For no apparent reason, as I opened the boot this morning the rear window crumbled into pieces...I've had the car from new for 6 months and it has less than 7,000 miles on the clock. From reading the posts, other new 500 owners have had similar experiences. I'm wondering just how common this is and whether there was any comeback from the dealer where you bought the car?

It happens with lots of cars. The rear glass is bonded in these days, for strength , and the cold weather may not help with flexibility.

I've never heard of this occuring on this car but I have heard of it with a few other manufacturers and models in the past. The people you want to speak to are your garage though, only they can give you a definitive answer about replacing it.

missflisstriss1970 said:

For no apparent reason, as I opened the boot this morning the rear window crumbled into pieces...I've had the car from new for 6 months and it has less than 7,000 miles on the clock. From reading the posts, other new 500 owners have had similar experiences. I'm wondering just how common this is and whether there was any comeback from the dealer where you bought the car?

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won't it be covererd by your car insurance. Glass breaks on cars and gets replaced all the time.

RobW said:

won't it be covererd by your car insurance. Glass breaks on cars and gets replaced all the time.

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Yes but then your out of pocket by the excess and no claims loss as its a rear window. If this is a manufacturing fault and you can get it replaced under warranty that would be my first choice.

Jake_in_notts said:

Yes but then your out of pocket by the excess and no claims loss as its a rear window. If this is a manufacturing fault and you can get it replaced under warranty that would be my first choice.

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almost impossible to prove/diagnose though as the evidence is all in bits

this happened on our multipla when it was about 4 months old - Fiat wouldn't do anything, which I didn't really expect them too, but thought I'd ask!!!

got it done under windscreen cover. been fine for the last 9 1/2 years!

This happened to me this morning. The rear window on my 500 shattered whilst driving on a quiet road. No sign of impact, just a very loud bang and the glass shattered but stayed intact until I hit the first pothole when half the glass fell in onto the parcel shelf and back seat. The car is almost exactly a year old with 4250 on the clock. My local dealers have accepted it in for a repair under the warranty. The glass did look very thin.

KeithMB said:

This happened to me this morning. The rear window on my 500 shattered whilst driving on a quiet road. No sign of impact, just a very loud bang and the glass shattered but stayed intact until I hit the first pothole when half the glass fell in onto the parcel shelf and back seat. The car is almost exactly a year old with 4250 on the clock. My local dealers have accepted it in for a repair under the warranty. The glass did look very thin.

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Quite right too, although I'm surprised that they agreed it quite so readily.

KeithMB said:

This happened to me this morning. The rear window on my 500 shattered whilst driving on a quiet road. No sign of impact, just a very loud bang and the glass shattered

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Was the rear demister on? IIRC early Smart cars had a problem with uneven heating of the demister element causing stress on the glass which would go with a bang like that.

On most comprehensive insurance policies, the 'windscreen' cover applies to all the glass, not just the front screen - so making a claim should only cost you the excess, and won't affect your NCB.

Best read the small print first, though.

jrkitching said:

On most comprehensive insurance policies, the 'windscreen' cover applies to all the glass, not just the front screen - so making a claim should only cost you the excess, and won't affect your NCB.

Best read the small print first, though.

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Correct - and there is sometimes a different excess for windows than for other claims - so read the small print twice.

jrkitching said:

On most comprehensive insurance policies, the 'windscreen' cover applies to all the glass, not just the front screen - so making a claim should only cost you the excess, and won't affect your NCB.

Best read the small print first, though.

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Why does she need to read the small print when the dealer is sorting it out under warranty?

306maxi said:

Why does she need to read the small print when the dealer is sorting it out under warranty?

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She doesn't, obviously. But others may not be so fortunate in the way the warranty is interpreted, and I thought it might be useful to let them know that they may be able to resolve this easily through their existing insurance.

306maxi said:

Why does she need to read the small print when the dealer is sorting it out under warranty?

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I had this on Christmas day last year. We went out to the car and my wife noticed a small crack in the rear window. She opened the boot and all the glass fell in.We had to drive home with the kids basically sitting on floormats ontop of broken glass!
I e-mailed autoglass but was told they had to wait 2-3 days for them to get the galss. Autoglass came out twice to try and fit the glass by the roadside.. which was one hell of a job, mainly due to the apalling weather conditions (sleet and snow), in the end we took it to the local Autogalss depot and the same fitter fitted it there. He did a great job and in no time at all we were back on the road. It took a week or two to get all the glass out of the back door area though with the 'Henry'-there were bits rattling inside the door for weeks. The Glass is fine- a bit of a greener tint than the rear side windows but I prefer it. I had to pay an excess but did it through the insurance.

306maxi said:

Why does she need to read the small print when the dealer is sorting it out under warranty?

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It is somebody else getting it under warranty not the OP isn't it.

How much does it cost to replace and where did you go to? I have had that one smash and the rear right one go. Need an idea of the cost. thanks

Yeah my boyfriend was reading about this on the Renaultsport forum yesterday apparently its a common problem on the Meganes too, ill try not to slam the boot too hard from now on then as my insurance went up (almost doubled) when i had a new windscreen last year even though they said it would affect my insurance...liars!!

how much did it cost?