Spotting Unsafe Windshield Replacements (I).
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(ARA) - The automobile windshield. Always there... always durable, efficient, and reliable, but rarely noticed or appreciated. We look through our windshield every day without seeing it. That act alone indicates just how much we take this critical vehicle safety component for granted.
From the earliest days of motoring, windshields protected us from heat and cold, as well as flying insects, highway debris or other airborne hazards. More recently, automotive designers have expanded the windshield's role to include that of structural integrity. It is this structural integrity which defines what happens to vehicle occupants during collisions and roll-overs. So, in a very real sense, what you don't know about modern windshield performance could be dangerous.
"All of us tend to take for granted those things in life which are as dependable as a windshield," says Leo Cyr, vice president of marketing for NOVUS Auto Glass Repair & Replacement. "Windshields are beautifully clear and highly functional, but their sheer reliability is what causes people to overlook them. We look right through the glass without registering its importance to our personal safety."
If consumers overlook windshields, automotive engineers do not. The windshield, along with air bags and seat belts, has evolved into an inter-dependent system to keep people securely inside the relative safety of the passenger compartment.
