Unexlpained broken window

I used to have a Chevy Blazer - one of the small ones, which I had bought new. One day my wife drove it to a grocery store. She came back with a cart full of groceries and pushed the button on the rear top piece of the hatch, which was all glass. It exploded and showered glass everywhere and the pneumatic lifts were just hanging there with small pieces of glass attached. We thought that someone had shot out the glass but the glass shop said it was probably due to stress. After the new hatch was installed I noticed that the entire assembly seemed to fit better, easier to open, close, etc. So I think stress really was the cause.

Interestingly, I also had this happen about 20 years earlier. I had just bought a new T-bar Trans Am and had driven up to watch a car race in Wisconsin. I had the 2 pieces of the roof removed and the windows rolled down because it was such a nice day. We parked in an unlevel field. After a few minutes, the driver side window loudly exploded and glass pieces erupted out of the window slot. I thought someone was shooting at me. As luck would have it, Pontiac had a booth there (It was a Trans Am series race), so I went over and had a talk. A couple of engineer types walked back to my car with me and spent some time trying to figure out what happened. Their conclusion was that, with the roof panels removed and the car sitting unevenly, the body flexed enough so that the window holder assembly was putting a twisting force on the window when it was down. So after a little bit, it just exploded. True story. I was standing next to the window.

Yes, I wish I still had that car.

Tim