Check with your insurance agent. Comprehensive is typically cheap (compared to collision) it costs very little to go with a $0 or very low deductible on Comprehensive which is the coverage that handles broken windshields.

 

I spoke w/ my insurance agent this morning...my insurance does cover glass breakage, at a lower deductible than body damage. Now I'm waiting on a call from the shop to confirm my appt.

I parked next to a Prius this morning...maybe some hybrid good karma will keep the crack from spreading in the meantime!

 

jpsangel — Just make sure to get the correct sound-absorbing windshield glass fitted. Search for the thread in this Newsgroup that covered this topic. Many glass repair companies are replacing the OEM windshield with regular (much cheaper and presumably less quiet) glass.

Stan

 

Probably less prone to cracking too.

 

You can add mine to the list.

About a month ago, we were driving about 45MPH and heard a loud sound; there was about a 8" crack on the windshield from the outer edge in. Over the past month it has grown to over 1/2 way across the windshield. There is a very small chip. But in 20 years of driving I've only had one small crack in a windshield (that stayed small without even repairing it), and have the Camry Hybrid for less than a year, one of the first 12,000 TCH's produced with a new windshield; I've been wondering if there may be a design flaw.

In Toyota's defense, though, the small chip was about 1" away from the edge of the windshield, where the stress is the greatest.

Thanks, though, to the person who mentioned lower/no deductibles in some states -- I have a $500 comprehensive deductible, and thought I'd have to pay that. But Massachusetts has a $0 deductible for windshields despite the normal comprehensive deductible (or a $100 windshield deductible, if you choose it).
-Scott

 

Not sure if it's nationwide, but for safety reason at least my insurance will cover glass 100%, even with $500 deductible. It is not safe to drive with cracked windshield for sure and some people would do it to save money, therefore the rule at least in NY state. It's really all about luck, I had my windshield broken about 6 months into owning my previous car and had at least 3 stone hits before my TCH was 1 month old, with at least 2 visible chips in the glass but so far no cracks. Maybe it was my very defensive driving during break in period of brand new TCH, that made my car a magnet for all the rocks , but construction along stretch of the highway next to my home exit with tons of gravel, sand and little stones all over didn't help either. One thing I do on regular basis now is to look out for trucks, especially those construction trucks, they can literally shower the highway with little gravel especially on the bumps and driving anywhere near such truck is like asking for broken windshield.

 

I ended up having my windshield replaced (see above), the glass shop had to get my VIN as they were ordering through a Toyota dealership...I had hoped that meant I would definitely get the sound-absorbing windshield. I don't think I did (of course the installer kept insisting there wasn't a different kind of windshield for the hybrid). I was aware of slightly more noise for the first couple of days, but nothing dramatic. Of course, I could have just been more aware of it under the circumstances.

Also a heads-up about OEM replacements...the first glass shop I tried to use was one the dealership recommended. First they (surprise!) told me the hybrid windshield was no different from the regular Camry's. Then they tried to sell me a windshield that (according to them) wouldn't support the auto-dimming and compass in the rear-view mirror. I thought those components/wiring ran through the actual mirror itself, and had nothing to do with the windshield, but this is what they kept telling me. The final straw was when the very condescending rep couldn't be bothered to call my insurance company back...I ended up going through a shop the insurance recommended, and it was taken care of right away.

 

You guys/gals can count me in on this...not sure when my TCH windshield got a chip/crack but it's been there for probably 1 1/2 to 2 months now....not sure how it got there...but it sure does sux....

I'll wait til it starts cracking across the windsheild before I replace it...

 

When I got mine replaced, initially they claimed it just got the normal Camry windshield, but when I pushed, said I knew for a fact that it had a special windshield, and gave them a part number for something listed here, they were willing to look into it, and actually called me back to find out if my windshield had the Toyota logo, just the name Toyota, or neither. I went out, looked, told them the name only, and that it said Lamisafe (if I remember right), and they took it all down because they wanted to be absolutely sure they got the exact windshield that I had. When I went in to get the replacement (it took them about a week to get it in), they let me double check the new one vs the one in my car to verify they were apparently identical, and I was pretty happy over all with the result. But if I hadn't read this discussion and had that part # I don't know what I would have ended up with....

 

If you have it handy,,,,,would you mind posting that part number for the hybrid windshield? thanx.