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A year ago I purchased my Lexus from Lexus of Marin in Northern California. The buying experience was painful given the lack of inventory so I waited a year for the right exterior/interior trim package and bought the car. I go on long road trips and after 12 months I have about 14K miles on the vehicle. I came back from a road trip three weeks ago and noticed a three way crack in my front windshield. The crack has grown worse over the last few weeks and I am desperately trying to get it fixed. The dealership quoted $1,000.00 to repair/replace the windshield and told me some disturbing things:
1. The repair won't be covered by the very expensive bumper to bumper extended warrantee I purchased with the car.
2. It's going to cost $1,000 to repair. They said something about having to "recalibrate" the system.
3. The glass is not available and I will have to wait 6 months, 6 MONTHS to get this taken care of.
My question to the community is this:
Is anyone else experiencing cracked windshields with out evidence of impact? There's no divot, no texture to the impact zone, and the crack is above the wipers.
Is anyone else also experiencing a 6 month delay on replacement glass ?
Can we substitute Toyota Glass for our front Windshields ?
It looks possibly like an impact mark at the very bottom of the windshield. Very possible an unnoticed impact occurred there, but due to temperature changes caused a tiny point to expand across the windshield. Its really very rare I've heard of windshield cracks to be covered under warranty unless it is substantially and overwhelmingly obvious its a defect and not an impact. Normally insurance is where 99.99993456% of people turn to for glass breakage.
Yes, others have had issues getting replacement OEM glass. Another person on these forums (Sounds), I believe he waited so long he actually traded the car in for a new one instead of waiting for glass. That's tough. Search and you might find some of his posts. You do have the alternative of getting 3rd party glass from any autoglass shop much more readily (Safelite brand comes to mind), but some people frown on using non-OEM glass and non-OEM glass can potentially lower the resale value of the vehicle (depending on when you might plan to sell)
Anytime a windshield is replaced, the LSS camera at the top middle of the glass needs to be recalibrated to ensure it's still seeing out the windshield correctly without distortion. Its like going to the Optometrist when you get new glasses.
Hi Andy,
Thank you for the insight. I'll take a better look at Safelight and see if they have an OEM'ish windshield replacement that's readily available. 6 months, 6 MONTHS to get a piece of glass.
SM
You can only replace your glass with OEM glass, it is the only option from what I have heard, the only place you can get a replacement is through the dealer. You can submit the claim through your insurance and they will cover everything, you will only pay your deductible. I also have a crack in mine since June, the were over 100 people waiting for their glass at the time I went to my dealer to discuss a replacement and the wait time was 6-8 month. I complained to Lexus Customer Engagement about how weak the windshields are made now days and they need to improve on manufacturing, they said that they will try to get me one at the end of September but nothing is for sure and it may go into October Anyway, very disappointed myself as well, over the past three month my crack grew almost every day all the way from the passenger side now is like foot and a half from reaching the end on the driver side, it goes through the middle of a windshield. My total is $2300, $1400 for parts and then $800 for installation and calibration. . So yeah fun fun and the worst part is, that with all those weak windshields, I do not think it will be the last one
Yep, as you can see some days worse than others, some are over a several days, especially one in the middle like the whole foot in a day In the past week it didn't really grew any bigger, so hopefully it will not grow any longer by much. It was sitting outside and we had very hot Summer, so that probably helped with all the growth.
Had a rock hit our 2024 350h at the top of the windshield Aug 15 and the crack keeps growing. Dealer ordered new glass and told me 2 months...I'm not holding my breath. I won't go to Safelite. I want a Lexus glass.
A year ago I purchased my Lexus from Lexus of Marin in Northern California. The buying experience was painful given the lack of inventory so I waited a year for the right exterior/interior trim package and bought the car. I go on long road trips and after 12 months I have about 14K miles on the vehicle. I came back from a road trip three weeks ago and noticed a three way crack in my front windshield. The crack has grown worse over the last few weeks and I am desperately trying to get it fixed. The dealership quoted $1,000.00 to repair/replace the windshield and told me some disturbing things:
1. The repair won't be covered by the very expensive bumper to bumper extended warrantee I purchased with the car.
2. It's going to cost $1,000 to repair. They said something about having to "recalibrate" the system.
3. The glass is not available and I will have to wait 6 months, 6 MONTHS to get this taken care of.
My question to the community is this:
Is anyone else experiencing cracked windshields with out evidence of impact? There's no divot, no texture to the impact zone, and the crack is above the wipers.
Is anyone else also experiencing a 6 month delay on replacement glass ?
Can we substitute Toyota Glass for our front Windshields ?
Any and all advice is welcome, thank you !
SM
Try calling different companies around the area. There should be more windshield glasses available nowadays.
ikessler - I feel the same way and also want Lexus Glass. I was just shocked to see that Toyota/Lexus are still having supply issues and a 6 month wait time seems excessive.
websurfer - Thanks for the recommendations. I'm going to hold out for the original Lexus glass.
Its unfortunate to have to deal with a cracked windshield.
Is there a known (technical or otherwise) reason why you prefer Lexus glass ? Is it known to be better quality/stronger than alternatives ?
Because it says "Lexus" You will personally know it is Lexus, but it will not affect resale value. There are a lot of levels of replacement glass; I would recommend OEM even though there are cheaper alternatives. But OEM correctly installed, and all sensors added back, you won't be able to tell any difference. Carefully select your glass replacement company, some that advertise a lot are overprices, e.g. Safelite. Also, check with your insurance company, claiming a windshield replacement is not always a cost-effective move for two reasons: (1) sometimes it counts as a claim and raises your insurance and (2) after paying your deductible, the cost saving may not be that much.
I went through the windshield replacement scenario a couple of years ago.