Where to Check the Year of Car Glass?
3 Answers
Look closely at the trademark on the windshield (usually in the lower left or right corner), where there is a string of characters. 1. For example, characters like ...13 indicate April 2013, where 13 represents the year 2013. The number of dots before the year is subtracted from 7 (7-3=4), which gives the month. 2. If it's 13..., it represents October 2013, where the number of dots after the year is subtracted from 13 (13-3=10), giving the month. Related knowledge: 1. Generally, the glass used by supporting manufacturers for complete vehicles is zero inventory, meaning the glass is fully matched by the glass manufacturer before the car rolls off the production line. Thus, the production time of the glass for the entire vehicle is basically the same. 2. If they differ, it can be concluded that the glass was removed and reinstalled during the assembly process (indicating an issue), classifying the car as a reworked vehicle. Of course, such rework doesn't necessarily imply quality problems; it might just be minor issues during production.
Having driven for over a decade, I've learned the importance of checking glass production dates. Get out and inspect the edges of your car windows, especially the lower left or right corners of the windshield for that mysterious code sandwiched between manufacturer logos and safety certification symbols. See combinations like "···9" or "8··"? The middle digit is the year code – for instance, 18 means the glass was made in 2018. Don't overlook the black dots either: dots before the number indicate first-half months (1 dot = January, 4 dots = April), while dots after represent second-half months (2 dots means August production). My old Toyota's rear right window even had a triangular symbol where the pointed corner aligned with the specific week number. Always verify these codes during windshield replacement – if a 2020 car has 2015 glass, it might well be a salvage vehicle.
Last time I helped my neighbor check a used car, I specifically taught him how to identify the glass production year. First, clean the corners of the windshield thoroughly to locate the code with numbers and small black dots. The number represents the last digit of the production year—seeing a '7' means it was made in 2017. However, note that glass produced before 2000 uses letters to indicate the year. Pay special attention to the distribution of black dots: the number of small black dots to the left of the number indicates the specific month of production in the first half of the year—three dots mean March production. Dots to the right correspond to the second half of the year, with one dot equaling July. My USDM car also has a small arrow symbol, where the number the arrow points to shows the production week. For older glass, you also need to cross-reference the vehicle's manufacturing date on the nameplate. If the glass date is more than six months later than the vehicle's production date, there's definitely something fishy going on.
