What to Do With a Broken Vehicle Window While Waiting for Auto Glass Repair?

A shattered window on your car can be an unpleasant situation for any driver. In case you can’t make it to an auto glass repair shop right away to have it replaced, you’re leaving your vehicle vulnerable to further damage.

When your vehicle’s window is shattered, there are a lot of things that can get into your car like pests, water, and debris. All these things can cause extensive damage to your car’s interior. So until you get a chance to go to the auto glass repair shop, you need to protect the interior of your car. Here are some useful tips.

Clean Up The Broken Glass

The first and most important thing you need to do is to clean out all the glass and glass shards of the shattered window from your car. There will definitely be remains in the door too so make sure that you clean it up as much as possible. Don’t try to clean it with your bare hand. Shattered glass fragments can hurt you if you’re not careful so make sure that you wear thick protective gloves.

You won’t be able to remove all glass shards by hand, as some of them can be quite small. So for the rest, make sure that you use a high-powered vacuum to suck the smallest fragments up. And remember, even though you might not actually see them, the small fragments can be there in your car seat or on the floor. Vacuum the entire area just to be sure.

Window Frame and Seal Cleaning

No matter how powerful your vacuum cleaner is, you still might not be able to get all the pieces of auto glass around the window frame. So what you need to do is take a damp, soft cloth, wipe the area thoroughly and carefully clean it.

This way you will not only clean out any remaining pieces of glass, but you will also clean away the dust and debris that will otherwise prevent you from sealing the window in the next step. Now once the window seal and frame are clean, it’s time to seal it in order to prevent debris and water from entering your vehicle.

Covering and Sealing the Window

After you’ve thoroughly cleaned the window frame and seal the car interior, it’s time to seal the window. For this, you have a few options. You can either use a plastic cover with tape or just simply use tape.

Using plastic cover and tape – If you’re using the approach, you can use a clear drop cloth or a plastic bag. Stretch the plastic cover across the window and use smaller pieces of tape to secure it in place. Once you’re happy with how it looks, you can use longer strips of tape in order to secure it to the window frame. You need to seal the opening completely in order to prevent moisture and debris from getting in. And to be extra protected, do the same thing on both sides of the window, inside and out.

Using tape – This can also be a viable option if you don’t have a plastic cover nearby. This type of sealing is achieved by using longer strips of tame on both sides (inside and out).

Both covering techniques are ONLY a temporary solution until you can take your car to our auto glass repair shop to have a new window replaced. For your safety, make sure that you have this replaced as soon as possible. And in case you can’t wait for the next appointment, you can always opt-in for mobile auto glass repair/replacement.