[Shyahsmiles]

So, yesterday, my rear window of my 2016 HR-V EX-L shattered. Just kind of exploded from the inside out. This happened while it was sitting in my driveway, broad daylight, temp in the mid 80's, nobody around, we were all inside the house. We have a long driveway, so no chance of something being thrown from the road.

My daughter and I had taken it out shopping earlier in the day, came home, was inside for several hours when my daughter realized a bag had been left in the car. She went outside, facing the front of the car and heard a loud pop. She didn't know what it was, yet looked around the yard. When she saw nothing, she proceeded to get her bag and when she closed the front passenger door, she heard glass fall. She went to the back of the car to see what was going on and found that the entire rear windshield had shattered and had a hole at the top, just under the visor.

The odd thing was...the glass appeared to be curled outward, like something from the inside broke it. Unfortunately, my husband opened the hatch before snapping pics, but even with what glass is still intact, it the pieces are stacked from from the inside out. I know that the Odyssey had issues with the rear windshields spontaneously shattering, anyone else heard of this on the HR-V?

I have no other problems with my HR-V. I love it to death! Except the headrests...I hate those! That's an easy fix though, I simply remove it while I'm driving!

 

[Ein]

You know what they say about "picture worth a thousand words".

No report of broken rear windshield here, except for yours.

 

[Selden]

These things happen, but as Einz writes, yours is the first reported here. Usually it takes a flaw of the glass, and the car sitting in high temperatures, followed by some precipitating event, such as water hitting the hot glass. The flaw could have been present at time of manufacture, or it could be cause by something like a flying rock, even though the explosion happens later.

See: EXPLODING Glass in Your Car: It’s a Mystery……

For an eyeful, Google for: exploding rear window

 

[Phalkon30]

It's good to get reports though (evidence or not), as trends have to start somewhere

Did you talk to your dealership about it? Curious if they'd consider warranty on something like that.

 

[lbhonda]

Photos would be nice to see the damage.

It's possible that the windshield had a defect, maybe a small crack or air bubble that caused it to pop. It's pretty rare but can happen.

Just FYI, removing the headrests while driving is unsafe due to the possibility of whiplash in an accident. I still see a lot of people doing it though. :|

 

[alleyrn]

This happened to me and I just bought my 2016 HRV!! Ive had it about a month...was driving on the highway with my grand daughter in the back seat and all of the sudden the back window driver side passenger shattered to piece. Im beside myself

 

[Snowball]

Chances are, the window was indeed hit by something. Tempered glass is designed to shatter into a million pieces so that there are no sharp edges. As for it 'suddenly exploding', it was probably hit by something at some point which caused a stress in the glass. Over time, this stress will worsen and eventually erupt. Think about instances where the windshield is hit by a rock. It might start as a small chip, but will eventually start to spiderweb out even without anything additional hitting it. To help prevent your windows from shattering, get your windows tinted.

 

[greenhondahrv]

Sudden Shattered Glass

This just happened to me. I got in my car and closed the driver door and then I heard a strange noise. I looked in the rear mirror and the back window is completely shattered with holes and from the look of it, this is from the inside out and not something that came from the outside. I did immediately take pictures. Unfortunately, on a Saturday afternoon, nothing can be done until Monday. I am grateful that I was home when this happened and not on the road. I had just used the car the previous night and it was fine. This seems odd to me for a 2016 Honda. I had my previous car for 16 years and nothing like this ever happened and it was a Ford!

 

[Fearturtle44]

Bad luck for sure. Least you were not traveling at highway speeds. Good luck on fix.

 

[hrvdude]

This just happened to me. I got in my car and closed the driver door and then I heard a strange noise. I looked in the rear mirror and the back window is completely shattered with holes and from the look of it, this is from the inside out and not something that came from the outside. I did immediately take pictures. Unfortunately, on a Saturday afternoon, nothing can be done until Monday. I am grateful that I was home when this happened and not on the road. I had just used the car the previous night and it was fine. This seems odd to me for a 2016 Honda. I had my previous car for 16 years and nothing like this ever happened and it was a Ford!

