You may not know that your car’s windshield forms one of the major safety features of your passenger vehicle. It serves as:
* A safety restraint to keep you from getting thrown from your vehicle in a crash;
* A primary structural support for the car’s roof; and
* A barrier against wind, weather, flying debris and dangerous bugs and people.
Your car’s windshield consists of layers of laminated glass and polymer designed to shatter, but not break apart, during an impact. The polymer laminates contain the glass to prevent the dangers of lacerations or punctures. A factory safety seal, part of your car’s manufacturing process, binds your windshield securely into the frame of the car. During rollover crashes, a factory-sealed windshield provides about a third of the support for your car’s roof. The windshield forms one of the strongest elements of your car’s rollover resistance. Generally speaking, the support your car roof receives from a solid windshield exceeds what it receives from some of the car’s actual structural pillars.
Back in the day when most cars were big, steel boxes on wheels, those cars also contained strong, steel support pillars at the corners of their frames. These big, relatively clunky pillars provided greater natural rollover resistance than we experience in cars today. Modern cars enjoy lighter, sleeker, more fuel-efficient designs. They also incorporate lighter materials, even in their structural frames.
We benefit from government-mandated crash resistance and safety standards, but those standards don’t yet provide good protection from rollover crashes. As Texas City car accident attorneys, we note a current lack of good and uniform rollover resistance standards. This lack makes your car’s windshield more critical than you might have thought. The windshield helps protect your car’s overall structural integrity during rollover crashes.
The NHTSA and the Car Care Council (a nonprofit entity related to car maintenance issues) both stress the importance of a well-maintained windshield to your safety. They mention the importance of the factory safety seal in keeping your car’s windshield securely in place during a wreck. So general recommendations suggest repair, rather than replacement, of a damaged windshield when possible.
Your windshield could save your life in a rollover wreck. Rollover crashes tend to cause severe and costly injuries, and more fatalities than other types of wrecks. Spinal cord injuries, head traumas, and lifelong disabilities form common results of rollovers. So don’t take safety for granted. Take precautions. Drive safe.
And if you become injured in a wreck, and you need help to make a successful claim for compensation against those who caused your injuries, don’t hesitate to call on us. Our Texas City car accident attorneys have been helping injured victims to recover just compensation for their accident losses for years. We could help you too.