on the windshield, and that we, you know, like to run the defroster when it's cold outside. He maintained his position, talking about how he's not a dealership but a Lucid employee, and he can't make any exceptions. Also something about how I should be more careful not to drive behind semis, and how it's not so bad compared to another client who's on his 3rd windshield in 2 years.

Now, I've lived here for most of my life, driving dozens of cars with various levels of chips in their windshields, and never has running the defroster cracked my windshield.

My insurance deductible is $1000, which basically means that I'm going to gamble and maybe have to pay an extra grand every winter for the privilege of using the defroster.

I really like this car, had put up with the lack of AA, drafty windows, sub-par heating, optimistic range estimates, towing due to a software malfunction, and other bugs, but this has soured me on the whole brand. I get that they want to use lighter / cheaper windshields to save weight where possible, but glass this chintzy shouldn't be on a $100k+ car, period. A friend of mine drove my car last week and loved it, and was a potential lead, but I can no longer recommend Lucid to him or anyone who lives in an area where you know, there might be rocks on the road or you ever have to use the defroster...

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Definitely sucks. Seeing as it’s on the passenger side, I’d wait until winter was over before replacing

 

[LucidGoosey]

Definitely sucks. Seeing as it’s on the passenger side, I’d wait until winter was over before replacing

Yeah, that's what I plan to do. With my luck I'll replace it and have a new crack within weeks.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

I had a few small chips on my Lucid and Rivian windshields and I filled them right away using a kit from Amazon that uses a UV light to cure. This may help you with your next windshield. Good luck

 

[larrycpa]

Sitting in my '24 Pure Thursday morning, turn on the defrost and about 2 minutes later I hear a loud bang. I look over, and there's a massive crack that appeared in the windshield on the passenger side.

I call Lucid Support, they ask me to send pictures but that "a cracked windshield is never under warranty, no matter how it happened". They make an appointment at the service center the next day.

The next day, I bring in the car to the studio. The service manager - who I have zero issue with personally, not blaming him for this - runs a pen down the length of the crack and it catches on the tiniest - like, invisible to the eye - chip and says "yeah, this is what caused it - as soon as you have any chip in the windshield, using the defroster will crack the window. You just got unlucky."

I argued a bit, saying that we lived in Canada and are always going to get little chips here and there on the windshield, and that we, you know, like to run the defroster when it's cold outside. He maintained his position, talking about how he's not a dealership but a Lucid employee, and he can't make any exceptions. Also something about how I should be more careful not to drive behind semis, and how it's not so bad compared to another client who's on his 3rd windshield in 2 years.

Now, I've lived here for most of my life, driving dozens of cars with various levels of chips in their windshields, and never has running the defroster cracked my windshield.

My insurance deductible is $1000, which basically means that I'm going to gamble and maybe have to pay an extra grand every winter for the privilege of using the defroster.

I really like this car, had put up with the lack of AA, drafty windows, sub-par heating, optimistic range estimates, towing due to a software malfunction, and other bugs, but this has soured me on the whole brand. I get that they want to use lighter / cheaper windshields to save weight where possible, but glass this chintzy shouldn't be on a $100k+ car, period. A friend of mine drove my car last week and loved it, and was a potential lead, but I can no longer recommend Lucid to him or anyone who lives in an area where you know, there might be rocks on the road or you ever have to use the defroster...

Do you know for sure that the deductible applies to glass? I have a high deductible as well, but first dollar glass.

 

[BACamster]

I had a few small chips on my Lucid and Rivian windshields and I filled them right away using a kit from Amazon that uses a UV light to cure. This may help you with your next windshield. Good luck

May I ask what kit did you buy from Amazon?

 

[Tim-in-CA]

May I ask what kit did you buy from Amazon?

I bought this one. It shows as unavailable, but there are many similar to it on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C6KY9CY2

 

[LucidGoosey]

I had a few small chips on my Lucid and Rivian windshields and I filled them right away using a kit from Amazon that uses a UV light to cure. This may help you with your next windshield. Good luck

Absolutely, but I honestly didn't know I had a chip - it was that small. Really impossible to notice without a magnifying glass.

 

[LucidGoosey]

Do you know for sure that the deductible applies to glass? I have a high deductible as well, but first dollar glass.

Yeah, I called the insurance company and they confirmed the deductible is also for windshields.

 

[SaaSManKS]

I have the exact same sentiment as you about the car, it's great to drive, super sexy to look at, but these nuanced things that come up I have never dealt with in any other car (and I've had quiet a few cars). Luckily you live near a SC, they were going to charge me to bring the car in and send it back, which was going to be like $4-5K(for a pure regular windshield) it's all insane. My grip ATM is about the seats, I have a crack that formed in the seat, and they are saying it's normal wear and tear...the car is barely two years old and you're telling me it's a reasonable assumption that the seats will crack in 48 months? who in the world would accept that on a car like this? I'm currently making more than double payments to buy down the loan to dump the car somewhere in the $35-$40k range; if I'm lucky

 

[Blue Lectroid]

Respectfully, while it really sucks that your windshield cracked, that’s just not something the manufacturer (or a dealer) is responsible for. It’s not “cheap glass,” it’s bad luck. I had the same thing happen on a BMW 325i back in the 1990’s. Car was a month old. It sucked for me, but I did not expect BMW to pay for it.

