Frameless window shattered

[Tom51]

I’ve searched the forum and don’t find any posts on this, so I thought I’d share.
We had a frameless window shatter while travelling on the Interstate. It was on the side, furthest forward on the driver’s side. Being tempered safety glass, it disintegrated in the wind as it left the trailer, leaving a line of broken glass glued to the hinge and to the emergency exit latch, which was still latched after the window blew out (no, I didn’t leave it open as most would think). We had to have picked up a rock somehow.

We pulled in to a dealership that was listed in our Route 66 membership at our next stop, which was Sonny’s RV in Casper, Wyoming. They were very helpful in putting a couple of strips of carpet tape over the opening. This is the 18” wide, clear plastic film used on new carpeting or used to cover carpeting when working on the trailer. We continued on our trip with just a few minutes delay and no charge. Thanks, Sonny's!

I called our dealer and asked if they could get me another window. Humphrey RV in Grand Junction, Colorado was very helpful in getting it ordered from Jayco, but said it might take several weeks to get it. I double checked at a Camping World location, and that guy said it would be a couple of months. He gave me a card for someone that could make me a new one.

With another 10-day trip on the agenda and already hitting overnight lows in the 20’s and 30’s, I had a local glass shop make me a replacement pane of tinted, tempered glass. Unfortunately, that took over a week to get and we were on the road again before I got it. I then made a window out of plexiglass, rounded off the corners to make an effort at matching, and drilled a couple of holes in the hinge and in the latch and riveted them to the plexiglass, anticipating gluing them to the replacement glass when we returned. The plexiglass worked okay, but I put a wide strip of painter’s tape on the leading edge to keep the wind from the road from getting underneath it while traveling.

We just returned home, I had a big box from Jayco! They sent the entire assembly, frame and all. I took the window off of it and put it on the trailer, perfect fit. I now have a homemade spare…

[retiredtech]

Very interesting. I've heard of this happening to shower doors and even glass table tops. It's called spontaneous shattering. It can happen to car windows, too, but they won't explode because they have a layer of plastic laminated between two layers for safety. Hence the name "safety glass". Apparently, the RV industry isn't using that type for these windows?

[NC Roamer]

Originally Posted by retiredtech

Very interesting. I've heard of this happening to shower doors and even glass table tops. It's called spontaneous shattering. It can happen to car windows, too, but they won't explode because they have a layer of plastic laminated between two layers for safety. Hence the name "safety glass". Apparently, the RV industry isn't using that type for these windows?

The frameless glass will also spontaneously shatter when it comes into contact with a wooden sign as the tail of a Greyhawk swings wide in a sharp turn.

And it is safety glass. Mine broke into crumbles with no sharp edges.

[Greencanoe]

Interesting we had the exact same thing happen on our last trip. Bottom panel of the dinette window.

[Tom51]

I'm sorry, but that was really funny and timed well!

[Tom51]

Originally Posted by Greencanoe

Interesting we had the exact same thing happen on our last trip. Bottom panel of the dinette window.

Did you get a replacement from Jayco? How long did it take? They covered mine in warranty, but I had already paid $150 for the custom cut window from the glass shop.

[Greencanoe]

We have a 2017 306RKDS , I did not think of Warranty I may now. Just assumed something hit it. It took about 3 weeks but they sent the wrong non insulated window , then the next one arived damaged so we are wating on # 3.

[bankr63]

Automobiles only use the laminated glass for the windshield. You probably want it that way because it would be very hard to exit a vehicle after a crash if all the windows were laminated glass. you want the side windows from safety (tempered) glass so they break safely.

Read this months Consumer Reports on the issues with the much larger sun roofs that are now exploding spontaneously. It could have been a stone that hit this window, or it might have gone on its own.

Glad to see that Jayco stepped up with a full replacement, and possibly quicker than expected. Mentioned in the above noted article is that most automobile manufacturers refuse to replace the sunroofs under warranty, leaving owners with hefty bills. Nice to hear Jayco is outdoing them on warranty service!

[David472]

Wind pressure from a passing semi truck on a windy day, has also been known to shatter a tempered glass window.

[suscamper]

We just had the same thing happen with our passenger window. Trying to get in touch w Jayco. They are closed for the day.
If it takes a few weeks it's going to be a challenge as we are in NM on our way to snowbird in AZ. Can't live with plastic on the window with nights in the 30's. Any suggestions?

