Windshield glass is trash

[SASSquatch]

Look at a the difference in the angle of the A-pillar in the R1T vs a Ford Lightning.

There is probably a 15 degree or more difference in slope and that is probably enough to cause lots of headaches with rock damaage.

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[Sevn86]

Range Rover windshields are horrible too! I have the heated windshield on that car and I'm not sure if thats the reason why the glass is weak.

 

[Riviot]

Fuyao!

The angle of the glass has everything to do with how much damage a projectile will do. If the glass is sloped, the object is much more likely to graze off if it and not cause much damage.

If it is steep - it is much more likely to slam into the glass and cause a break or crack.

Soooo make it tougher? See below.

Range Rover windshields are horrible too! I have the heated windshield on that car and I'm not sure if thats the reason why the glass is weak.

My buddy has my old 2000 Land Rover Discovery 2, over 200k miles on all sorts of adventures and road trips west of the Rockies, and it still has the original heated windshield. I heard plenty of rocks pummel it in my time, and only 1 left a very modest crack. No chips, no spiderwebs, no divots, no long drawn cracks, just a half inch line.

They just don't make 'em like they used to...

 

[SASSquatch]

Fuyao!

Soooo make it tougher? See below.



My buddy has my old 2000 Land Rover Discovery 2, over 200k miles on all sorts of adventures and road trips west of the Rockies, and it still has the original heated windshield. I heard plenty of rocks pummel it in my time, and only 1 left a very modest crack. No chips, no spiderwebs, no divots, no long drawn cracks, just a half inch line.

They just don't make 'em like they used to...

We can complain to Rivian an have them acknowledge the design fault. At this point we may all need to be applying a coating on the glass for extra protection against Chios tocrearpte a hardened layer on the surface. They sell such things but I’m not coming up with brand names off the top of my head.

 

[socalr1s]

Unfortunately joining the club. I've read about windshield complaints prior to taking delivery of my R1S couple months ago, chalked it up to mostly anecdotal as well. Well I got my first small but very visible chip in the windshield first week into my ownership. I was like WTH but didn't worry too much because it was small. Couple thousand miles later got hit by another rock that caused a much deeper chip that spidered into several large cracks same day, now awaiting replacement from the SC.
For reference, I have over 110K miles in my Model X in the same commute and ZERO visible rock chips. I have several other vehicles including a very upright Land Cruiser and several exotics that are sitting at perfect height to absorb rocks. Have never replaced windshield in any of them. I do have the windshield protection film on one of my exotics but they do look hazy at night. Even my tint shop says there's no good solution for windshield protection at the moment.
I don't know how, but I do believe there is something to the "weakness" of these FY glass on the R1S. Pretty frustrating indeed.

 

[zymolysis]

I do have the windshield protection film on one of my exotics but they do look hazy at night.

What mfr/product do you have, which is hazy?

 

[Fred6v]

Second cracked R1T windshield today in 8 months of ownership--highway occurrences! Otherwise truck has been perfect but this is nuts. Anyone come up with a decent solution, like a deflector? Sounds like that Exoshield treatment is a lose. thoughts?

 

[babalegba]

Joining the club. My chips started during my first week of ownership. I've had multiple since then, but i just get them filled professionally. All chips (prob 8-10 total), but no cracks.

Car was parked in the driveway last weekend. At some point, i jumped in to make a quick run to the grocery store and the first thing i noticed was a big crack - probably about 6 inches long. I quickly filled it myself so it doesnt get worse....buts its there.

Its either the windshield is complete crap, or i have a very defective one. I've owned multiple cars in my short lifetime (Nissan, Audi, Merc, Jeep, Tesla, etc) and have never had windshield issues.

 

[WhidbeyIsland]

Car was parked in the driveway last weekend. At some point, i jumped in to make a quick run to the grocery store and the first thing i noticed was a big crack - probably about 6 inches long. I quickly filled it myself so it doesnt get worse....buts its there.

What did you use to fill in the cracks?

 

[babalegba]

What did you use to fill in the cracks?

I've always used this product over the years. Works well. And you can find it almost anywhere. The instructions are pretty straightforward too.

 

[YouKnowWhatsUp]

I've previously read several comments re the windshield glass and when my 1st windshield got a 10" crack from small pebble in Month 2 of ownership, I chalked it up to bad luck. But now in month 6 of ownership and windshield #2 cracked from a smaller than small, barely bigger than a grain of sand @ 60mph, the glass is crap!

Having had many vehicles hit by rocks, stones, pebbles, etc and not getting cracks for decades and now taking two tiny hits that result in large cracks is not bad luck but bad glass.

And this is an adventure vehicle? Not when any little particle will result in failure of your windshield! @Rivian, you gotta do better!

I’m about to have a chip filled in tomorrow hopefully. I had a dot truck in AZ throw a pile of asphalt in front of my truck to fix pot holes on the 10 and I’m surprised it’s all I got for damage.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

My bronco has a windshield at a horrible angle. Well known issue that it picks up rocks. Luckily, I’ve only had one small hit that didn’t go all the way through.

 

[Ladiver]

I just drive with the cracks until it is too annoying or the po-po says to fix it. I'll be on #5. Several chips filled and currently have a crack edge to edge. Not in my field of view, so really don't care.

It's nice that insurance covers the glass, but ceramic tint becomes stupid expensive the second, third, fourth...times

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