Rarely are we able to witness firsthand the fruit of our labor. Auto glass installations are usually not measured as safe until something terrible happens. Here is a story behind a picture.

Adam Kox had a broken windshield and asked my son, Jay Beranek, if he would replace it. Upon pre-inspection, Jay noticed that there was corrosion showing itself from behind the molding and mentioned to Adam that body work was necessary to restore the vehicle to a safe condition. Adam works in a body shop so he had Jay take out the glass and he and his fellow technicians replaced the metal per Jay’s instructions. Once the metal was replaced and properly painted, Jay installed the new windshield.

Six months after the installation, on a winter afternoon, Adam was driving down a highway. When changing lanes, his tires hit a slippery spot and his vehicle left the roadway. His Honda Civic rolled an estimated four times and came to rest. The vehicle was old enough not to have the safety of airbags and was only equipped with seatbelts.

Adam was knocked out and lost consciousness. Adam was able to leave the vehicle and assess the situation. Remembering the conversations he had with Jay about the importance of a properly installed windshield, Adam’s first thought was, “that windshield saved my life.”

In my 30-plus years of installation, I have never had the satisfaction of witnessing the substantiation of my installation efforts, but here is proof that good installations spur good results. I wish to thank Adam for coming forward and telling me his story. More importantly, I want to thank Jay for listening to me once in a while and practicing safety auto glass glazing.