Bad news: your windshield just cracked! While that’s frustrating, it happens to most of us at least once in our driving careers, and at the end of the day things could be a lot worse. The response to a situation as such is easy—just call Auto Glass Fitters to make a speedy replacement—but you may be wondering how exactly the crack happened.
There are numerous ways in which your windshield can crack. These are few of the most common scenarios.
Construction Vehicles Kicking Up Debris
If you’ve ever followed closely behind a construction vehicle, you know that it isn’t long before you want to move your car to somewhere else on the roadway. Their mud flaps seem to do very little to prevent debris—dirt, rocks, gravel—from kicking up and projecting toward everything surrounding them. Thus, if you’re behind one and a rock goes flying, your windshield could easily fall victim to cracking.
Temperature
If you live in a place where the weather constantly fluctuates, that could be bad news for your windshield. While heat will expand your glass, the cold air will cause it to contract. If a change from hot to cold happens in just a few hours, that fluctuation could mean your windshield cracks.
Since the metal surrounding your glass will always heat up much faster than the glass itself, heavy amounts of direct sunlight will cause the glass closer to the metal frame to heat up faster than the center of the windshield. Such a differential can also cause cracking.
Hail
If you’ve ever seen a hail storm in person, you know just how dangerous those shards and balls of plummeting ice can be. Your windshield is certainly not immune to hail’s speed and strength, so don’t be surprised if your windshield is cracked after an intense storm.
Accidents
This one seems obvious, but is still worth mentioning. When your car gets itself into an accident, many of its components are at a high risk for breaking. Your windshield is no exception. Even in smaller fender benders that don’t damage the rest of your vehicle, your windshield could still crack from the stress of the impact.
Here at Auto Glass Fitters, it’s our duty to ensure that all of our customers are as safe as possible on the road. If your windshield is cracked, even if it’s just a small ding, your safety is being compromised. We encourage you to call us immediately and schedule a replacement.
Safe travels!
