Story: Last night I heard a sudden boom and then breaking glass, so I looked around confused wondering if I had somehow been rear ended without feeling any impact. I immediately pulled over; there is not a single scratch on the entire vehicle apart from my now shattered rear window. The bottom right corner had a large hole and, within the shattered glass remaining, there are some sections around the hole that appear to have bowed outwards. Some of the glass fell outside, then more fell inwards as I drove home. As a Canadian driver, I am quite familiar with the sound of rocks hitting the glass or body of my car. I did not hear ANYTHING prior to the loud BOOM and subsequent shattering of glass.

Detailed Conditions: There were 3 lanes and, at the time of the incident, I was in the furthest right lane in slow/stop & go traffic (up to ~40 kmphr at most both directions) during a snowy evening around 6:00pm in Calgary, Alberta. Temperature was about -12C, there was light snow falling, and I had used the rear defrost + rear wiper periodically during my 20-30 min drive out of downtown. I was not on or near any highways during this particular trip prior to the glass exploding.

Repairs: It is more than $1000 to replace this window, but I am not sure if this should be a warranty issue or not? Would the rear defrost heating elements have electrical problems that contributed to this? The service tech at the dealership said it could have been a rock... but given the slow city traffic, how could this happen? If someone in oncoming traffic spun their tires and threw rocks backward, could said rocks travel past two or more lanes of vehicles and strike the rear tempered glass hard enough to shatter it?? Other than a rock, why would this happen? If there was some kind of manufacturing defect, how can I prove this? Why would it have taken this long to explode?

Vehicle History: 2015 Audi Q5 TDI purchased new late October 2014. It currently has about 6000 km on it. No accidents, completely stock vehicle, and no other issues. I haven’t even had my first oil change yet...

 

It happens more often then you think and not just with your car.

Sometimes all the right conditions happen to tweak the rear hatch to shatter the glass. I've had it happen in 2 other cars over the past 15 years.

Once the rear hatch glass, another time the rear right window, both in SUV's. Both were Jeeps of different years, I think a 98 and a 2003. Happens in a lot of models.

Bad glass, improper install, cold weather, too much/too little sealant, all kinds of things can put odd pressure on the glass.

Dealer should cover it if nothing hit it.