They chose not to roll in Zhiguli this time, opting for a vehicle many would call serious—a Porsche Cayenne—but the setting remained unconventional: a moving train. The car sat outside overnight in bitter cold, its surface coated in frost. To begin the process of thawing, the crew started with a bag of warm water. The ice gradually retreated, yet it was clear that more would be needed for the test to reveal itself. A kettle was brought into service, and boiling water followed, feeding the experiment with rapid heat to test the resilience of the glass under sharp temperature swings.
The main question on the agenda was whether glass consistently cracks when subjected to temperature changes. Experts weighed in, noting that the tendency for cracks to propagate downward through the windshield stems from sudden thermal shocks, including heat from the car’s heater. The idea was to see if the glass could withstand not just gradual warming but abrupt, concentrated heat that might stress the pane beyond its limits.
During the observations, the glass showed signs of damage that were not immediately visible to the naked eye—tiny chips and micro-cracks that existed beneath the surface. Even so, the Porsche’s windshield endured the series of experiments without a catastrophic break. The crew pressed on to the most extreme phase of testing, using a high-temperature hair dryer to apply intense heat. The outcome of this final stage remains a suspenseful reveal—watch the results for yourself to see what happened.
- The power engineer found himself standing out in the cold, and the consequences were clear in the footage.
- The driving sequence is captured on video and available for viewing on YouTube.
Video: YouTube