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Problems with 2012 Ford F-150 VISIBILITY/WIPER

On average, the 2012 Ford F-150 starts to “feel” problems with the VISIBILITY/WIPER and its various aspects after 59 216 miles.

Recently reported VISIBILITY/WIPER problems on 2012 Ford F-150

Started up truck, windows were foggy so turned on front and rear defrost. rear defrost light came on and went off. pushed rear defrost button again and light would not come on. parked the truck got out and heard a loud pop. rear window driver side completely shattered. there is no impact and believe the rear defrost is defective and shorted out causing the rear window to shatter. was not covered under ford extended warranty and dealer wanted $950 to replace.

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford f-150. while driving at a low rate of speed, the rear window and side view mirrors were foggy. the contact applied the rear defroster and the rear glass shattered without warning. the manufacturer was notified of the failure and provided no solution other than suggesting that the vehicle be taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. the approximate failure mileage was 68,000.

Driving on 03/04/2016, 7:45 a.m., 26 degrees f. heard loud bang. rear driver's side window of powerslide unit had shattered and spiderwebbed over whole surface. no signs of any impact.

I was driving on the highway on my way to work and all the sudden a noise that sounded loud like a gun shot went off and my driver side rear window had just shattered.

Rear window shattered as a result of faulty defrost system. vehicle was in motion with defrost activated. window shattered producing a loud pop. defrost failed to work going forward and spider web in window was apparent once damage was inspected.

Drivers side rear window shattered while using defrost. occurred while vehicle was not moving and parked. a visual inspection was made to insure that no foreign object was the cause. shards of glass was noted covering the back seat and floorboard. this could be a major safety issue if a child or other person was in the back seat at the time of the incident.

I remote started my 2012 f150 lariat at work. 5-10 minutes later i went to get in and closed the door and boom the drivers side rear window spider web cracked into a million pieces. i know for a fact lots of people are having issues with this and it needs fixed by ford. here is the forum i found with lots of other cases. http://www.glassbytes.com/2014/08/nhtsa-receives-more-complaints-of-shattering-f-150-back-lites/.

Was dring to work on smooth asphalt road with no other traffic visible. turned on electric rear window defrost. heard loud noice like gunshot. felt rush of air. driver side rear window had shattered.

On 1/12/16 at about 06t00 hrs., on my way to work travelling on main street, the right section of my sliding rear glass window shattered. ( it sounded like a shotgun going off). the temp was around 30f degrees and ice on the window. i activated the defrost and within ten minutes the glass shattered. i thought someone had just shot my vehicle and it caused to swerve into the adjacent lane. had their been many vehicles on the roadway at that time i would have caused an accident. i went to the local ford dealership in dothan, al and they said that my vehicle warranty was no longer valid and that my extended warranty did not cover the part. i had the same sliding glass rear window replaced in 2013 for failing to close after opening. i have searched online and have noticed similar problems with ford f150 year models 2010-2013.

I used the remote start on my 2012 f150 platinum on a 20 degree january morning. got in drove to work and realized when i got out the rear right side of the sliding window was totally shattered. no evidence of vandalism or anything hitting the glass. shattered totally even across the entire window. vehicle is out of warranty by 2 months but under mileage warranty by 9,000 miles. ford dealer told me nothing they can do. called ford and regional customer care called me and said it would take up to 3 days to get me an answer. decided to forget them and use my comprehensive insurance just to have it fixed asap.

While driving the vehicle at 30mph or less through the city i tried to turn on the rear defrost but the indicator light did not come on. i thought either a fuse or contact might be the issue but as a continued to drive a few minutes later the rear sidelight window shattered with a loud bang. broken glass could have injured my son sitting in the rear seat and visibility is now compromised. nothing struck the window, this was caused by a malfunction of the defrost and or substandard glass or the combination of both and should be recalled. some posts on the internet have reported large amounts of the glass almost falling onto infants in rear facing car seats. this needs to be addressed for safety for physical harm to passengers and visibility safety.

I started my 2012 f-150 and activated the front and rear defrosters. while idling in a driveway, i heard a loud pop, looked around and realized my passenger side rear windshield panel had shattered spider web style. luckily i turned off the defroster in time and was able to duct tape the broken window. unfortunately, tiny splinters of glass were already on my rear passenger seat, and i got some in my hands from taping it up. thank god nobody was sitting in that seat. temperature was low 40s, i was trying to get rid of a slight frost.

