New windshield withstands golf ball-sized hail, we tested it

Sunday, February 14, 2016, 3:18 PM - Did you know that the glass which protects your smartphone from cracks is now poised to protect your car from errant stones, or worse, a hailstorm? Gorilla Glass. the technology already found in over 4.5 billion smartphones, will now start to show up in vehicle windshields.

Ford revealed Gorilla Glass on the 2017 Ford GT at Canadian International Auto Show's (CIAS) Media Day Thursday. The supercar will be available to customers later this year and it is the first vehicle to ever have the thin hybrid glass laminate.

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"Across Canada there can be some very challenging weather and whether it's our cars, utilities or certainly our trucks, not only the utilitarian of the vehicle but the features are important," Dianne Craig, Ford of Canada's president and CEO told The Weather Network. "It's all about making peoples lives better and a big piece of that is making sure we keep our customers safe."

The automobile company worked with Corning Inc. to develop a special type of Gorilla Glass specifically for vehicles. Corning is an American manufacturer of glass, ceramics, and related materials, primarily for industrial and scientific applications.

Compared to your standard windshield glass, Gorilla Glass is about 30 per cent lighter, tougher and optically clear, allowing for better fuel economy and a low centre of gravity which improves handling performance, according to Corning. The company is able to scale back on the thickness of the glass by a process of chemical strengthening. 

To put things into perspective, a Gorilla Glass window is about 3 to 4 mm thick, while a conventional windshield is 4 to 6 mm. Glass on the GT weighs only 46 pounds, with Gorilla Glass saving more than 12 pounds of vehicle weight. Meanwhile, standard glass on a small car like the Ford Focus weighs about 80 pounds with glass on a larger Explorer weighing upwards of 100 pounds.

Spectators at the CIAS were given the opportunity to test durability by shooting golf ball-sized hail at 90 km/h into a pane of Gorilla Glass. With every attempt, the technology survived the impact without making a single dent.

"You can imagine being struck by a big ball of ice and you get to see the toughness of the Gorilla Glass. It gives impact resistance so we can survive that type of event," said Tom Cleary, Corning senior research associate. "It was a logical extension to try to bring that technology to truly mobile devices like vehicles. We had an excellent partnership with Ford to develop this technology and optimize it for auto applications."

Emergency crews can still access crash victims through powered extraction tools, according to Corning officials.

From concept to completion the project was fast-tracked taking a total of 24 months including, a final four months of testing.

While there is a price premium for the product, Cleary says the cost is fairly attractive compared to other lightweight technologies.

"We've seen improvement in stone impact performance with Gorilla Glass as well, being three to four times better than thicker glazing. We think we're going to drive down the frequency of having to replace your windshield so that certainly will be a consumer benefit."

SOURCE: Corning Inc.

Watch more: Slow-mo and close-ups of hail vs windshield demonstration