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.
8 Comments
6/20/2016 10:32:28 am
Make an auto glass or windshield claim easily and conveniently with Progressive. Our online claims reporting feature is accessible to all Progressive customers.
Reply
Bob
6/27/2016 10:00:37 pm
Oh, you mean the Progressive Insurance that uses the Safelite Glass Network to process their glass claims and allows Safelite representatives to act as if they work for the insurance company and steer customers into setting an appointment with Safelite Auto Glass instead of allowing them to choose where they have their glass replaced? Can you say, "conflict of interest? "
Reply
Mafiastyle
8/3/2016 08:23:09 am
State Farm also outsources claims to Safelite. You do not get OEM glass unless the car is within 2 years of ownership. The bar is set based on the newness of the car not the quality of the part that is an integral cog in vehicle safety. There are plenty more insurance companies that source to Safelite, especially those that have a zero deductible policy for windshields, like I do in my state. You can request the OEM glass but must pay the difference out of pocket.
Reply
2/12/2017 09:54:40 pm
Nice article, I really hate it when my windshield got broken and the place I visit they provided me so bad quality and I wish I could sue them, well I agree with you government should take some serious actions against them. I want to appreciate you for sharing :)
Reply
10/14/2019 08:54:38 pm
Dude! Awesome stuff. Please keep writing more things like this. I really like the fact you went so in depth on this and really explored the topic as much as you did. I read a lot of blogs but usually, it's pretty shallow content. Thanks for upping the game here!
Reply
Jenny Jenkins
7/29/2020 12:16:19 pm
Wow! I found your content here very creative and helpful. Thank you so much. I also found some great content here. https://conservationconstructionofhouston.com/ I will keep checking back for more great content. Very happy to read this.
Reply
4/25/2023 04:04:36 pm
Really Excellent written article for sure. Really an impressive article, keep up the good work. Thank you so much for sharing.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLoneStar Windshield Archives
September 2015
Categories
All
|