Windshield Quality Standard -The first meeting to develop a new ANSI Standard concerning the quality of windshields, initiated by Richard Campfield while he was president of the National Windshield Repair Association, will take place at Auto Glass Week in Reno. Campfield says cheap windshields are not good for consumer safety, not good for the replacement industry and not good for the windshield repair industry. The windshields function as a Safety Shield is being eroded by the insurance industry whose only concern is their own claim costs and thus uses their power to control the auto glass repair and replacement industry with the help of windshield manufacturers and TPAs such as Safelite. They treat a windshield as a commodity, eliminating competition among windshield manufacturers to compete with each other to give us safer and better products to offer our customers. The ship loads of cheap windshields being imported by companies, like Safelite, from China are being annealed too fast in order to cut costs and the PVB is not protecting the public from objects and road debris hitting and penetrating windshields. Safelite's manufactured windshields and the imported windshields they resell cost about $17-$25 from China - these windshields have high levels of residual stress which causes them to fracture and edge crack easily which then leads to windshields being in failure mode of the FMVSS 205 which then leads to road debris, rocks, birds and animals easily penetrating the windshield. The windshield being the first line of defense in a crash and protection from road debris should be more than 1/4 of an inch thick and should cost much more than $17 dollars wholesale even if it is made in China. Campfield will be advocating for windshields to be graded by residual stress levels and penetration resistance in various temperatures and how long after they crack will they fail the penetration test in various temperatures and climates. This lets the public and those of us who sell and replace windshields know when the windshield brand is unsafe to be driven; lets consumers know when they should repair or replace their windshield ASAP and gives us a brand to sell by its impact and fracture resistance. This would also prevent insurers and NAGS from price-fixing us and treating every windshield brand the same.
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September 2015
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