Crap despite my quick turn off of the defroster my window exploded

[Martin]

OK - this pisses me off in a big way. In another thread, I noted that I turned the rear defroster on for about ten seconds, I noticed some smoke, and then I turned it off. Nothing bad happened, so I just left it parked overnight.

This morning, I go out to move the car into a garage, and the window had exploded. Probably happened when the temperature dropped. This pisses me off... Now I need to get the dealer to somehow trailer the car, and with an ACR, I have no idea how they're going to pull that one off.

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[Steve M]

[Steve-Indy]

Damn...really sorry to hear that !!

There may be another way to go about this...as I have helped one of my members who had a peculiar Gen V hatch issue. Give me a call if you like at 317 402 9013.

What a pain in the Asp at this point in time !!

[Martin]

Thanks Steve - it's still under warranty, and I'm friends with the owner of the dealership, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll fix it. For now, I'm using automotive painter's tape and some visqueen to keep the humidity out, and hopefully they can find a way to flat bed the thing into town without screwing up the underside.

When I saw that puff of smoke yesterday, I had an "oh shit" moment, but when it stopped, and I sat in the car with the heater and A/C running for about 15 minutes, I figured it was fine. Then this morning, when I looked at the car from inside the house, the rear window looked like it was fogged over. So, I went out and then had a "oh massive shit" moment. I tried to open the hatch to line the inside so that glass didn't get everywhere, but the moment the unlock button activated, the whole thing imploded. I guess that's a job for the service department to clean up.

How they managed to let this design flaw go without notifying EVERYONE to have it checked out is beyond me. This is one of the very last '17 cars to go off the assembly line, and the TSB seems to only apply to earlier cars. But, clearly, it's not fixed for everyone.

If anyone has a Gen V, either pull that #20 fuse or demand that the dealer check out the clearance. In the five years or so that I've owned this car, I've never used the defroster. Probably because I never drive it in cold weather. But, with the weird horn chirping issue I was noticing, I figured driving it around and getting it fully heated up was a good idea. The downside was that the rear window needed defrosting - and then it goes boom.

At least it's under warranty. We'll see if anyone has a rear window in stock. While it's in there, I have a list of other small issues that need to get fixed, so maybe this isn't the end of the world. I hate going to the dealer, but when things like this happen, they've got to give me some slack regarding keeping the car indoors, etc.

[Policy Limits]

Disgraceful

[Hawk]

That's bullshit. I pulled the fuse from mine the day I got it however that shouldn’t be the solution

[ViperTony]

There are a couple of TSB's about this, I believe this is the most recent: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...17503-9999.pdf

[Martin]

Here's something that I found that is really annoying. Right where the problem was, I found the inspection sticker that should have had someone sign off on it passing inspection. The sticker is blank, except for someone who basically signed that things were installed. For a car like this, I'd think quality control would be a bit better. If they leave me out in the cold on this one, I'm going to be super pissed.

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[Martin]

At least I have it all wrapped up in visqueen and painter's tape. If they can't come and pick it up before the next rains hit, I'll stick it back in the garage. We've got more rain headed our way in a week or so, and I need this car to be in a safe location. When it was a $150k car, I wasn't too stressed. But now that it's a $300k car, I'm definitely stressed.

Pisses me off that a car like this, which is going for as much as a house when I grew up, would have weird problems that just haven't been fixed. I kind of miss the Daimler Chrysler days. Back then, quality was a priority - even if their management and their design teams were less than optimal.

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[Steve-Indy]

The real question is whether your dealership has a qualified, Viper-experienced, caring tech who is capable of doing the job.

If not, I would consider sending the whole hatch to Prefix on Chrysler's dime. And, yes...it has been done!!

[ACRSNK]

Sorry this happened. I second the Prefix solution if you can get them to cover it. I’d rather give them the hatch than the whole car. No telling what could happen to the car while sitting at a dealership. Glass is easy to replace. Stryker Purple paint….not so much.

P.S. you car is worth more than $300K. You have one of the best ACR’s out there.

[quickster2]

Here's something that I found that is really annoying. Right where the problem was, I found the inspection sticker that should have had someone sign off on it passing inspection. The sticker is blank, except for someone who basically signed that things were installed. For a car like this, I'd think quality control would be a bit better. If they leave me out in the cold on this one, I'm going to be super pissed.

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That "sticker" is from the supplier of the part. Not all parts would go through all 3 inspections FYI. Looks like that part was subjected to the hand applied gauge quality check. 1st pieces of the run would typically get checked with the Faro Arm. Incoming inspection would typically be performed based on SPC or randomly. Good luck with the window. When they replace it make sure the TSB's are performed accordingly.

[mikesax]

That really EFFIN sucks! I hope your new rear glass goes in quickly and correctly! I have yet to turn my rear defroster on - on all the 5 GEN V's I've owned! I thought the "issue" had been worked out with the later years-guess not 100%! Never trusted the problem was 100% fixed anyways-guess i was right!
It took me about 5 -6 weeks to find a used pressurized bottle for my 15-finally got a 2009 that fit-they only changed the part number-not the part! Hopefully there is a rear glass in the supply chain- the lack of parts 5 years after production ended
in the supply chain is abhorrent! My warranty was worthless when it came to finding a part that didn't exist- BEST OF LUCK!

