Important Facts:

Certification: CLEAR CHOICE Auto Glass installers are certified by NGA (National Glass Association), I-CAR (National Collision Repair Education Association), as well as ESSEX and SIKA, which are OE approved adhesive suppliers.

Safety is in the details. Our installers use clean gloves when carrying glass, and apply proper primers before laying down the adhesive. It makes for a safer, stronger installation.

Glass is a structural component in today's automobiles. Your car relies on its glass to resist crushing on impact, and to keep you inside the vehicle in an accident. Also, windshields must be installed properly and stay in place for passenger side airbags to function properly in a crash.

Windshields are supposed to keep passengers inside the car during an accident. This is a federal safety standard. Nonetheless, it is vital that drivers and passengers use their seatbelts at all times to help keep themselves from being ejected from a car in a crash.

Passenger-side airbags rely on windshields to function properly. These airbags use the windshield as a "backstop" in deployment. The windshield needs to stand up against the force of the airbag, and remain in place. Proper glass installation is imperative for this to happen.

Auto glass must be installed properly to help the passenger compartment resist crushing in rollover accidents.

Auto glass is supposed to meet federal safety standards. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards describe the required performance of windshields in these kinds of accidents. Standard 212 is for occupant retention, 216 for rollover and 218 for passenger airbags. CLEAR CHOICE Auto Glass installation procedures are devised to allow the glass to perform these vital functions.

Auto glass has other roles to play in safety

Repair or replace glass that has cracks which interfere with your vision. Some windshield cracks can be fixed. Ask your CLEAR CHOICE installer for details.

Keep it clean. It's a simple fact that if you can't see well through your glass, you may be in for trouble. Maintain a good supply of washer fluid in your car's reservoir. Keep a scraper, squeegee and de-icing agent handy if your climate requires it.

Replace your wiper blades at the first sign of wear for safe driving in the rain. Don't run wipers with damaged blades over your windshield or you may permanently scratch it.

Why is auto glass called safety glass?

Windshields are made of laminated glass. There are three layers--two outer glass sheets with a urethane plastic center bonded in-between. The plastic inner layer reduces the chance of occupant penetration in a crash, and keeps the glass from separating into flying shards. Some side and back glass is laminated as well.

Side and back safety glass is usually tempered glass. This means that a solid sheet of glass is cooled quickly in the manufacturing process, which creates a different hardness in the outside and center of the window. As a result, the glass shatters into square pebbles rather than sharp shards in an accident. Risk of laceration and abrasion is reduced.