Well with the statement, 'glass isn't covered under warranty', I assumed they meant that even if they admitted it was a defect... They still don't cover glass under warranty.

I'd say class action lawsuit just because they have attorneys on retainer doesn't mean they will always win. There has to be enough people now to atleast get the publics attention.

 

I would assume, that the issue here is not the actual glass, but the defroster getting way too hot too quickly! So I would assume, yes I know, that any damage done by a defective part would be covered.


For instance, they have/had the recall for bad part in cruise control that was causing fire. I am sure they have paid big time for all of the damage done by that one defective part.

 

That's my thought! But let me change the variables. Let's say that it's junk glass, there is no defroster and nothing hit it at all, would it be replaced under warranty? In other words, if they get a ton of crap glass from China and customers keep having shattered glass would it be considered a defective product covered under warranty? Obviously either the glass is garbage and/or the defroster is too hot. But that shouldn't matter, the glass is shattered and nothing hit it, like a baseball, golf ball, hail...

 

As a consumer, I would expect it to be since its not considered "wear and tear" item.

 

i haven't read the warranty info (which I admit I should) ... but that is relatively irrelevant to what I'm about to say.

What all of this comes down to is what's written into the warranty, and HOW it is written/stated. Regardless of whether or not we all think glass shoulda/woulda/coulda been covered as a warranty item - excluding wear/tear or breakage not due to a mfg defect - it's either covered because the warranty says it is, or at least does not exclude it from coverage ... or it's NOT covered because they exclude it or don't have it on the list of "covered" items (again, this goes back to how the warranty is written - meaning I dont know if they list all items that are covered, and don't cover anything not explicitly listed ... or if they say "this covers everything except the following" and then go on to list the excluded items)...

all that said ... I still find it hard to believe (even though it's been shown here many times) that shattered rear glass on units with a defroster on them are not covered. At some point, Ford has to have become aware that the defroster is causing problems. Unless there have been just as many cases (give or take a few) where the glass on non-defroster equipped units have shattered the same way ... then you can pretty easily see that the defroster is a common link, if not THE cause.

if equal numbers of defroster-equipped and non-defroster-equipped have shattered ... that still leaves the question of the quality of the glass. Barring extreme frame/body twisting and/or shock to the truck, the glass should definitely not shatter.

Unfortunately, it seems Ford has written their warranty on these trucks where glass is not covered, or at least written it well enough into the warranty that they are more than prepared to defend that position.

I dont live in a really cold environment, and haven't had to use my rear defroster yet. I admit as well I dont plan on using it because I don't want to risk it. I feel bad for those of you who need this feature and can't use it w/out fear of your rear window exploding out of nowhere.

 

There have been times lately when I could have used mine, but don't dare to.


There are so many different ways glass could/can break, and that could explain their general "not covered" position.


I can see it now, the drunk locks his keys in the truck, breaks the window and calls ford the next day for warranty repair!

 

I personally believe that the glass breakage exclusion in the warranty language was something put in there as an out for certain cases.

In my case the glass was replaced. The vehicle was well out of the factory warranty, but was under a Ford extended warranty.

My SM told me that there is a specific pattern that Ford is looking for and they make dealers jump through some hoops to prove that the glass broke as a result of the defroster. My SM wasn't specific, but from what I have been able to tell, the "flash point" for lack of a better term, or where the "short" occurs is in the lower left hand corner of the rear glass (passenger side of the three rear panes). The tell tale signs are the melted exterior trim around the glass and the pattern of the broken glass spreading out from that point (see pictures I posted earlier in this thread).

As I said, mine was covered fully (minus my $100 deductible). I drove the vehicle quite a bit in yesterday's snowstorm and had the rear defrosters on throughout the drive with no incident.

My guess is that some dealers are hiding behind the wording in the warranty and not taking that extra step to present the case to Ford.

Edit ****

here is the link to my post with pictures for reference.

https://www.f150forum.com/f38/explod...9/#post3887705

 

Did he indicate any thing different in the replacement?

 

All he said is that they haven't had any issues with people who have had the replacement.

To me that means either a redesign or installation modification.