Why are car windows & windshields glass and not a kind of plastic?

Question

Why are car windows & windshields glass and not a kind of plastic?

In: 40

Answer 1

Plastic windows do exist – they’re usually just bulletproof polycarbonate laminates. Layers of plastic sandwiched between layers of scratch resistant glass.

… which would be hard to break if you needed to escape your vehicle. And prohibitively expensive.

Glass windows are surprisingly inexpensive to manufacture compared to expensive plastics which share the same desirable characteristics – e.g. scratch, heat, and UV resistance.

Lastly, most modern windshields, not your side windows, do include a plastic inner layer which helps prevent the window from shattering completely into the cabin when it’s broken.