Glass window on convertible top shattered...
 

I woke up this morning to head to church and found the rear window shattered on my boxster. I parked the car in the garage last night after driving home and am 99% sure there was no existing damage beforehand. There is a garage door opener in my other vehicle outside so conceivably someone could have opened the garage to smash the window overnight but figured it would have been something I would have heard and/or the dog would have alerted me. As far as I can tell there is no other damage to the car or and nothing was damaged or taken from the garage that I noticed which leads me to believe it shattered for some hard to explain reason or that perhaps something fell off the garage door (bolt or nut) and hit the window to shatter it. I have been unable to find anything like that yet and there is no damage to the body of the car from something falling either? Has anyone just had one of these things shatter randomly? FWIW it is a GAHH/Robbins replacement top that has been on the car about two years without issue. The only thing I can think of that I did differently is that I used the rear window defroster for the first time that I can remember on the 20minute ride home. Temp was not that cold outside but the humidity was high. I am not sure what I dread more...paying for a new top or having to install it again.:(

I would hope that the vehicle you leave outside is locked. You would've noticed if someone had broke into your car to use your garage door opener right? I also wouldn't think someone would go through all that trouble just to break your rear window.

Is there a warranty on these tops? If so I'd assume that they would pay for replacement. Good luck hope you figure it out.

I bought the top through an installer that
 

was clearancing them out...not directly from GAHH so I doubt any warranty applies especially since it was not installed through one of their installers. Just for kicks, I went to their website and clicked on warranty just to see what was/wasn't covered and the page was blank:rolleyes:. The other vehicle is a "beater" and there is absolutely nothing in it to steal apart from the vehicle itself so sometimes it is locked...sometimes it is not. I too highly doubt anyone opened the door just to break the glass and not damage anything else, cause a commotion, or steal anything but the Halloween coincidence just makes you wonder. I am going to check and see what the insurance may cover but suspect I will have to eat this one myself.

Your comprehensive portion of your auto insurance should cover it. My State Farm policy has a $100 deductible for comprehensive, so that's all I'd expect to have to pay.

Not a Boxster owner anymore but I have witnessed a back window on a Chrsyler van explode just sitting in the heat of the sun. Perhaps a change of temperature from being in the garage or turning on the heat in the window can do it.

Guy

Let that be your lesson then. Lock the beater if you plan on keeping a veritable key to your house in it. If someone wants into your house then they'll do it regardless, but if you secure your stuff then at least they have to work at it. Most of them don't want to make noise so unlocked cars are an easy target.

Likely papas does not want to hear this but you are so right.
In our n'hood many cars are parked outside coz their garages are full of junk. Who gets their car broken into or stolen? The cars outside. Yes your car should be locked and garage door opener removed if parked outside.

If "perp" had removed the garage door opener to open the garage door then he likely would not have retured the opener back into the car. Chances are the rear window did it to itself. Just my 5 cents...
Guy

My father came by and looked at it this afternoon and immediately
 

thought it was vandalism rather than just pure accident. I did notice that the clamshell now sticks up more on one side than the other. I could have sworn I recall seeing the defroster lines in the rear window though when I left indicating the window was still intact but it is hard to remember back on something so inconsequential at the time.

Sorry about your window.fwiw,My friend,s Honda Accord glass shattered in their office parking lot while they were at work.There was a locked security gate and no weirdo's allowed in the area.Of the thousands of windows made,some must just not be the best.

Years ago I had a rear window shatter when I turned on the defroster. It not a common thing but it happens.

Is it possible that one of the components in your top mechanism is misaligned or broken? For example, one of the push rods may have popped off its socket or broken. That could have put twisting pressure on the window causing it to break.

Still kicking around with what to do...
 

I have driven the car a few times over the past few weeks when weather permits while deciding whether to replace the top with plastic or glass. The cost difference is pretty inconsequential between the two but the main thing I am worried about is having another window shatter. Just not knowing what caused it is eating at me and what the chances are of a window randomly shattering again. I was going to call GAHH this week just to see if they would divulge any info on if they have heard of anyone having this issue before but their website was down at the time (back up now) so I did not get to call. I am leaning toward it having something to do with the defroster since I had never used it before that night. I cycled the top a few times after cleaning up all the broken glass and it operates smoothly and evenly. Took quite a while to get the glass fragments out of the car...that window exploded!

I would think that since there are no other posts on this subject that its rare indeed.

Is there any way to just replace the window? A friend of mine did his own replacement of the top on his VW Golf Cabrio. On that car, the glass window from the old top actually gets re-used. It just got me thinking that maybe there is a way to just install a new glass in this top, which might be cheaper and easier than re-doing the whole top.

It would very likely be cheaper I would think
 

but I do not know where you would get one sourced or where you would find someone to install it. The window is I think kind of glued into a pocket...I know they had some problems initially with the windows coming loose from the convertible top when the design was first introduced so I do not think it is something that could easily be duplicated. I spoke with a rep from GAHH today and he concluded that it must have been a freak accident as he was not aware of any other similar instances in the past.