SAFETY: Many people don’t realize the 3 major safety features that are provided by a properly installed windshield. SUPPORTING THE ROOF IN A ROLLOVER – the laminated glass has a higher tensile strength than steel and is the primary support to your roof to keep it from caving in on you due to a roll-over accident. KEEPING YOU IN THE VEHICLE UPON IMPACT – Insurance companies statistics show that, if you are ejected from the vehicle during impact, the result is fatal 85% of the time. The windshield will break if you hit it but will bow out up to 11 inches to protect you and keep you in vehicle upon impact. SUPPORT TO THE PASSENGER AIRBAG – If the windshield is improperly bonded to the steel frame of the vehicle the force of the passenger side airbag can blow out the windshield and send it through the air for fifty feet, meaning there is no airbag protection.

2. SAVINGS: Windshield Repair is generally about 10% of the cost of a replacement windshield and many times the cost of repair is less than your deductible for replacement.

3. ENVIRONMENT: Most people don’t realize the environmental impact of manufacturing one windshield.  The process creates 2 pounds of Carbon Emissions for each pound of glass, meaning most windshields will create about 60 pounds of Carbon Emissions.  To make 1 pound of glass uses about 6 gallons of water, meaning the average windshield uses about 180 gallons of water to make.  To make 1 pound of glass takes about 58,000 BTU of energy, meaning that a windshield takes about 1,174,000 BTU of energy.  All this happens about 30,000 times a day in America.

4. REPLACEMENT COMPANIES OFFERING REPAIR: Most replacement companies would rather replace your windshield than repair it because they make more profit. Also, since the repair is a part-time, occasional instance, the investment into it is usually limited to a plunger or screw-extrusion type device that is primitive doesn’t offer sufficient vacuum for a proper repair and only offers training as an option rather than mandatory.

5. CAUSES OF BREAKAGE – TEMP CHANGE & VIBRATION: Many motorists don’t know why their windshield cracked, just that it did. Once the glass is scored by a crack of rock damage, the windshield loses 90% of its strength. A small amount of vibration, due to the normal operation of the vehicle, will cause the windshield to break at its weakest point, which is the damaged area. Rapid Temperature Change also plays a part as glass is a poor conductor of heat. When a rapid change in temperature occurs, the glass experiences Thermal Shock, similar to taking an empty coffee pot off a stove and immediately putting it under cold water, and the glass breaks into a crack from the damaged area.