It seems like this is a not so common issue for the HRV.Still alarming but not so common. I did some research earlier when I first saw the initial post and it would seem that few people have gone to the internet to complain. Its still an alarming thing to happen. Tempered glass is temperamental (lol get it). Environmental factors such as thermal stress to the glass being doodoo for the factory are all possible..it could even be that it was not installed correctly which is entirely possible .(all of the pictures I have seen looked like the glass cracked around the frame of the window) Tell us how it is received by the Honda dealer. It seems like its common for the liftback style and that crvs and pilots have this issue as well...Maybe you have a picture you can show us

 

[greenhondahrv]

Sudden Shattered Rear Window

This afternoon, I got in my 2016 HRV and closed the driver door. All of a sudden I heard a noise and I immediately looked in the rear view mirror. To my horror my rear window was completely shattered with holes. From the pictures you can see it appears to be shattered from the inside out (the glass is poking out). The car was sitting in the driveway and I had just used it the night before and I am in totally disbelief. I am grateful, I was at home and not out and about. My last car was a Ford that I had for 16 years and never had one problem, except for replacing old parts. Did not expect this from my Honda. I am going to call Honda. The dealership was of no help. Said something must have hit the car. There was nothing laying around. Has this happened to anyone?

 

[DONINAUSTIN]

This afternoon, I got in my 2016 HRV and closed the driver door. All of a sudden I heard a noise and I immediately looked in the rear view mirror. To my horror my rear window was completely shattered with holes. From the pictures you can see it appears to be shattered from the inside out (the glass is poking out). The car was sitting in the driveway and I had just used it the night before and I am in totally disbelief. I am grateful, I was at home and not out and about. My last car was a Ford that I had for 16 years and never had one problem, except for replacing old parts. Did not expect this from my Honda. I am going to call Honda. The dealership was of no help. Said something must have hit the car. There was nothing laying around. Has this happened to anyone?

I have known auto glass to shatter spontaneously before. Usually, though, its the windshield which cracks for no good reason other than, I assume, some kind of stress and conditions were just right to relieve stress with a big crack out of nowhere.

So that is a different kind of glass on the back and that is how it relieved its stress. I don't think that rear window is true "safety glass."

I don't think this is particularly a Honda problem, although my wife's Fit developed a spontaneous windshield crack.

At my shop we got yelled at for a Hyundai that was parked behind locked gates with an intact windshield and the next day it had a big crack with no plausible way anything could have hit it or any sign that it was hit.

Fecal matter occurs!

Don in Austin

Don in Austin

 

[H Hill]

I just woke up and found my back windshield of my 2017 HR-V with holes and cracks in it. I haven't driven the car in four days except to move it from the street to the driveway and it has been in the 80's for the past few days. I will try and attached photos below. I guess this is karma for not having to report for jury duty this morning and being way too happy about it.

 

[Dammit]

Could it be vandalism?

 

[H Hill]

Could it be vandalism?

I guess I can’t rule it out completely, but I doubt it. Usually they hit multiple cars and that wasn’t the case this time and we haven’t had any vandalism in last 12 years or so.

 

[Dammit]

One clue - is the broken glass on the inside, or outside? If the glass shards are inside, I'd say the force came exterior to the vehicle.

 

[H Hill]

One clue - is the broken glass on the inside, or outside? If the glass shards are inside, I'd say the force came exterior to the vehicle.

The glass chunks that are still attached were pushed outward not inward, but as I was covering the damage with a tarp chunks started to break off and fall through the holes and into the car.

 

[John35g]

IMO - looks like a golf ball hit it.

 

[Goobers]

I know glass can shatter from thermal shock, due to "sudden and rapid change in temperature."

Was there such a thing?

Googling also mentions that thermal shock would be easier on a previously damaged glass. Meaning, it could've been damaged by something else and the thermal shock was just enough for the damage to spread.

This reminds me of the oven when my sister owned a condo. For no apparent reason, the glass portion of the oven door just shattered into lots and lots of tiny pieces all over the floor.

 

[Dammit]

The picture on the right seems to show the glass pushed inward. If that is the case, and there were glass shards inside before you started, then it definitely indicates some sort of impact from outside.