2023 Honda HR-V

My back glass shattered while driving to work. Nothing struck it, it just exploded and was in a million pieces held together by the tint on the back window or so it seemed. I did call the state highway patrol but they said since it wasn’t an accident they couldn’t do a report. I thought at first it was a gun shot it was so loud when it popped. Called insurance, they referred to Safelite for repair. Upon googling it I saw it was an ongoing issue and thought I should file a report.

My rear windshield suddenly shattered while the car was idling. I this happened because I was using the defrost system, as from my understanding several 2023 HRVs have had their rear windshields shatter from using the defrost system. The windshield "popped" and left a sizeable hole in the corner. As I drove home, the shattered glass fell into my trunk and possibly left pieces of glass on the road. I was worried that my passengers in the rear seats would have glass showered on them. The windshield is available for inspection upon request. I have not yet been able to take it anywhere to be inspected. There were no warnings before the windshield shattered.

Upon opening the driver's side door and getting into the vehicle I heard glass tinkling and turned around to see where it was coming from. I noticed that the rear hatch glass was shattered. Looking closer it appeared that the glass broke in multiple places as there were two large holes and then it also shattered around the edges of the glass. I called my local Honda dealer as well as Honda Customer Service but they told me there hasn't been a recall for the rear glass and that the vehicle would have to be inspected for it to be covered under the warranty. I ended up just getting it fixed with a local auto glass shop since I needed to be able to drive it ASAP. There were no cracks or chips in the glass beforehand and I had not heard rattling or cracking while driving it the last time. We also couldn't find any rocks or anything in or around the car and there were no signs that it could have been a break in. The car alarm never went off and I never heard or saw anybody on the property. I've heard about a rear defroster issue that causes hot spots and the glass to weaken over time. I'm assuming that since I park in direct sunlight and the weather has been hotter lately the change in temperature throughout the day and the direct sunlight finally caused it to shatter. Thankfully nobody was in the car when the glass shattered and I wasn't driving at the time. Cleaning up the broken shards of glass was not fun, as glass had fallen into the grass around my car and tiny slivers were still in the interior of the vehicle that the shop vacuum couldn't pick up.

Back in mid January, there was a winter storm in our area that hit overnight. Mild snow, but predominantly ice. Heading into work the next morning, I needed to use my defroster (both front and rear) to allow visibility with my windshields. I was able the clear the ice off my window and arrived safely to work. 8 hours later I headed home and again there was still some ice on my rear-windshield which prompted the use of my rear defroster. On my way home (less than 15mins from work) I did not notice any changes in visibility. Once I arrived home, I discovered that my entire rear-windshield was uniformly shattered, still intact, but shattered. Seems as though my window shattered sometime during the work day. The next day I went to my dealership as my car is still under warranty and had only been purchased less than 15 months prior. The service advisor informed me there was nothing they could do for me. Informed them of my research, as I was not the only 2023 Honda HR-V with this issue and stated that this was something that needed to be addressed by them or American Honda. At the start of February I got a response from the service advisor that my case was approved at the district level, but there were no windows available. Unrelated to the window, I was in a separate accident which prompted removal of my broken window to fix the body. The repairs were completed within two weeks and was released with crash-wrap hoping I could immediately transfer it over to Honda, but there still was no window available. I reached out to American Honda hoping for some assistance and still have no results. While i now get weekly updates on status, there is no guarantee of product delivery. It is now end of April, I have been without a window since end of February (broken window since mid-January). While my case is classified as critical, I still have no answers as to when I can/will have a window.

I pulled my car into my driveway on April 22, 2024 and got out of the car to assist my husband with his walker. We heard a big BANG at the back of the car. When we walked behind the car we found that the rear window had completely shattered. It had been raining and we had the reat window defogger running in the car. If this had happened while the car was moving it could have caused an accident with all of the glass falling out onto the road and endangering the cars behind me. I have called Safelite to come to my house to replace the glass as I don't feel safe driving the car like this.