Why Automakers Switched to Bonded Windshields Instead of Gaskets – Jalopnik

Safety has been a hot topic since the first cars began chugging along America’s roads. The first windshields were little more than a standard residential window pane, which protected occupants from things like dust and wind, but had a fatal flaw: the potential to shatter into large pieces during a crash, threatening serious injury to the car’s occupants. The invention of laminated glass has helped reduce injuries from broken windshields, which now crack on impact but do not shatter like modern car side windows that use tempered glass and shatter into glass pebbles.

In the early 1960s, automakers focused on a different problem during collisions: preventing car occupants from exiting the vehicle through the windshield. The windshield glass continued to improve, but the statistics did not. That is why the companies investigated whether the way the windscreen was mounted made a difference.

Between the 1940s and 1960s, outfits like Fisher Body used a rubber gasket to hold the glass to the vehicle. Some studies found that gluing the windshield to the car had no more or less effect on preventing passenger ejection, although it was cheaper, which was attractive in itself. However, a few decades and advances in adhesives later, “A Review of Windshield Glazing and Installation Methods for Passenger Vehicles,” by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationshowed that during a crash, the gluing method reduces by half the number of incidents involving both the windshield becoming loose and a passenger passing through it.

For example, many passenger side airbags would not point at the correct angle after deployment without some necessary support from the windshield. Without the help of a serious tire, the glass could become loose, rendering at least one of the front airbags ineffective. This structural feature also comes into play if the vehicle rolls over, allowing the roof to maintain its shape even when the weight of the vehicle presses down on it.

According to AmeriPro Auto Glassa glass installation company in Jacksonville, Florida, bonded adhesive must be able to withstand a tension of 500 to 1200 pounds per square inch before it breaks. Equally important, however, is a certain level of malleability, which allows the connection between glass and vehicle to bend when necessary. This is why proper curing is essential when purchasing a replacement windscreen. You can remove and replace a windscreen yourself. But even after you have the specialized tools and materials needed for the job, it can be challenging and may be better left to the professionals.