147 Rear Hatch Glass
 

Hi All

The rear screen of my 2002 147 seems to have spontaneously shattered some
time today! On closer inspection is appears to have broken from the inside
out, rather than had something thrown/banged against it from the outside.

As no replacement glass is available locally the car's going to spend the
night at Autoglass so it can be securely locked in their workshop, at the
insistence of my insurance company(which seems reasonable).

Has anybody else had this problem with their 147?

Regards
Ross

In alt.autos.alfa-romeo,
Ross > wrote:
>Hi All
>
>The rear screen of my 2002 147 seems to have spontaneously shattered some
>time today! On closer inspection is appears to have broken from the inside
>out, rather than had something thrown/banged against it from the outside.
>
....
>Has anybody else had this problem with their 147?

I don't have 147, but a while ago I saw a dutch consumer TV program
which had numerous complaints like this on another make of car (I don't
remember wich). The rear windows shattered spontaneously. I think it
was due to a construction fault which put too much stress on the window.
Maybe you can check with a consumer oranization or report it to them to
see if there are more cases or if you have just an unlucky isolated case.


--
Stef (remove caps, dashes and .invalid from e-mail address to reply by mail)

Scientists are people who build the Brooklyn Bridge and then buy it.
-- William Buckley

Stef wrote:
> In alt.autos.alfa-romeo,
> Ross > wrote:
>
>>Hi All
>>
>>The rear screen of my 2002 147 seems to have spontaneously shattered some
>>time today! On closer inspection is appears to have broken from the inside
>>out, rather than had something thrown/banged against it from the outside.
>>
>
> ...
>
>>Has anybody else had this problem with their 147?
>
>
> I don't have 147, but a while ago I saw a dutch consumer TV program
> which had numerous complaints like this on another make of car (I don't
> remember wich). The rear windows shattered spontaneously. I think it
> was due to a construction fault which put too much stress on the window.
> Maybe you can check with a consumer oranization or report it to them to
> see if there are more cases or if you have just an unlucky isolated case.
>
>
Early Smart cars had this problem, I think it was caused by the pattern
of the heater element causing excess heat in one area. They solved it by
changing the pattern of the element.

I've not heard of this on an Alfa before so maybe a different cause. Did
you have the rear window demister on?

R E O Sportwagon

"R E O Sportwagon" > wrote in message
...
> Early Smart cars had this problem, I think it was caused by the pattern
> of the heater element causing excess heat in one area. They solved it by
> changing the pattern of the element.
>
> I've not heard of this on an Alfa before so maybe a different cause. Did
> you have the rear window demister on?
>

No, the car was parked outside my house. I don't know how long after last
using the car the glass broke, unfortunately, as that may have given a clue.
It was parked in a quiet residential 'hammer head' so I think it's unlikely
that a stone could have been thrown up by a passing car with enough force to
break the glass, and it looked as if it had broken outwards anyway.

Oh well, just one of those things, I guess!

Regards
Ross

"Stef" > wrote in message
...
> I don't have 147, but a while ago I saw a dutch consumer TV program
> which had numerous complaints like this on another make of car (I don't
> remember wich). The rear windows shattered spontaneously. I think it
> was due to a construction fault which put too much stress on the window.
> Maybe you can check with a consumer oranization or report it to them to
> see if there are more cases or if you have just an unlucky isolated case.
>

I checked with my local dealer, Northgate at Canterbury, and the service
manager didn't know of any other problems with the rear screen.

The glass repair company say it's unusual but not unheard of, but something
could have happened to the glass previously that created tension in it and
then something minor caused it to break.....looks like it'll remain a
mystery!

Regards
Ross

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 10:52:27 -0000, "Ross"
>, wrote:

>No, the car was parked outside my house. I don't know how long after last
>using the car the glass broke, unfortunately, as that may have given a clue.
>It was parked in a quiet residential 'hammer head' so I think it's unlikely
>that a stone could have been thrown up by a passing car with enough force to
>break the glass, and it looked as if it had broken outwards anyway.
>
>Oh well, just one of those things, I guess!
Or it could have been the same youth with catapult that mysteriously broke
the sealed glazing unit in the window of my dad's house!
That lad gets about all over the place these days. They call it fun :-(

Pete
--
>
156 2.0 TS (2001) - Proteo Rosso (his)
147 2.0 TS (2002) - Gem Green (her's)

"Pete" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 10:52:27 -0000, "Ross"
> >, wrote:
>
> >It was parked in a quiet residential 'hammer head' so I think it's
unlikely
> >that a stone could have been thrown up by a passing car with enough force
to
> >break the glass, and it looked as if it had broken outwards anyway.
> >
> >Oh well, just one of those things, I guess!

> Or it could have been the same youth with catapult that mysteriously broke
> the sealed glazing unit in the window of my dad's house!
> That lad gets about all over the place these days. They call it fun :-(
>

Sounds a delightful creature! Hopefully the little.....<insert favourite
expletive!> will get his just deserts one day.

That type of thing was my first thought but we've not had that sort of
problem in the area before and the damage didn't look right for that either.

Regards
Ross

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 16:03:15 -0000, "Ross"
>, wrote:


>Sounds a delightful creature! Hopefully the little.....<insert favourite
>expletive!> will get his just deserts one day.
Kama will catch up with him even if the Law doesn't.

>That type of thing was my first thought but we've not had that sort of
>problem in the area before and the damage didn't look right for that either.
>
Aliens ?
Pete
--
>
156 2.0 TS (2001) - Proteo Rosso (his)
147 2.0 TS (2002) - Gem Green (her's)

"Ross" > wrote in message
...
> Hi All
>
> The rear screen of my 2002 147 seems to have spontaneously shattered some
> time today! On closer inspection is appears to have broken from the inside
> out, rather than had something thrown/banged against it from the outside.
>
> As no replacement glass is available locally the car's going to spend the
> night at Autoglass so it can be securely locked in their workshop, at the
> insistence of my insurance company(which seems reasonable).
>
> Has anybody else had this problem with their 147?
>
> Regards
> Ross
>
> The rear screen of my 2001 147 also broke just about a year ago. I
initially put this down to a passing vehicle or flying debris as I was
parked next to a construction site at the time (and of course no one saw
anything). However there was no obvious sign of an impact. I just put it
down to hit and run and coughed up for the cost of a new screen.
Though having read your post I'm not so sure now.

Regards

Alasdair

"Juan Tanameara" > wrote in message
.. .

> The rear screen of my 2001 147 also broke just about a year ago. I
> initially put this down to a passing vehicle or flying debris as I was
> parked next to a construction site at the time (and of course no one saw
> anything). However there was no obvious sign of an impact. I just put it
> down to hit and run and coughed up for the cost of a new screen.
> Though having read your post I'm not so sure now.
>

Oh well, at least I'm not the only one with this mystery! Was your screen
covered on your insurance? Fortunately mine was but I still had to cough-up
£60 excess!

Regards
Ross