Toyota FJ Cruiser windshield crack problems

Filed Aug 28, 2018 · Visibility · CA

Hello, I was sold a used vehicle by toyota dealership of downtown los angeles (ca) that has a broken windshield. They state they will not assist me in any way for a broken windshield. The windshield has multiple cracks and chips in it strewn across the windshield. It causes serious visual disturbance, especially at night since the chipped glass distorts lights and vehicles, almost blurs the view. Initially, I believed it was traces of tree sap, I made several attempts to remove this 'tree sap' spots, only to discover that they wouldn't go away because it's actually broken glass.

Filed Jul 9, 2015 · Body, Visibility · 122,440 miles · CA

Woke up and found my windshield cracked from the bottom driver's side corner to the middle of the windshield. Upon closer inspection, it appears that if it was caused by anything striking it, it was most likely a large bug. The suspected point of impact was not pitted and the grime at that point rubs away easily. I was told before buying this vehicle that the windshield has been replaced once already. Talking with other fj cruiser owners, I found out that cracked windshields on these vehicles are fairly common and it was suggested that I file a complaint here. Hopefully in the long run, something will be done about this recurring issue. Thank you for reading.

Filed Mar 18, 2015 · Body · 80,000 miles · MD

While driving at 25 MPH, I hit a relatively small pothole on the road. Immediately as the vehicle went down on one side, the windshield cracked, about 4 inches from the middle bottom up. There had not previously been any damage to the windshield and nothing hit the windshield during this incident. The following day, the entire windshield cracked entirely, from the left to the right. After being inspected by the toyota dealer, the windshield has to be entirely replaced at owners cost. The vehicle has never been off road, nor was this an accident or a major incident. The vehicle has never been in an accident. Toyota knows of the problem that due to the way the vehicle was manufactured, there is potential for the windshield to crack. I also sent a report to toyota informing them of this problem.

Filed Mar 6, 2015 · Body, Visibility · 80,000 miles · MD

I was driving approximately at 30 miles per hour, in a residential street, when suddenly I heard a noise and noted that the windshield developed a five inch crack, starting from the bottom center going up. A few days later, the crack moved significantly, to the left and right of the windshield moving to cover the entire windshield. There was no prior damage to the windshield, the vehicle has never been in an accident and it has never been taken off road. The crack seems to have developed due to pressure stress- a defect from manufacturing. There are numerous other reports from other owners of this type of vehicle with similar reports, often times, even after having the windshield replaced. This is a safety concern and manufacturing error.

Filed Sep 18, 2014 · Visibility · CO

Due to the steep vertical angle of the windshield and the placement of the defroster vent several inches back from the windshield, the windshield cannot be kept clear by the defroster. The airstream from the defroster does not hit the lower 1/3 of the windshield and the left hand driver side and no amount of air even at maximum temperature will keep the windshield from icing over. The wiper blades become encrusted with ice and fail to keep the windshield cleared. In even a modest snowstorm, visibility quickly drops to nearly zero. My wife nearly wrecked the vehicle because of this issue. In addition, due to the large thermal gradient across the windshield caused by this issue, the windshield cracks in a horizontal line extending across nearly the entire windshield at the location of the defroster airstream contact. This phenomenon has happened 2 times! I have talked to my local toyota dealer several times and they are in complete denial about the issue and claim "everything is working as designed". This is a fatal problem as the vehicle cannot be driven in a snowstorm and I would not be the slightest bit surprised if there have been accidents because of it. Using fmea (failure mode effects analysis) I would rate the probability of this failure occurring to be a 1 (guaranteed to happen) and effects are catastrophic (loss of operability).

Filed Oct 27, 2010 · Body · 3,100 miles · AZ

To whom it may concern: I am writing to bring to your attention an issue that I feel should be addressed by toyota due to the simple number of occurrences found in searches on the internet dating back to 2007. Vehicle: 2010 toyota model: fj cruiser windshield: unreasonable/premature cracking VIN #: [xxx] the angle at which the windshield is mounted is of grave concern to me, simply because of my recent experience 2 days ago. While driving to the gym I received 2 mere pebbles hitting my windshield, and immediately 2 cracks developed right in front of me. I am not talking about long running cracks, I am not even talking about the kind that spread like sun rays in all different directions. But I am merely saying that the marks on the outside of the windshield hardly even show an indention in the glass. And yet the cracks are deep in their single spots and as of yet they have not started to spread. I am not a tail gaiter, nor was I too close to the vehicle in from of me when this even took place. Considering the sound that it made when I heard it I simply cannot believe the amount of damage that has occurred. If you simply do a google search for "fj cruiser windshield issues/complaints" you will find a plethora of complaints/blogs/rants & raves about how this has happened from 2007 onwards and all complaints have seemingly fallen on deaf ears. Repairs range anywhere from around $500 - $1200 depending on where you go to replace it. And as far as I am concerned that after spending $38,000.00 on a vehicle this simply shouldn't happen. This is an issue that honda faced in certain year/model "honda elements". Not only was there issue complained about enough to get free replacements but it also spurred honda to totally re-design the windshield for the following years. Please do something about this issues as I am sorely disappointed. I do not feel as though I should come out of pocket for this repair nor that of my insurance company! Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of

Filed Apr 27, 2010 · Visibility · 79,000 miles · CA

Road debris during normal commute highway driving has resulted in multiple horizontal and vertical cracks in the windshield. I have replaced the windshield twice and the windshield recently cracked again. My company owns six 2007 fj cruisers and four of the vehicles windows cracked within the first four months of operation. Previous to the fj cruiser, I commuted along the same route in another vehicle for four years and did not sustain damage to the windshield.

Filed Feb 15, 2010 · Visibility · 56,000 miles · RI

Toyota fj cruiser windshield cracks and chips easily. We've had our fj for two years and are on our 4th windshield. The smallest bit of debris creates a chip and sometimes it seems to begin to crack at the drivers side for no reason. Dealer offers no solution except to charge $500 a pop to replace the windshield. This seems to be a widespread problem as it is mentioned on numerous web blogs and forums. Incident date below is arbitrary as we've been driving with a cracked windshield for quite a while b/c we simply can't afford to replace yet another windshield at this time.

Filed Dec 29, 2009 · Visibility · 1,000 miles · NV

Windshield cracked from possible cold weather condition.

Filed May 30, 2009 · Visibility · 38,100 miles · UT

The windshield has been cracked multiple times by normal road debris.