Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications
Windscreen Replacement Standards: Discussion
10:45 am
Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the delegates for their presentations. The NCT and the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, offer the only methods open to us to check for windscreen replacement safety. Having regulations would be more difficult. Is the delegation opposed to using the glue injection method in fixing a windscreen? Does that method weaken the structural safety of the car?
Many people will go to breakers' yards to get second-hand windscreens which may have been involved in road crashes. Since we do not know what stresses have been exerted on such windscreens, is this a bad way of replacing a windscreen? It has been mentioned that there are many car owners who have had repeated windscreen breaks. Is this a case of bad glass being used or someone driving on a bad back road? The delegation has claimed the windscreens in between 60,000 and 90,000 cars might be impaired. How did it arrive at this figure? What statistics are available in this regard?