R1S windshield is a magnet for rocks

[azbill]

Is it me or does the R1S windshield attract rock chips and cracks?!?
I have gotten 3 in the last 3 months and they spread immediately.
Now I do live in CO mtns with lots of snow but in the last 20 years i have only gotten about 3 chip/cracks in all of my other vehicles.
Aerodynamics???or bad luck???

I would not call it a magnet, not more than my other vehicles. My Mach E had 3 chips, that I repaired, then a fourth one near the edge caused a big crack. Just had it replaced. A couple of weeks ago took a hit on the Rivian, and it immediately started a 10-12 inch crack, before I even got home. I agree they are fragile, compared to other windshields. Normally if I get a star in the windshield I have time to fill it in and prevent the crack, not so with the Rivian.

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[shap]

The easiest way to check how Rivian windshield holds against others is to check the forums. Some cars (like the Cadillac Lyriq) do not have a single message in the forum about windshield.

Rivian forum has many... The other interesting thing, is I checked the price of replacement for Lyriq - it is $650 including calibration ... Well, we can compare also to the BMW X5 - $2450...

 

[9527]

I agree. I’d say bad luck. 12 years driving the same commute with a few different cars and got maybe 3 rock chips. With the Rivian, got my first one with if a month of ownership. Repaired it. Got a second and much bigger one 4 months later. Too big to be repaired but repaired it anyway. Then it’s started chipping away and ruining the wiper. Finally got it replaced under insurance.

 

[Jimi]

Is it me or does the R1S windshield attract rock chips and cracks?!?
I have gotten 3 in the last 3 months and they spread immediately.
Now I do live in CO mtns with lots of snow but in the last 20 years i have only gotten about 3 chip/cracks in all of my other vehicles.
Aerodynamics???or bad luck???

Every SUV I have owned has been - lots of cracks and chips fixed!

 

[thair]

The Rivian glass is trash. I got a chip on my second drive after getting the windshield replaced from getting cracked. The insurance on these going forward is going to be astronomical.

 

[flush]

my windshield is also cracked from a tiny pebble, while driving behind a Hummer EV at 25mph. This crack has grown gradually into a 14+ inch curve over the past couple months, now i need to replace it.

are there options for a better / stronger glass replacement?

 

[jwanderson88]

I had mine a week when I got a huge dollar-sized crack. Of course I was very annoyed. You'd think something that hit your windshield hard enough to do that would be very loud, but I don't remember hearing anything unusual. I had it repaired immediately at a local glass place and it hasn't spread. I decided I'm just going to live with it for the time being. It will have to get a lot worse before I replace the windshield. This seems to be a common problem.

 

[agame32]

Every SUV I have owned has been - lots of cracks and chips fixed!

FWIW: My good buddy owns an auto glass shop and fixed my first starburst for me. I asked his opinion about Rivian glass quality and he said the upright windshield angle, similar to many trucks and SUVs, is usually the issue more so than differences in glass strength. He says that trucks and SUVs chip and crack more often than cars with more sloped windshields.

 

[agame32]

For my second rock chip I didn’t get up to my buddy fast enough and it spread all the way up and down. The idea of trying my own resin fill immediately sounds good and I just bought a kit. I saw my buddy fill my first chip and although I’m sure experience matters, it’s not rocket science and I curiously watched him fill mine.

 

[JamuJoe]

Is it me or does the R1S windshield attract rock chips and cracks?!?
I have gotten 3 in the last 3 months and they spread immediately.
Now I do live in CO mtns with lots of snow but in the last 20 years i have only gotten about 3 chip/cracks in all of my other vehicles.
Aerodynamics???or bad luck???

Well, this is my secnd extended roadtrip and second rock chip. Both on I-10, which I hate to drive at any rate. . The first was expertly fixed by Safelite, this one grew quickly to an unrepairable length..

 

[JeffR1S]

My wife has already had to replace the windshield from a rock chip. Didn't think much of it. Had the same thought - don't drive so close but then.... 3 months later...another one. This time I was with her; she was 7 car lengths from the closest vehicle, none of which were semi's. We were able to inject it this time. THEN the other day just 6 months later, got another one. Again, no tailgating, actually the RIS is my wife's baby and drives in a very "pedestrian" manner. In the past 15 years driving her XC70 and previously her Outback has never had a rock chip (kind of impressive actually). Same annual mileage. Asked our insurance agent if they could poke around and see if Rivian windshield claims are in line with the normal background rate for other brands. Interestingly, but definitely not scientific, said there seems to be a higher claim rate but only for the R1S, not the R1T, which seems weird since I would think the windshield is the same for both models. Could just be bad luck. Will be interesting to see if a trend appears once more and more Rivians hit the road and have a larger sample size.

 

[BeanEW]

I have always tried to fix a chip/crack as soon as possible and avoided driving the car before the fix. Try to avoid hot and cold (turning the heater or ac on) extreme temperature changes, or else the crack would extend faster. I just fixed one two days ago. When I get too many of them, I would let the crack extends bigger than a dollar bill size, and then claim insurance for replacement.

I like the disk kind... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYLG5SPV?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

and don't like the drone looking kind... https://www.amazon.com/Windshield-R...=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1

 

[Mobius1]

I think if you pour water on it, it will lose its magnetism ?

 

[Chaos]

Is it me or does the R1S windshield attract rock chips and cracks?!?
I have gotten 3 in the last 3 months and they spread immediately.
Now I do live in CO mtns with lots of snow but in the last 20 years i have only gotten about 3 chip/cracks in all of my other vehicles.
Aerodynamics???or bad luck???

I have three small rock chips on the driver's side of my R1S. I just returned from Safelite, which said these blemishes do not count as "chips" and are more deep scratches/gouges that they do not ordinarily repair. None have spread. I owned an X5 for ten years in the mid-Atlantic area and never experienced any rock damage to my windshield. The R1S issue seems to be more than just soft glass (although the windows seem thinner than my old X5...maybe a weight saving decision), as I heard one of the rocks hit and it was loud. I dunno, maybe a statistician would tell us this is all chance and we are imagining a problem, but I admit having the same thought about the possibility of an aerodynamics phenomenon.

 

[shap]

The windshield is definitely weak - I had a few rock chips, and they were very small rocks.
Had many of these when driving X5 and they left no sign on X5.

I asked my agent in Allstate to pull statistics - not sure if he can, but if yes I will share it here.

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