The windshield of a vehicle provides a great amount of strength to the structural support in the cabin of the vehicle. If you are in a front-end collision, the windshield is providing you with 45 percent of the vehicle’s structural strength, keeping you safe within the vehicle. If you happen to get into a collision and your vehicle rolls over, your windshield is now providing you will up to 60 percent of the vehicles structural strength.
The windshield is one of the biggest safety restraint systems in your vehicle. It keeps the rood from crushing you during a roll over, and it allows the airbags to deploy in the correct position to cushion the passengers. Windshields also provide a safety net to keep you and your family inside the vehicle during any accident, so having the windshield installed properly is extremely important.
Let’s go over a little further how the windshield helps to aid all the different components in your vehicle.
1. Your windshield is a “backstop” for your passenger side airbags; the passenger side airbag deploys upward and bounces off the windshield to protect the passenger from going head first into the glass during a crash. The airbags deploy at a speed of 150 - 200 mph. If your windshield is cracked, its strength to withstand this force of the airbags has now decreased immensely and could cause the airbags to be deformed and not deploy properly. Accidents like this, with a cracked windshield could easily result in a major injury for the passenger.
2. During a rollover, the windshield is providing up to 60 percent of the strength that is needed to keep your roof from falling. In other words, it is absorbing the force of the collision, instead of you absorbing it. The windshield was specially designed to keep the roof from crushing you, as well as keep the bugs off your face! A cracked windshield does not only affect your airbags, but during the rollover collision, it doesn’t hold the strength that a properly installed, crack-free windshield would.
Your windshield is an important barrier that keeps you in the car. If you don’t have your windshield replaced correctly, your windshield will likely fail during a collision.
According to independent testing, over 70 percent of the windshields in the United States are replaced incorrectly. It is important that a company replaces your windshield uses only original equipment quality parts, original equipment quality urethane, and a properly trained, certified specialists.
Do you have a cracked or chipped windshield? Your Dallas windshield repair and replacement specialists follow the Auto Glass Safety Council (AGSC) guidelines to ensure that your windshield is properly installed. Call Glass Doctor of Dallas Metroplex to schedule your appointment.