[ViperGarageElite]

Sorry for such a BS problem but much appreciate the advice on pulling the damn fuse. Good luck

[VENOM-TA]

Where is this fuse #20 located, does this issue include the 2013-2014 Vipers?

[Steve-Indy]

Power Distribution Center (PDC) under the hood. Cross reference the fuse listing in your Owners Manual with the numbers embossed into the PDC cover.. It is a pink, 30 amp "box" fuse in slot #20. And, yes...this applies to 2013-14 Vipers. I know of more than one Launch Edition with blown rear glass...some owners of which did not know about the problem until they found shattered glass bits in the battery area. I remember being told that some dealers chose NOT to test the defrost switch for fear of blowing the glass...and being stuck with the car for an extended period of time.

[Martin]

I'd love to know what the root cause was. All I can say is that for the first time in this car's life, I turned on the rear defroster and after about ten seconds, I could see smoke billowing out on the driver's side. I immediately turned off the defroster, and thought I had averted disaster. I locked the car up, went inside my house, and the next morning I saw what looked like condensation in the rear window. Condensation bothers me (it's been super humid up here since the big storms hit - and the temperature swings wildly from 60s during the day to 30s at night) so I was going to run the A/C on hot for a half hour to make sure the car is totally dry. Then, when I took a look, the entire window had shattered.

[pMak26]

Root cause was documented somewhere but basically the wire shorts, leaving the defroster on no matter what you do to the defroster button - heating the glass to high enough temps that it shatters, or shatters when it encounters cooler air. You get the idea.

[Lawineer]

I'd love to know what the root cause was. All I can say is that for the first time in this car's life, I turned on the rear defroster and after about ten seconds, I could see smoke billowing out on the driver's side. I immediately turned off the defroster, and thought I had averted disaster. I locked the car up, went inside my house, and the next morning I saw what looked like condensation in the rear window. Condensation bothers me (it's been super humid up here since the big storms hit - and the temperature swings wildly from 60s during the day to 30s at night) so I was going to run the A/C on hot for a half hour to make sure the car is totally dry. Then, when I took a look, the entire window had shattered.

It gets too hot.

[Martin]

Root cause was documented somewhere but basically the wire shorts, leaving the defroster on no matter what you do to the defroster button - heating the glass to high enough temps that it shatters, or shatters when it encounters cooler air. You get the idea.

That seems to be exactly what happened to mine. The one difference is that when I turned the defroster off, the smoke stopped pouring out of the rear headliner. I figured it was OK until, as you mentioned, it got colder outside and the thing just gave up the ghost.

Dealer is looking for a window, and hopefully he can get either one of his guys, or an external company to come to my place to install it. I still need to get the TSB done, but because we had some horrible storms up here (road is still washed out in places, mud and rocks everywhere) I don't want to drive down to the dealership until the weather is a bit better.

That said, there's a good chance that a window won't be found for a few months. Ironically, I had just ordered a Car Capsule, so I can put the car in there while waiting. JonB also recommended a temporary window film that is rain proof and won't blow off like my janky visqueen and painter's tape job will likely do.

Hopefully everyone pulls that fuse just in case. This happened so fast that it really surprised me. Just think if someone was on a road trip (say to NVE5), they press the defroster, and BOOM - the window explodes. That would suck so bad that I can't even imagine how mad I'd be.

[Steve-Indy]

Martin, if you want a copy of the TSB as written for the 2013 Vipers, text your email to me. If not...no worries...as "the cat is already out of the bag" so to speak.

P.S. Actually, here is a better thread that contains an updated TSB for 2015-2017. Look for the post by ViperSRT for that link.

https://driveviper.com/forums/thread...Glass-Exploded

[Martin]

Martin, if you want a copy of the TSB as written for the 2013 Vipers, text your email to me. If not...no worries...as "the cat is already out of the bag" so to speak.

Thanks Steve, the most recent TSB is hopefully going to be good enough. Strangely, it only applies to 2016 and 2017 ACR, ACR-E, and TA 2.0 cars. JonB mentioned that the downforce from the rear wing might be enough over time to squish the electrical connectors into the carbon fiber. Fortunately, it's under warranty, the TSB applies (so no co-pay on my MaxCare) and the dealer is going to see if he can get someone to come out to my place to do the install so that I don't need to deal with driving into town while mudslides and rock slides are still happening around here.

[Bruce H.]

The problem was some hatches didn't have enough space where the wires exited the frame to attach to the heater wires on the glass. Carbon fiber surround shorted the wires and shattered the glass. Solution was to ensure enough gap so the wires wouldn't be shorted, not to pull the fuse and leave the potential for it to happen to the next owner that wanted to use it

[finalleaf]

Thanks Steve, the most recent TSB is hopefully going to be good enough. Strangely, it only applies to 2016 and 2017 ACR, ACR-E, and TA 2.0 cars. JonB mentioned that the downforce from the rear wing might be enough over time to squish the electrical connectors into the carbon fiber. Fortunately, it's under warranty, the TSB applies (so no co-pay on my MaxCare) and the dealer is going to see if he can get someone to come out to my place to do the install so that I don't need to deal with driving into town while mudslides and rock slides are still happening around here.

curious, which dealer are you going with? I also have maxcare in CA and was wondering where I should be going

[Sniper]

Just pullled my #20 fuse