Windshields used to be the most inexpensive piece of glass on on a car. Now they are the most expensive piece of glass you will replace. What happened to make it cost 2 to 5 times as much as they used to?
Safety. That is the answer. Let's dive into what changed.
In the quest to make cars safer and reduce accidents vehicle manufactures have started to install equipment that can do some autonomous operations. One of the major components of assisted driving is the Lane Keep System. Many manufactures use cameras attached to the windshield to operate the Lane Keep System. The problem with this is when the windshield is replaced the camera is not in the exact same position as it was before. This causes the camera to be off center or pointing at a slightly different angle. This might not seem like a big deal though it can cause a lot of weird things to happen.