NHTSA complaint #11450546

Owner complaint summary

This incident happened to me yesterday afternoon around 3pm in Syracuse. The rear heated/slider window exploded when driving causing glass to shatter outward from the cabin. I pressed the breaks when I heard the explosion and was fortunate no one was in front because there was ice on the road. Shattered glass was propelled outward but no vehicles were behind me, i was doing 50 on a 55, weather conditions were not great: 20 degrees and snowing pretty bad. I called the a dealership in Syracuse and they said they don't provide warranty to glass and to call the insurance. The insurance referred me to a shop in Syracuse (Safelite). The shop took me in and covered the area with a plastic wrap and told me that the glass won't get in unit l 5 days due to glass shortage. They also said they had a Chevrolet Silverado and a Ford F150 with the same issue during this week. They mentioned that all of them had one thing in common; rear defrost/heated, motorized slider window. The shop suggest to only use the defrost for a short period of time. That if the rear defrost stays on a prolong time it could heat the glass to extreme temperatures causing this scenario. I was never briefed on this procedure nor does my user manual i dictate such thing. Upon checking online I noticed that this has happened a lot, not only the rear window but the sunroof as well (no defrost option). I worry about glass particles falling into body parts of the passengers or potential debris hitting other cars behind you . I have an appointment for Wednesday to get the rear window replaced in a Safelite shop in zip code area 20678 and have to pay a deductible of $250.00 for something that I was not negligence. I think these are manufacturing defects, nothing hit the glass and scared the heck out of me. I'm lucky I didn't collide with anyone when I slammed the breaks.