[javamon]

Originally Posted by suscamper

We just had the same thing happen with our passenger window. Trying to get in touch w Jayco. They are closed for the day.
If it takes a few weeks it's going to be a challenge as we are in NM on our way to snowbird in AZ. Can't live with plastic on the window with nights in the 30's. Any suggestions?

Passenger window on what type of vehicle?

[suscamper]

2017 Precept 31 ul

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by suscamper

We just had the same thing happen with our passenger window. Trying to get in touch w Jayco. They are closed for the day.
If it takes a few weeks it's going to be a challenge as we are in NM on our way to snowbird in AZ. Can't live with plastic on the window with nights in the 30's. Any suggestions?

Home Depot/Lowes for foam board? Taping on a layer or two of that would be better than plastic.

[AreWeThereYet]

Parked in our yard, one of the curbside windows just shattered. I found it crumbled all over the ground below. We're still very much so in warranty as I just picked the unit up right before Christmas (2018 324BHTS). I don't really look forward to towing it the hour to our local dealer so I am very interested in how you got a replacement through Jayco directly? Any details would be appreciated!

[JeremyFr]

Happens with cell phone and tablet screens as well, basically any tempered glass is prone to this if there is any minute flaw in the glass when it was manufactured. I had a phone shatter right in front me sitting on my desk at work craziest thing ever.

[Magnolia Tom]

I just replaced a broken window myself. Dealer ordered it for me and I installed it. Be prepared to pay for the window as it probably will not be covered by warranty. At least mine wasn’t.


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[Tom51]

Originally Posted by AreWeThereYet

Parked in our yard, one of the curbside windows just shattered. I found it crumbled all over the ground below. We're still very much so in warranty as I just picked the unit up right before Christmas (2018 324BHTS). I don't really look forward to towing it the hour to our local dealer so I am very interested in how you got a replacement through Jayco directly? Any details would be appreciated!

I called our awesome dealer to see if it might be covered. They said they'd turn it in as warranty and see what happens. They needed the dimensions, as the model and serial number would not always get down to that level of detail. They said the factory gets bulk shipments of parts and pieces when they do a production run, so the windows could possibly be different across the same model. Anyway, Jayco sent them a replacement and they had it drop shipped to my house. It was the whole assembly, so now I have a complete frame sitting in my shed...

Camping World told me Jayco wouldn't cover it and gave me a business card for a local third party guy that does window replacements for them. He estimated about $400, maybe more to mount the hinge and latch. If you are a DIY kind of RV'er, you can get a tinted piece of glass cut to size with rounded corners and edges polished, get it tempered, and then glue the hinge and latch pieces on with windshield urethane.

[Rustynuts]

Just had our upper overhead window on our 2018.5 Jayco Seneca glass break out and fly off going down the freeway at 63mph!! Luciky it didnt hit any cars but exploded into a million pieces when it hit. We always check our windows are tight before we pull out so I know it was shut and nothing was against it inside. Emailed Jayco Sunday night but no response yet, I will be calling tomorrow!

[jp_brown]

Had a similar incident on our last trip of 2018 on our 33RBTS, coming back from Kentucky arrived home to find an upper window of our large slide out cracked across the whole window. The window didn't blow out, just cracked the entire window and lost some small pieces around the edge of the frame. Found no impact zone so my guess was that the vibration from driving down the road caused it to fail. Took my unit to Camping World where I bought it for a short list of warranty items. None were questioned except for the window, but the service manager came out and took pics personally to aid in the warranty claim. Jayco covered everything and they replaced the entire window. There looked to be a few areas where the screws in the frame were not seated correctly so the service manager said she has seen those types of breaks before, it is a rolling earthquake and any imperfections can cause early failures. Thankfully ours occurred on our way home from the last planned trip for the year, so I was able to get all of my warranty work done while we no longer planned to use the trailer.

[ttvibz]

Same thing happened on our 2016 White Hawk 27DSRL. the 30 x 20 frameless window shattered. I ordered from a dealer and it took 4 weeks to receive it.



When I first talked to the dealer, they told me that the window was $279 but had no idea what Jayco would charge for shipping (could be anywhere between $50 and $200)!. I called Jayco parts and they recently changed their policy. Parts prices quoted to the dealer now includes shipping - a fact that the the dealer I was talking to did not know that. On top of that, Jayco drop shipped the window to my home which was cool.


By the way, the first dealer I talked to quoted me $279 for the window (excluding shipping). The dealer I ordered from quoted me $191. I didn't expect dealers would vary that much on factory parts pricing.