A customer said, “I see cars driving all over the Rio Grande Valley with blue tape on their windshields. If the glue used to hold down a windshield isn’t strong enough to keep it in place, what good is blue tape going to do?”
He has a point!
What you need to know about windshield “glue” or Urethane.
Windshield Adhesive Urethane is specially formulated to ensure that in the case of an accident, your windshield adheres to the vehicle in accordance with Department of Transportation standards.
There are several manufacturers of urethane and there are many different types of urethane. Here is what you need to know about urethane (and blue tape) anytime your windshield is replaced.
#1 – Avoiding Injury and Death in an Accident
Your Windshield accounts for approximately 60% of the structural integrity of your vehicle in a roll-over accident. That means that your windshield, its proper installation and the proper use of urethane are what is keeping your roof from crushing, the passengers from being paralyzed or even worse.
#2 – Minimum Drive Away Time
Every single type of urethane has a minimum amount of time it must cure for your vehicle to be considered “air bag safe” to drive after a replacement. Why??? Because when a vehicle is in a head on collision, here is what happens:
- The passenger air bag deploys
- The air bag travels to the windshield and “bounces” back to give the passenger protection
If your vehicle is given to you before the urethane has had the minimum amount of time to cure to be air bag safe AND your vehicle is in a collision that causes the air bag to deploy, the airbag may pop your windshield out of your car exposing you and your passengers to the elements, broken glass, etc. Yikes!!!
Unfortunately, the least expensive urethane available takes 8 hours from the time your windshield is replaced to be air bag safe for you to drive. Just in case you didn’t catch that, it means that your vehicle is not air bag safe to drive until 8 hours after your windshield is replaced.
I don’t want to wait 8 hours to drive my car, do you?
Fix-A-Crack typically uses a 30-minute air bag safe urethane. That means, 30 minutes after your windshield is replaced, your vehicle is air bag safe to drive.
What does this have to do with blue tape?
When you see a vehicle on the road with blue tape on the windshield, thank the good Lord it’s not your vehicle. The shop that replaced that windshield probably gave it back to the customer before it was air bag safe to drive.
Leave a Reply