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Road trip gone bad; broken windshield, broken window regulator

nkyhunter

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my 2021 jeep has gorilla glass in it , ford should do the same for windows and front glass as well
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Busyboy19

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Iā€™m sorry. Call me an asshole but this whole thread was started by someone who doesnā€™t understand the nature of these beasts (wranglers included) as for the frameless side windows tons of car makers use it with little to no problem. All of my Subarus had them and I live in the NE so there was always tons of snow. Never had an issue with the seals but I did have to pay attention to helping to keep them clean of snow and ice. As for the indexing window there are lots of cars operating in inclement weather that have them. Yes it requires some forethought when you own them but I think the benefit far outweighs the draw backs. All the people that add ā€œIā€™ve owned lots of other cars that never did ā€¦ā€¦..ā€ almost 100% of the time never owned a wrangler or have had any real experience with them. This is the vehicles biggest problem is people bought them and have no idea that there could possibly be compromises with a truck that the doors and top come off of.

I had the EXACT same scenario the op talked about just last night. Heavy rain followed by heavy snow (6 inches) and I had to leave in a hurry this morning so I remote started the car and started clearing the snow. I paid very close attention to the bottom window seals pressing slightly in on the glass while clearing the ice at the base of all windows and I had ZERO issues opening any of the doors. Windows indexed just fine. And btw it was 8 degrees without windchill.
Wanted to say Thanks to both you and original poster for the info. I to live in New England and have had multiple cars with indexing windows.
But, this weekend I have experienced a similar issue with my 2021 OBX. Passenger front and rear door windows will no longer index when door closes, causing an "Uh Oh" moment when you close the doors. These are the non-sun warming side of my vehicle when parked in driveway (cold enough to freeze to rubber with out any visible snow lately)
Results in a very awkward looking glass position when doors closes. 2-3 week wait at dealer for service.
I will let the service tech know it may have been attributed to the cold/freezing window.

Thanks again for both view points and info.
 

da_jokker

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Would applying some sort of silicone or something to the rubber seals prevent the windows from freezing to them?

It never gets that cold where I live so I've never had to learn any tricks. I do know enough to lift my windshield wipers off the window when I go up to the snow.
 

Bronco cat

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Wanted to say Thanks to both you and original poster for the info. I to live in New England and have had multiple cars with indexing windows.
But, this weekend I have experienced a similar issue with my 2021 OBX. Passenger front and rear door windows will no longer index when door closes, causing an "Uh Oh" moment when you close the doors. These are the non-sun warming side of my vehicle when parked in driveway (cold enough to freeze to rubber with out any visible snow lately)
Results in a very awkward looking glass position when doors closes. 2-3 week wait at dealer for service.
I will let the service tech know it may have been attributed to the cold/freezing window.

Thanks again for both view points and info.
Did you reindex the windows.
 

Theowlhoothoot

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Took our brand new Outer Banks for a trip to Colorado for some snowboarding. We left central Texas and all was well on the trip up. The Bronco run and drove like a champ. While at Vail, it snowed every morning then the sun would melt it during the afternoon. Refreezing would occur nightly. This is where the trouble started. One morning I went to the truck to get something and while opening the driverā€™s door the window indexes down. It was frozen and made a cracking sound. I figured it was the ice breaking. I closed the door and the window indexed up. All seamed normal. A few days later we drove to Denver and stopped and a drive through. I lowered the window and it sounded like the whole window shattered. Then it wouldnā€™t go back up. The glass was fine but the regulator was toast. It was snowing and 4 degrees and no window. We had to get back to Texas, so I got some plastic and tape and made a new window. We drove for 14 very loud hours. Upon getting home I noticed three cracks in the windshield. Looking closer, there was hundreds of pits with tiny cracks forming. I am guessing this is from the sand on the interstate. A quick google search revealed that the Bronco Sports and Rangers all have serious windshield problems. Also, some other owners are reporting broken window regulators when the temp gets below 15 degrees. This is totally unacceptable. The vehicle only has 2000 miles and it canā€™t even be used in the snow. That is what I bought it for. We are heartbroken that Ford would put this kind of crap on the market. This supposed to be a rough and tough vehicle.

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Assuming there are no impact points on the windshield this is an easy warranty fix.
 

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jdawg

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Indexing of the window seams like a really bad idea to me.
It's a design decision. Not a new concept and has been vetted on other cars. Makes the windows fitment tighter without the need for window rails. These are not the first convertibles to do this. Personally it was a major reason for me to go with the Bronco. The Bronco looks better than the jeep when the top is down.

So far so good on my BD and the indexing windows. Two Blizzards and an Ice storm. I do need to learn to clear ice from the base of the window before opening! That is going to take some getting used to.
 

jdawg

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These windows wouldn't be ideal up North I'd imagine. I've had them on my Mustang and Audi TT, but it wasn't really an issue down here (Southern VA). Those cars always stayed parked when we got the occasional snow/ ice.
Are rocks and debris different on the roads in the southern part of the States? ;)
 

jdawg

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My Bronco doesn't even exist yet, and now I have anxiety that it already has broken windows and a cracked windshield.
Don't stress. The cracks are no different that owning a wrangler.
 

dcg2

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I think the problem was the snow would melt in the daytime sun and freeze again at night. The melting snow would have water intrusion into the window channels and regulator which would freeze there. My service writer said the Super Duties have a recall for water intrusion. The water drips on the door release mechanism and freezes there. When pulling the interior door handle, the release breaks. So water intrusion can be a problem. He is working on my Bronco next week. I will report back on what exactly broke.
Melting snow? Temperatures fluctuating between freezing and no freezing? You people have insane expectations!

How could Ford engineers have anticipated these conditions... SMH!
 

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Seatmandan

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as for the frameless side windows tons of car makers use it with little to no problem.
This is a true statement. Started at Jaguar, and Ford lifted the tech when they owned them, and applied it to S197 Mustang Convertible. as you mentioned, other automakers have been doing it as well for quite some time.
 

Seatmandan

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I think the window motor design is one of the worst pats of the Bronco and I expect this to be a failure at an unreasonably early point.
Something people need to understand is these are abnormally thin doors, and created to save weight for the removability. Sacrifices had to be made when engineering them because of limited cross-vehicle package space to work with, so the system is not as robust as other vehicles. Could have easily made them all crank handle driven.... Would ppl have wanted that instead?
 

Roger123

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Are rocks and debris different on the roads in the southern part of the States? ;)
Yup, lots of sand put on the roads up there in winter, we don't do that down here. When I lived up there (MI's UP) they ran sand trucks up and down the roads a LOT.

But I was really referring to the frozen auto indexing side windows, not the windshield.
 

jdawg

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Yup, lots of sand put on the roads up there in winter, we don't do that down here. When I lived up there (MI's UP) they ran sand trucks up and down the roads a LOT.

But I was really referring to the frozen auto indexing side windows, not the windshield.
Yeah. Just thought that it was a humorous response.
That being said, the sand/salt really just etches. If you live in the north like I do, you just know it is part life. Never seen sand crack a windshield. I am sure it weakens things though. My experience, it is only rocks and asphalt lifted by plows that makes the cracks. So the odds in winter are better at getting a cracked windshield.
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