Right. This one has me stumped. And I can't find anyone else who's had this. I have a 2001 Octavia vrs. This issue first started in 09 with a stress crack on the passenger side of the front screen about 1/3 of the way up. Looking at the old invoices this was replaced under my insurance on 14/01/09. By the 18/02/11 that screen had also cracked. This time with stress cracks on both sides. That screen was replaced, by insurance also. Around this time I fitted a upper and lower strut brace from a s3. Auto glass had no clue to the problem so that's why I fitted them. However, this morning I have discovered a crack on the drivers side. So that's 3 screens in less than 4 years!. Please any advice would be appreciated as I can't keep claiming for windscreens.

Mines braced, bushed and coilovered and has been for a couple of years and i have had a stone chip in ns upper part of screen since i bought car, had it filled badly but its never got any bigger or cracked

the way the cracks are indicates body flex. it goes in from the pillar then bends upwards. its on standard suspension so is softly sprung. i dont wack it over the bumps it really gets an easy life. i cant fathom it out.

a quick look at the invoices it is around jan, feb, and now dec. could it be the cold freezing conditions maybe. cant be having this every winter though.

Pull A pillar trims off and have a look at metalwork where screens mounted, see if you can see anything that might cause it to crack

yeah i will do that tomorrow buddy see whats going on. surely autoglass would see something if it was there. i take it you mean the black trim on the outside? does it just clip on or is it bonded?

I've seen something like this before when the triangular spacers at the lower corners of the screen had gone missing after the screen had first been replaced. IIRC, water can pool between the lower corner edges of the glass and the chassis.

You may need to take it to a dealer for them to check that all the pieces are present and correctly located. The likes of Autoglass will just replace the screen without fixing the underlying problem.

If you know someone with another Octavia, you can take off the plenum chamber covers and play spot the difference.

there is some great info there rwbaldwin but i didnt understand most of it! plenum chamber covers? were are they? can these triangular spacers be seen or does the screen hide them?

there is some great info there rwbaldwin but i didnt understand most of it! plenum chamber covers? were are they? can these triangular spacers be seen or does the screen hide them?

Plenum chamber covers are also known as scuttle panels. There are the flat panels immediately in from of the glass. The lower rubber seal at the bottom of the windscreen in part of the panels. The wiper spindles pass through one of the panels and the washer jets clip into them.

The spacers are at the lower corners of the glass where the ends of the plenum chamber covers hook in.

oy aye scuttle panels i know now thanks a lot. i will take a look tomorrow and post my findings. have you had this issue yourself rwbaldwin?

oy aye scuttle panels i know now thanks a lot. i will take a look tomorrow and post my findings. have you had this issue yourself rwbaldwin?

No, but I've seen several customer cars with similar problems (cracks from the lower corners of the screen)

so can you tell me what i am looking for? are the spacers underneath the screen between the glass and pillar?

I ment pull A pillar trims off inside car as you can see more than black trims on outside

oh yes i will do that tomorrow too. thanks volvomeg.

Hmmm, how long have you had the car?

I'm wondering if it's had any accidents in the past...

I have thought this myself. The car is coming up to 12 years old. However the car drives great I've had the car for 6 of those years and I hpi checked it when I bought the car. And I can't see any signs of damage and it passes M.O.T's without any problems so looking at all of that it seems unlikely but I suppose it can't be totally ruled out.

Right, a quick update. Pulled the A pillar trim off this morning. Nothing out of place all seems normal. I spoke to a window fitter yesterday(not auto glass) he said these spacers mentioned previously in this thread are already fitted or bonded to the new screen when its supplied so auto glass would have had to took them off if they were missing which he said was unlikely. I think the only thing to do now is get it booked in to a dealer, let them check the car over and see if they can shed some light as to why I'm going through so many windscreens. I will update on the dealers findings soon.

...he said these spacers mentioned previously in this thread are already fitted or bonded to the new screen when its supplied...

I'm not sure that the OEM screens have them prefitted. You need to make sure that when the new glass is fitted there are no gaps between the corner spacers and the chassis where water can get in and freeze.

The winsdcreens are bonded, so small inaccuracies in the chassis shouldn't cause this kind of problem

Yeah its a strange problem. I've never heard of a car to go through so many windscreens. I will get the car checked out and report back. Thanks again everyone.

it does sound like water freezing, expanding and causing the screen to crack. Look at the dates of your previous replacements, they have all been in the winter at the coldest time. Given that this winter its already been colder and wetter than usual it seems plausible.

Booked into Skoda tomorrow. I will definitely mention about these spacers possibly being missing I just hope that can be checked with the screen in place, because the bloke on the service desk said they can't remove glass they would call someone in to do it. I will update when I get some news

Does anyone know about plastic clips fitted when new?

Right then some news. My car was checked thoroughly yesterday by a very good spray painter, and pleased to report its straight and true! No new paint, panels ever. Autoglass I have to say have been superb. A new screen was fitted by them today, free of charge. They agreed it was a stress crack and windscreens should be lasting more than 2 years. The fitter checked the old bonding, pillar, no sign of water getting behind the glass. What he did mention though was about a plastic clip/holder? I've never seen it 6 years I've had it but they snap off easily. The remaining part of that was still there so he's removed it then fitted the screen. So really still no expanation. One more thing, I found a couple of threads about distortion issues with pilkington screens on Octavias. I don't know if anyone can add more to this but the old screen and the new one are pilkington.

Hey Meaty

My car is still under warranty and the local Skoda dealer will not accept that my cracked windscreen two thirds of the way down on the passenger side is due to bad workmanship.  Did you get anywhere when you complained?  I don't feel that I should claim on my insurance when it is a Skoda problem.

Broctavia