That's not what car windshields are made of, they are made of two laminated layers of regular annealed (non tempered) glass, so when they break you get long cracks like in window glass, but since there are two glass layers with an adhesive layer they hold together safely. 

So that demo is bogus if they're using tempered glass, because the guy is striking it with a rubber mallet not with a sharp object like a rock. How many times do you see a rubber mallet flying at you on the highway?

In any event, you should contact FR for a replacement window. Maybe your trailer insurance policy will cover it. 

Maybe they use different suppliers, or because of a shortage of these, and installed actual glass in some of the recent units.

Hello and welcome!

I would contact my dealer if I were you and see if it can be replaced under warranty. This is a new trailer and the front window should not be shattering during normal driving. In my opinion (for what it is worth), there should be a cover for the window that can protect it while the trailer is being pulled. Even if this is (according to the video linked in your post) windshield quality glass, something is causing them to shatter. Therefore, having some sort of cover for travel would be prudent.

So not tempered glass and not laminated windshield glass. So that window has nothing in common with automotive glazing which is either one or the other. 

I've NEVER seen automotive tempered glass flex like that.

Tempered glass is extremely hard but also extremely brittle. (not talking about phones and tablets here) 

If you know this to be true, that large curved sheets of tempered glass can flex like a trampoline, you have managed one factoid that has eluded me for my entire life.

Best friend works for AGC, the company that makes about 90% of the glass in automobiles built in the USA. He is a mechanical engineer, and does all kinds of studies on glass. I assure you, tempered glass can and does flex. Some types of glass, and different layups can and will deflect more then some others, but it does happen to some extent regardless.

As far as the front windows on campers, Just like windshields, they can break. Stuff hits them. Stress fractures. Etc.

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Tempered glass has >10.000 psi surface compression, you have to either exceed that figure or scratch through the surface layer before it will break. It is incredibly strong, but when you compromise the compression layer all that energy gets released instantly and the glass sheet turns into a bunch of tiny pieces. If you go to the tempering furnace in a glass factory that's how the manufacturing engineers know how much surface compression they are putting in the glass. They take a piece of hacksaw blade and scratch an edge, then measure the size of the pieces. 

Solar module superstrates are 1/8 inch tempered glass. I designed and tested them for a living. In our front loading tests they had to support 113 lbs/ft2 combined wind and snow load. That is over 2400 lbs on a 1 x 2 meter standard solar module.  To put that in perspective its about 2 feet of water over the whole glass sheet. They flex well over a foot in that test and still wouldn't break unless they popped out of the frame first. 

We had a marketing manager who used to go to trade shows and jump up and down on the modules to demonstrate how strong they were. He was about 6'4" and weighed over 300 lbs, a lot more than the guy in the FR video. We finally got him to quit doing that after one of our customers installed a big solar array on a tar and gravel roof. His installation crew was walking all over the modules and broke dozens of them, not because of their weight but because they picked up sharp gravel on their work boots and scratched through the compression layer. 

Good point. So we are needing Flipishollywood to let us know if the window he has is glass or plastic....If glass then it should be tempered and should have broken into a bazilion pieces. If plastic, its probably acrylic, polycarbonate/lexan is very difficult to break, at least not until it has been UV damaged, which takes awhile. 

If you can't get FR or your insurance company to help then you will unfortunately will need to pay to have the window replaced yourself. Then cover it with something while driving, it will just keep happening otherwise. Maybe glue magnets to the glass to hold the cover?

Using a tempered piece up there, when the entire automotive world does not, seems inappropriate on the part of Forest River.

But, it does not surprise me especially in these days of increased demands, rapid production, inflated margins, long wait times, poor engineering, lack of quality control, and the overall apathy from the major players in the RV industry. 

But, having said that, I do like the Camping World YouTube Concert Series on Tuesday Nights,,,so there IS that.

If someone wanted to take on that challenge then polycarbonate (Lexan is a brand name of polycarbonate just like Plexiglas is a brand name of acrylic) would be the better choice. Stronger, less brittle, and you can heat form it with a heat gun if you are careful. The problem is going to be to get the shape right and get it glazed in so it doesn't leak. Getting a leak in that area could be a much worse disaster than a broken window. 

Another thing that could help would be to cover the tempered glass with a clear vinyl layer. Get as thick vinyl as you can, the purpose would be to stop small rock chips from reaching the glass surface. If you ever get a big rock strike it would still break but that should be a rare event unless you're towing to Alaska or something. 

You'd need to experiment a bit with clear adhesives to stick it on there, and you'd want to be able to replace it after a couple of years when the vinyl gets weathered. Or stick it on with magnets. 

I had a Trailmanor camper once that had an aluminum cover over the front window.  But the window had an internal wooden frame that was more secure than the sandwich material used to make the new R-Pods.

Slightly lengthy, but there's a bunch to say here.

My wife and I just got home from an extended trip to the Oregon coast with our 196 (2021 model, but early in the model year production with the 202 graphics). We woke one morning late in the trip and discovered that our front window was shattered - completely crazed one side to the other, top to bottom with no sign of an impact visible. It had stayed in place - at least until it was touched, at which point parts began to fall out.

The calls began.

Contacted my selling dealer, who expressed sympathy but said there was nothing they could do - that FR responded better to direct calls by customers. Contacted FR - who have, by the way, a system designed specifically to make it difficult to reach human beings directly. Eventually reached, after multiple calls, Meghan in Warranty.

I described the issue to her, indicating we were on the road, and would be leaving on another trip just a short time after our return home. I told her I knew we would have to take steps to prevent further damage while moving the trailer, whether to home or a dealer or wherever. I also told her I knew the factory was nearby, and asked her to check whether there was any way of using their resources.

As it turns out - and amazingly - Meghan arranged for the factory in Oregon to have the window replaced right away. We drove the 3 hours (5 as it turned out, due to a road closure), and the window was replaced the next day. Wonderful - and a good attitude from the staff there. Kudos on that front to them and to Meghan.

As it turns out, the replacement unit was either poorly installed or has some faults of its own - that night, we had heavy rain in the California redwood forest, and the new window leaked like crazy!

The new problem has been reported, I have done my own temporary repair on the leak issue (high quality silicone sealant, used liberally ), and we will see how they handle this. Also, I would swear the interior metal frame is installed top to bottom, as there is now a seam split in the bottom that was on the top with the original.

In discussion with the factory staff, I found out a few things...

Since this is happening often enough to be noticed, I strongly suggest that any of us who have these windows should be loud and persistent (though polite) in telling FR that they need to make this change, and to make it available as a retrofit for those with the earlier design.

Originally posted by mjlrpod I predicted this very issue the first day I saw they were putting front windows on the pods. I commented on it here a year ago. It was so simple to see. I hate the entire idea anyway. Who wants a big window right over there head in bed. It lets light, and pulls in cold in spring and fall camping. Any leaks will go immediately into the bed. The whole thing is terrible in my opinion. I hope they stop putting the front window in by the time I buy my next pod, or i'll be buying something else. I'm so glad I got my 195 before this silly decision was made.

Actually this is what we have in our 177 although everything is reversed, bed and window in the rear.  After a year we got rid of the crazy curtain that was nearly impossible to open and close and got a blind from Blinds.com to easily raise and lower for instant viewing or privacy.  When it is warm out we enjoy having the blind up and being able to see outside (no one can see inside as long as no lights are on anyway).  Yes when it is cold, for us that is below 50 the blind comes down at night to keep the heat in.  The blind is a 2x cell and does a wonderful job of insulating us from the cold window.