Working for an engineering firm, there is a strong commitment to safety around here. We get regular bulletins from a variety of sources about safety.
It being Spring, a lot of post-Winter cars out there have cracks in the windshield. Now aside from being ugly and a distraction, I never thought much about cracks in windshields, aside from the possibility that it might explode inwards in a high wind and cut you to shreds. But today’s safety tip talks about some stuff I’d never considered.
UPDATE: My bad HTML coding caused the rest of this not to show up in the original post. Sorry.
1. Your windshield prevents you from being ejected during an accident.
The safest place to be during a car accident is in the car. Your windshield is an important barrier that keeps you in the car. A cracked or poorly installed windshield can fail during a collision or roll over, allowing you or your passenger to be ejected. A passenger ejected from a car or truck is much more likely to experience a serious injury or death. Cracked windshields expose the laminate that joins the layers of glass in the windshield, resulting in delamination. It is this delamination that results in a dangerous reduction in the structural integrity of a vehicle.
2. Your windshield is a “backstop” for your passenger air bag.
In nearly all new vehicles equipped with airbags, the passenger side airbag deploys upward and bounces off the windshield to protect the passenger in a crash. When the airbag deploys, it does so at 150 – 200 miles per hour. Needless to say, a cracked windshield lacks the structural integrity necessary to absorb the force of a deployed airbag; with the result that passengers may be ejected and injured or killed if the airbag deployment is deformed by the windshield’s failure. In addition, an improperly installed replacement windshield that fails will subject a vehicle’s occupants to the same risk of airbag failure as a cracked windshield.
3. Your windshield supports the roof.
An automobile’s windshield is designed to prevent the roof from crushing you in a roll over accident. A cracked windshield will not meet any of the ANSI windshield performance and safety standards. Industry experts have estimated that windshields provide up to 70% of the structural integrity in a rollover accident. A cracked windshield may fail to support the roof if the car flips over, causing severe injury or death to occupants
So … be safe out there.
I’ll bite…
Like what?
After 17 years at the Flats, Windshields never seem to explode. But all of those other window are fair game. In the morning, or during a good 75mph+ wind storm, you could come out and see the parking lots all shiny and glittery from all the side window’s blowing out.
oops…memory flash….
One woman did loose her wind shield. A rock (shooter marble size) hit her windshield at the same time as a big wind gust. Blewy! the Wind shield was sitting in her drivers and passenger seats. Luckily only minor cuts to her forearms.
Gah! What happened the frickin’ rest of my post?!
Yeesh.
Sorry, there’s a lot of stuff that was underneath that which has somehow vanished.
Much better…
Thanks Dave.
Dang! And I just had my windshield removed so I wouldn’t bump my noggin on it during a head-on collision.
Ah, well. 20-20 hindsight.