Souring on the Lucid because of this is totally your prerogative, but it seems a bit extreme to me. I wish you well with the repair.

 

[borski]

I mean, I’ve cracked the windshield from a rock chip on my Mazda 3 and had it replaced. These things happen. I would not have expected Mazda to cover it.

When Lucid service cracked my rear windshield, they covered it *and* the tint. If it’s their fault, they cover it. But if you hit a rock on the highway? That’s on you.

That said, that doesn’t mean it’s fun or pleasant. It’s definitely not “chintzy” glass. I’ve yet to have a rock break mine, and I’ve heard plenty hit.

 

[LucidGoosey]

Respectfully, while it really sucks that your windshield cracked, that’s just not something the manufacturer (or a dealer) is responsible for. It’s not “cheap glass,” it’s bad luck. I had the same thing happen on a BMW 325i back in the 1990’s. Car was a month old. It sucked for me, but I did not expect BMW to pay for it.

Souring on the Lucid because of this is totally your prerogative, but it seems a bit extreme to me. I wish you well with the repair.

Respectfully disagree. A windshield should never crack from simply using the defroster, even if there's an [invisible to the naked eye!] chip in the windshield. Driving for 30 years in these temperatures I never had this happen, but it happened within 3 months of Lucid ownership. It's 100% cheap glass, and when the service manage told me that "I was lucky because he had a customer on his 3rd windshield already", and when he shrugged when I said "so should I plan to shell out a $1000 deductible every winter because the windshield might crack?", that pretty much confirms it.

I mean, I’ve cracked the windshield from a rock chip on my Mazda 3 and had it replaced. These things happen. I would not have expected Mazda to cover it.

When Lucid service cracked my rear windshield, they covered it *and* the tint. If it’s their fault, they cover it. But if you hit a rock on the highway? That’s on you.

That said, that doesn’t mean it’s fun or pleasant. It’s definitely not “chintzy” glass. I’ve yet to have a rock break mine, and I’ve heard plenty hit.

Did your Mazda 3's windshield crack because you used the defroster? I don't imagine it did.

If you think the glass on these cars isn't "chintzier" than it needs to be to handle winter driving in Canada and Canadian temperatures, I've got an oceanfront beach house in Idaho to sell you...

(also, not sure why the title of my post was changed?)

 

[borski]

Respectfully disagree. A windshield should never crack from simply using the defroster, even if there's an [invisible to the naked eye!] chip in the windshield. Driving for 30 years in these temperatures I never had this happen, but it happened within 3 months of Lucid ownership. It's 100% cheap glass, and when the service manage told me that "I was lucky because he had a customer on his 3rd windshield already", and when he shrugged when I said "so should I plan to shell out a $1000 deductible every winter because the windshield might crack?", that pretty much confirms it.


Did your Mazda 3's windshield crack because you used the defroster? I don't imagine it did.

If you think the glass on these cars isn't "chintzier" than it needs to be to handle winter driving in Canada and Canadian temperatures, I've got an oceanfront beach house in Idaho to sell you...

(also, not sure why the title of my post was changed?)

This is how physics works. Lucid did not and cannot reinvent physics, despite their cars making it feel like they did sometimes.

Can Cold Weather Crack Windshields | Three Rivers Auto Glass

Learn how cold weather can impact your car's windshield and how to protect it with these tips from the experts at Three River Auto Glass.

www.threeriversautoglass.com

“Cold weather can cause your windshield to break if it is chipped, cracked, or fractured in any way due to the extreme temperature change. As the temperature drops, the windshield glass will contract or get smaller. If there is a crack, this contraction will cause it to grow. Smaller chips or cracks that you didn’t notice before will become easier to see and may spread several inches or feet.

In colder weather, many of us turn the heat on as soon as we get into the car to warm it up. If there is ice on the windshield, you turn on the defrost setting. You may think not turning on the heat will prevent further cracking, but the defrost will cause a rapid increase in temperature that causes the glass to expand, outing pressure on the glass that can cause the crack to expand or grow.”

Incidentally, this is why so many insurers make glass *repair* free with a zero deductible, but glass *replacement* often isn’t. If you repair the chip, it will not spread. If you don’t (whether you know about it or not), it will. Again: that’s how physics works.

 

[borski]

And, in case you’re interested, cracked windshields are the most common insurance claim in the USA, according to AAA.

Aside: I’m impressed you’ve gone 30 years without a claim. Consider yourself extremely lucky. Statistically, you are *far* outside the norm.

 

[Halodde]

I had the same thing happen to me a couple of months ago. The problem is that if you get hit by a stone hard enough on the lower part of the windshield to cause a chip, the intense heat from the defroster on the cold windshield can cause it to crack and spread.

