Optical abberation in 2015 windshield

Hi guys, first time poster here. I did search through the forums for mention of this issue, but haven't found anything.

I just upgraded from a 2013 Tacoma to a 2015. I was happy with my 2013, it gave me no troubles at all. I upgraded because I wanted a bit more oomph than the 4 cylinder provided, so I went to 6. I was also disappointed that they wouldn't give me XM radio in an access cab in 2013. I fixed that with the 2015 too. The point being, I'm not totally new to Tacomas.

I've noticed what appears to be a flaw in my windshield on the new 2015 that I didn't have with the 2013. At night when I look at bright lights, there is a ghost image that appears above what I'm looking at. It only seems to happen in the top 1/3rd of the windshield. When I lower my head down far enough, the problem goes away. It occurs outside the tinting at the very top of the windshield too.

I've verified this is the windshield itself a couple of ways. First, it only happens through the windshield, not the side windows, even for the same bright light source. Second, if I tilt my head the ghost image still appears directly above the source of the image. If it were my eyes creating this issue, the ghost would track with the tilt of my head.

I'm not sure if this is a glass thickness issue, maybe an optical coating, or even the layer of material that's in the glass to make it safer.

Regardless, has anyone else heard of this or run into this? It seems like a big enough hazard that I should try to get Toyota to replace it, but if ALL of them do that, it's not worth the effort. Also, if there's evidence out there that others have run into this, I won't sound like such a crackpot when I go into my dealership.

Any advice/thoughts?

Thanks!

 

The shroud of Tacoma?

 

What color is you truck (hood/scoop color)?

 

Color is the Magnetic Grey Metallic.

Yes it has a hood scoop, same color.

 

I know that there are glass experts on the site, maybe one will chime in, but windshields are layered glass, right? Two layers of glass sandwiching a thin plastic layer that keeps the glass from shattering apart in an accident. Could the windshield have not been bonded correctly and be causing this?

 

Make sure you really clean the inside of the windshield. Mine had a really thick coat of offgassing from the new dashboard. Took quite a few towels and various cleaners to get it residue free.

Expect any new vehicle interior plastics to offgas for quite a while so regular cleaning of interior glass will be necessary.

 

It's probably the windshield itself. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen - I've had a replacement windshield installed in a different vehicle that had the same thing. Should be a warrantied repair.

David

 

I went after it with Stoners inside and out twice, thinking something similar. It's pretty clean as far as I can tell. Sorry I didn't mention in this in the original post.

It's definitely still outgassing (new car stank), but I'm pretty sure it's something with the glass itself.

 

Thanks. I'm glad to hear that someone else has run into this.

Definitely feeling a bit crazy in seeing this and I don't want to come off as "one of those guys" with the dealer.

 

It’s possible your truck had its windshield replaced before sale due to damage in transit. If so, then the work was probably outsourced, since most dealers don’t do glass replacement.

If the aberration isn’t too apparent in daylight, see if you can make a service appointment after dark, so you can point it out to the dealer technician.

 

I've actually noticed something similar with mine. I had my rear window and side windows tinted before delivery. Sometimes, light entering the windshield can be deflected by the tinted back window onto the windshield again.

I'm just speculating, mine doesn't bother me too much.

 

A quick update.

The techs at the dealership were able to observe this. They didn't know what to make of it, so they said they would contact Toyota. Skip forward a couple days and they say that they pulled 3 brand new 2015s in and observed the exact same thing in those ones.

The only thing they said they could do is get me in touch with the Toyota parts specialist that comes in once per month and maybe that person could help me out.

So, the question goes back to the users here. Anyone else experiencing this? It's most obvious just below the tint at the top of the windshield, at night. I'm tall, so that's right in my normal field of vision.

 

I had that problem with a replacement windshield. Had it redone.