I turned on the rear window defrost on my truck, switch light blinked several times,and then stayed on, a few minutes later a loud explosion from the rear of vehicle happened, sounded like a gun went off inside cab! rear ,right side glass panel was shattered. thank god no other vehicle was in the lane next to me! i swerved out of reaction thinking someone had shot a gun at me. i was traveling at 55 mph on two lane highway,nighttime, and outside temp was 31 degrees. *js

Driving down the highway i sprayed my windshield cleaner and turned them off but the wiper stayed wiping on low. it was freezing at the time and almost caused an accident.

For two years the rear slider and defrost hasn't worked. when accelerating to pass the engine light comes on and the truck starts to chatter.

Rear window defroster was turned on. 5-10minutes later, with the vehicle in motion on a highway, a rear window panel shattered, emitting a loud bang. i believe that the rear defroster or defect in the window caused it to shatter - no other evidence for sources of breakage was found.

Windshield wipers fail to turn off completely after use. at times turn on by themselves. both problems occur intermittently. act similar to intermittent mode, but timing slightly different. online search for issue revealed numerous other vehicles with similar problem, most caused by the multifunction switch that controls the wipers. took vehicle to dealer who diagnosed the problem as the multifunction switch and replaced at my cost. dealer notes included "known issue".

Truck was parked, rear defroster had been on the hour long trip. parked at destination, a few minutes later there is a loud pop sound, as if a rock had fallen on the roof of the truck. after which i look to inspect possible damage, to my surprise there was no evidence to suspect any type of damage. i looked on the roof, the bed on the truck and the surrounding of the vehicle. found nothing to suspect and collision had happened. i dismissed the noise since there was no evidence of damage. the next morning i start up my truck to go to work and look through the rear view mirror and find the left rear driver side window is shattered completely. i then began to investigate the damage by looking for point of impact to only conclude there is no such point. the shatter is a through and though shatter, clean spider web like shatter. is there a fault in the production of the tempered glass, the housing frame of the glass improperly installed, maybe it is short in the rear defrost system. hoping there is an answer to this mysterious phenomena. *tr

I was on my way to work. it was approximately 6:30 am. i had my rear defroster on and all of a sudden i heard aloud bang. i pulled over got out looked around the truck to see if there was any damage. i found nothing. i got back in the truck went to back out and notice my back right side window had shattered. it was not hit by anything. i called ford about it and was told that there is nothing they can do on any warranty. the back window installed is around $900.

Rear defroster on sliding rear window nor heated side view mirrors work. selection on climate control panel does not light up.

After starting the vehicle and turning on the window defrost front and rear i heard a loud pop from rear of truck and the rear sliding window had broken on drivers side. *tr

Incident occurred on saturday 2-21-15 at or about 3:30pm. the vehicle was traveling at about 30mph when a very loud bang was heard inside vehicle. after pulling over a quick glance around inside the vehicle revealed that the drivers side portion of the 3 piece rear glass of the cab has shattered. the glass remains in place but had "spiderwebed" and is completely shattered. upon inspection on the outside, no signs of impact are visible and the point of origin of the cracks appears to be the upper right hand corner where the glass is covered by the rubber molding. when this happened it was about 25 degrees outside and snowing, all snow had been removed from vehicle prior to driving and the rear de-frost/de-fogger had been run and turned off about 10 mins prior to the incident. a quick internet search reveals that this is a common issue for this glass with the heating elements in these conditions, several other complaints similar or identical to this have been made to this and other organizations as well as there have been several article written on this subject. i placed a call to ford customer service for assistance in replacing the glass as the extended warranty that was purchased through ford (ford esp premium) does not cover glass. i was told by the representative from ford that no assistance would be given as the vehicle is out of the 3/36 bumper to bumper warranty. this is an obvious failure of the design from the factory that ford is aware of. *tr

On february 19 2015 i remote started my f150 in the driveway to warm it up. i got in the vehicle and put on the rear defroster to clear the mirrors and rear window. i heard a loud noise after about 30 seconds like an explosion inside vehicle. i looked around and noticed the drivers side rear glass was shattered. there was no external damage to the glass. previously this vehicle was taken to a ford dealer on march 27 2014 for an inoperative rear defroster system. the dealer diagnosed it as an open in the resister in the defroster grid and the whole rear window assembly was replaced. ford corporate told the dealer that the window couldn't shatter by turning on the defroster and would not replace the unit. i called the ford corporate number and lodged a complaint and was given a claim number. they had the dealer send them pictures of the shattered glass. ford corporate denied my claim and i was told to go through my insurance glass coverage. i feel that this is insurance fraud in my opinion. i took my vehicle to my glass repair shop and the owner took a careful look at the shattered glass and said that they should have replaced it no charge since there was no external damage. ford is laying the burden of a defective glass assembly off to my insurance company. *js

