Well, I was driving back from another road trip I just took, and while on the freeway some ******* SUV threw up a rock that tagged the lower black border on my windshield. It was a loud impact sound, but you couldn't see the damage from the inside and I just thought, "Damn, well, that happens sometimes.".

As I kept driving I later noticed a crack that started creeping up the windshield, and now it's grown to about 15cm or so. Pisses me off: It's going to cost $245 bucks to replace the entire window-- And my insurance deductible is $500 bucks, so this is an out of pocket expense.

Has anyone else noted poor quality glass in the Protege? I had my old '91 Nissan Sentra for 11 years, took it on very long road trips all over the western U.S., went on countless skiing trips (with mass road sanding/gravel, etc.) and never, not once, ever had any cracking problems with the Nissan's glass. And it did take hits rather commonly.

The car's not even a year old yet and the windshield is already history. That's seriously lame.

I hereby question the quality of Mazda glass. Bastards!

 

the glass in the protege is known to suck rods.

i've got a chip from a really light impact. luckily it didn't spider so i don't have to replace the windshield, just repair the chip. but i know what a hard impact sounds like and that wasn't it.

i've only got 6500 km on the car and the windshield looks like it's been sandblasted. it's terrible.

 

20000Km on it and it still looks fine. And thats with my fair share of road trips.

 

Mine took a pretty big smack one day going home from work. It spidered out radially to about the size of a dime. Had it repaired the next morning before it could spread. Now it's just a chip the size of a pinhead. Guess I was lucky with that one and the glass shop did a good job on the repair. I will admit that the glass is pitted overall, most noticable when driving into the sun or bright streetlights.

Jeff M.

 

I took a rock about half way up right in the middle and it left a small mark at first but then the crack grew up to probably 4 inches or so in lenght. Cost me $330 or something to replace the whole window, and my insurance deductable was $300...glass place paid $100 for the deductable so I decided to file the claim anyways. Stupid insurance said that if I file another my rates may go up.

Later I went on vacation without my car and came home to find a nice scratch across the driverside windsheild about 5 inches long...needless to say, it's just staying there.

 

I guess I'm lucky, becuase in FL your insurance covers the cost of replacing a cracked windshield with no deductable.

 

See if you have different glass coverage - on my policy, I have full glass, but $500 deductible on other. If you have full glass, then you are covered 100%.

 

Actually, I don't think this problem is solely confined to the Protege... rather, its just something common to newer cars. I've cracked FOUR windshields in recent years:
1998 Honda CR-V
2000 Toyota Celica
2001 Ford F-350 super duty
AND, of course, my 2002 Pro5

All of these were the result of seemingly light rock hits. Either they don't make windshields like they used to, or I've had some really shitty luck.

 

i had the same problem man. except it was at the dealers expense. i told them that it was a stress crack. even though there was an indentation from when the rock hit it, they replaced it after a few minutes or arguing. =)

 

I had a dump truck throw up a f***king huge rock on my winshield. The glass didn't break but there is a series of marks that are about the size of a quarter. They are chips on one side of the glass but didn't cause a crack Gues I was lucky

 

If you ever have any damage from a rock or debris off of a commercial vehicle (like a dump truck) be sure to get the license plate number and make a note of the business name. If you call them and report the damage, most of the time they will send you a check to pay for it. If they won't do that, they will almost certainly pay the deductible for your insurance.

Jason

 

I haven't paid for one either. Must be lucky. (knock on wood)

 

Not sure if you remember....but there was the infamous "BUZZARD " incident a while back.....I was lucky it only took out my windshield...do a search on buzzard if you want the whole story.

anyway....do check with your insurance company....and a good class company......MOST glass companies have $50 to $100 coupons for you to use....and even though MY dedectable is $500...it only cost me $100 out of my pocket.

Something the guy at the glass place told me was that the newer glass like in our cars IS thinner....they ordered me a windshield made by PPG....its specs EXCEED mazda's for their windhshields...it was noticably thicker....and the rear view mirror shoe came already on the glass....it fits like a glove and you would NEVER know it was ever replaced.

 

My windshield looks like the surface of the moon. I have had my car for 9 months and my glass is beat. I have a 1989 mazda mx-6gt on its factory winshield with no chips with 137,000 miles. I'm telling you it is the FORD Cheap crap.

 

i've had no problems either with the glass