In my case, I didn't even realize that my windshield had gotten a ding when I was driving home from work. I parked the car (outside in Buffalo) overnight, and ran the defrost in the morning before taking the car to the car wash in the morning. As I came out of the car wash and there wasn't several hundred miles of road grime and salt on the lower part of the windshield, I noticed the 4 foot crack that went across it. But I had to look closely to find the chip I didn't know was there when the car was dirty. I will probably try to clean the car more frequently to look for stuff like that in the future.

It definitely sucks. But I don't think it's Lucid's fault or responsibility to cover the cost of the replacement. I had a similar situation with a previous car. Fortunately, I have a $50 glass deductible that should cover the replacement. I'm wondering if my insurance is going to be even higher now though. The price to replace was around $2600 total. We'll see.

Alternatively, turning on the heat via remote climate (not defrost) probably wouldn't cause the chip to spread. So maybe the sweet spot is using the heat instead of defrost unless you are pretty confident the windshield is not damaged. Certainly not ideal. But it's an option.

 

[Blue Lectroid]

Respectfully disagree. A windshield should never crack from simply using the defroster, even if there's an [invisible to the naked eye!] chip in the windshield. Driving for 30 years in these temperatures I never had this happen, but it happened within 3 months of Lucid ownership. It's 100% cheap glass, and when the service manage told me that "I was lucky because he had a customer on his 3rd windshield already", and when he shrugged when I said "so should I plan to shell out a $1000 deductible every winter because the windshield might crack?", that pretty much confirms it.


Did your Mazda 3's windshield crack because you used the defroster? I don't imagine it did.

If you think the glass on these cars isn't "chintzier" than it needs to be to handle winter driving in Canada and Canadian temperatures, I've got an oceanfront beach house in Idaho to sell you...

(also, not sure why the title of my post was changed?)

As @borski said n his response, this is physics. When I was a younger man I was a glass blowing instructor and have a pretty deep understanding of how glass behaves structurally. You can have had 50 different chips in prior cars with which you got lucky because they were not aligned in a dimension where structural stress due to differential internal and external temperatures were an issue.

This has nothing to do with the quality of the glass and everything to do with what is going on a microscopic structural level as this aligns with structural loads.

Lucid has no responsibility for this however frustrating this may be for you…which I feel for you for.

 

[LucidGoosey]

Yeah, no, the "this is physics" argument sorta falls apart when the service manager admits that Lucids are cracking windshields left and right here in Canada, and where my study sample of far less expensive cars living in the same conditions have never had window cracking due to defrosting. The car that the Lucid replaced - a 2011 Saab 9-3 wagon - was riddled with rock chips larger than the near-invisible one on the Air, but never had the windshield crack, even below the -30 degree temperature that the Lucid immediately cracked in.

I appreciate your input nonetheless.

 

[Batteryman]

Respectfully disagree. A windshield should never crack from simply using the defroster, even if there's an [invisible to the naked eye!] chip in the windshield. Driving for 30 years in these temperatures I never had this happen, but it happened within 3 months of Lucid ownership. It's 100% cheap glass, and when the service manage told me that "I was lucky because he had a customer on his 3rd windshield already", and when he shrugged when I said "so should I plan to shell out a $1000 deductible every winter because the windshield might crack?", that pretty much confirms it.


Did your Mazda 3's windshield crack because you used the defroster? I don't imagine it did.

If you think the glass on these cars isn't "chintzier" than it needs to be to handle winter driving in Canada and Canadian temperatures, I've got an oceanfront beach house in Idaho to sell you...

(also, not sure why the title of my post was changed?)

You have a chip- who knows how "deep" the chip went. Its not the diameter, it's the depth. I've had a crack like that on my SUV...from a chip that expanded. Same issue with our Tesla. Had both windshields replaced. It's normal.

 

[Batteryman]

I had the same thing happen to me a couple of months ago. The problem is that if you get hit by a stone hard enough on the lower part of the windshield to cause a chip, the intense heat from the defroster on the cold windshield can cause it to crack and spread.

In my case, I didn't even realize that my windshield had gotten a ding when I was driving home from work. I parked the car (outside in Buffalo) overnight, and ran the defrost in the morning before taking the car to the car wash in the morning. As I came out of the car wash and there wasn't several hundred miles of road grime and salt on the lower part of the windshield, I noticed the 4 foot crack that went across it. But I had to look closely to find the chip I didn't know was there when the car was dirty. I will probably try to clean the car more frequently to look for stuff like that in the future.

It definitely sucks. But I don't think it's Lucid's fault or responsibility to cover the cost of the replacement. I had a similar situation with a previous car. Fortunately, I have a $50 glass deductible that should cover the replacement. I'm wondering if my insurance is going to be even higher now though. The price to replace was around $2600 total. We'll see.

Alternatively, turning on the heat via remote climate (not defrost) probably wouldn't cause the chip to spread. So maybe the sweet spot is using the heat instead of defrost unless you are pretty confident the windshield is not damaged. Certainly not ideal. But it's an option.

Also note, everytime you use your insurance to fix a chip or even replace the glass, it shows up as a claim on your insurance. They will jack up your rates. I went max deductible on all my cars. Will only pay if I think it will cost >10k to repair. Never using insurance for windshield.