[Just Frank]

I’m not having much luck using the search engine on this site so if this has been discussed before, I apologies and just send me the old thread.

As soon as I picked up my car I noticed a distortion in the rear window. I am 6’ tall and have the seat all the way back and leaning back a bit. I see this distortion in the middle of the window . If a car is following me it appears close to the top of the car, if it’s a truck following it is often in the grill. Of course this changes with the distance of the following car.

I went to the dealer where I bought the car and the service manager saw the distortion. He told me he would check into it. About one week later he called and left a message with the “They’re all like that.” cop out. Well I sat in a neighbor’s car, it’s a 2003 I think, and the distortion is there too.

Has anyone else noticed this? Has anyone had the rear window replaced because of this?

Frank.

 

[gatornail]

I've never noticed it in mine, but I'm alot shorter than you are

 

[psuinsight]

I have a 2006 MT and I have not noticed distortion, but I will examine my rear window more closely and get back to you.
I usually just use the side mirrors anyway unless I am actually backing up, in which case I turn around to look out the back. Not very good vis in any case.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

AFAIK its "normal". And there have not been any replacements that would / could "fix" it. The only other Honda model that was a bit worse was the CRX (any flavor).

Its the angle of the rear glass that causes the "distortion".

HTH!

 

[psuinsight]

Yep, there is a little bit of distortion there in the window of my 06.

 

[b1shmu63]

:lol: On the CRX all cars viewed through the back window look like sports cars, that is squashed flat. Your height would accentuate any distortion.

 

[Just Frank]

I am by nature, training, and profession a physicist. And while optics isn’t my main work I have a lot of experience in optics. Physicists are by nature a skeptical and I will discuss this effect with a colleague of mine.

I can’t check this out now since my car is in the parking lot here at work and it is dark out now, but I’m pretty sure I looked for the effect from the passenger seat and I think I saw it move as though the distortion is quite localized. Thich lead me to believe it is a defect in manufacturing. Perhaps in tempering the stresses induced deforms the glass when it is in the form.

I don’t know if anyone is interested, but I’ll post any further thoughts.

Thanks for the replies,

Frank.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

There can be additional degrees of severity and localized distortions that occur. The problem is to get _any_ auto manufacturer to agree that it is beyond what should be considered as "normal".

 

[Just Frank]

Yeah, like buying a LCD monitor and having them say, "Anything under 18 dead pixels is considered perfect."

Frank.