Started vehicle, turned on heater and rear defroster (temp approx. 17f). defroster light would not come on. drove vehicle to store ( approx. 15 min ride)hit a rough patch of road and noticed a noise at right rear of cab which i thought was ice falling between cab and bed. parked and shopped. returned to vehicle and noticed right section of sliding rear window glass was shattered and a piece was laying on bed cover. examined window and found no sign of any foreign object near window, glass section had fallen from inside out. area of damaged glass at bottom corner appears to be burnt and discolored. waiting for response from dealer. upon online research it appears that this is not a unique occurrence on this ford model and ford has been negligent in accepting responsibility. *tr

I was sitting in my driveway, warming my truck up (i live in northern illinois and it was a cold morning)when i heard a loud shatter, i looked around and even opened the cover to my sunroof but didn't see anything, the next day i went down the road and as i was backing into the driveway i noticed the rear passenger side glass of my rear window was shattered and "spidered". i looked it up and there has been multiple complaints of this happening with people that have the rear defroster. but ford is not covering this under warranty. i looked into having it fixed and that ranges from $550-$800 that's a big out of pocket expense when there is clearly an issue. a safety one at that, i have 3 kids. the shattering sound enough is enough to startle somebody if they were driving at the time. "luckily" for me, my kids were not in the truck at that time and i wasn't driving. the glass has stayed like that cause of the price to repair it, but yesterday the glass pieces started falling out, so now i have to get it repaired. *tr

After pulling in to my driveway, one of the rear windows on my f-150 shattered. while i was driving, i had the rear window defroster on. the window shattered shortly after i got out of the truck and closed the door. after doing some research online, i have come to find that this is a fairly common issue on f-150 trucks equipped with the rear defroster system and 3-piece sliding window. i took the truck in to koons ford of annapolis, maryland and was told that while it is a fairly common issue, ford would likely not cover the repair under warranty, as they hadn't in the past. i was quoted $694 for a replacement. luckily this did not happen while i was driving down the road, like it has for many other people. *tr

Remote started truck which activated the rear defrost, backing out of my driveway i heard a pop and my daughter crying. i asked her what had happened and she stated she did know (as well as a 2.5 year old can) and then i noticed the window behind her head was shattered, but intact. this is the drivers side window on the back glass. *tr

Rear window open and closed when it wanted when pushing the switch and now it wont open at all. fuses are good. defrost will not work. popping sound from the rear drive line when you leave from a slow stop.

At a stoplight i activated the rear window defroster. after approximately 30 seconds i heard a sharp large cracking sound. upon investigation i found the driver side rear window was shattered but still in place. no signs of chips from inside vehicle or outside were seen before the incident. after getting back inside the vehicle i noticed the rear defroster was inoperable. *tr

While driving the interstate the driver side mirror glass (just mirror itself with black back support) slumped partially detaching itself from the mirror adjustment mount making it unusable to view the driver side side rear view. *tr

Back sliding window doesn't work, popping sound from the rear end when you accelerate from a stop.

Ford fixed my rear window, no questions asked....this is what happened....i started my truck, put on the rear defrost, drove out of my apartment complex and as i was about to exit the complex i heard a loud pop/crack noise, i stopped, no one was around, (it was 6am in the morning), i checked the entire truck to see what it was and the back left part of the rear window was completely shattered!, no sign of impact, just shattered...apparently there is no recall out on it, so if it has happened to you or does happen, take it in!, with how many complaints i have already read, it must be a manufacturer defect related to the rear defrost or installation of the window....

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 ford f-150. the contact stated that while driving approximately 55 mph, the contact activated the rear window defrosted and moments later, the rear window shattered. the vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was advised that the rear window needed to be replaced. the cause of the failure was not determined. the manufacturer was notified of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the approximate failure and current mileage was 38,000.

On multiple occasions while driving on the highway, snow has entered the driver cabin through the dash ventilation system and blown snow into the cab and caused moisture to freeze to the inside of the front and side windows. the ice forms in a few seconds and mostly block forward visibility and view of the side mirrors. the vehicle coolant gauge is showing the truck is warmed and hot air is blowing from defrost vents but not capable to melt or clear ice or improve visibility, even after 20 minutes. i have to scrape the ice with my hand to create a peep hole so i can see. on one occasion when the event happened, the streets and landscape were blanketed with white snow and ice and it became extremely difficult for me to follow the road and safely exit. i was scared i was going to crash into another car or drive/slide off the road. the dealer has inspected my truck and found the ventilation to be clean (no snow or ice build up) and the intake screen to be properly placed. problem is still occurring. *tr

While driving after approximately 10-15 minutes, smoke started to appear under and around the front passenger seat which rapidly converted to flames. immediately stopped and parked the car. opened the hood and disconnected the battery. i had an abc fire extinguisher which i used to extinguish fire. *tr

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