In it's Bi-Weekly ARG Canada Newsletter, PPG has outlined some of the history of the Sungate windshield use by GM in their mini-vans. Also included is a chart identifying the OEM dates of production, which windshield was used, and the characteristics of the glass.

Glasslinks previously reported how PPG has become concerned that installers and consumers may be misled into accepting aftermarket versions of their proprietary Sungate glass windshields. (see July 29th story and PPG memo).

©Glasslinks.com 2001

Bi-Weekly ARG Canada Newsletter

October 22, 2001

Now You Know
    The very popular Chevrolet Venture and Pontiac Montana have seen their OEM windshields going through some changes lately and I thought I should summarize them for you.

    The original windshield (1997) for these vans was the DWO1293 GBN. As you should know, this part is a Sungate Antenna windshield. Sungate windshields have a PPG proprietary, multi-layered coating of metals and metal oxides applied to one of the glass surfaces against the vinyl. This coating helps the Sungate windshield reflect away 25% more of the sun's heat than does a standard green tint windshield. When this vehicle was conceptualized (in the early 1990's), Engineers' calculations revealed that there was no air conditioner small enough to fit under the hood, yet powerful enough to keep the passenger compartment comfortable. Thus, those Engineers came to PPG to ask if we could supply a windshield that could keep enough solar energy out of the vehicle to allow them to use an existing air conditioner. We showed them our Sungate windshield and their calculations confirmed that it met their needs. Thus, they ordered the DW01061 GBN from PPG.

    For the second generation of the vehicle, an antenna was added to the windshield. The benefit of using the Sungate coating as the antenna, is that it provides radio reception matching or exceeding that of most fender-mounted antennas while eliminating the drag, wind noise and extra installation steps associated with those antennas. Thus the DW01293 GBN came into being and it was the OEM windshield for these vans from 1997 through to June 17 of 2001.
    Earlier this year, GM developed a much more efficient air conditioning compressor that allowed them to keep the Venture/Montana comfortable while using a regular Solar tinted windshield. Because such windshields do not come with antennas, this change would also necessitate adding some sort of new antenna.

    In June, GM switched to this new antenna and started taking OEM windshields from PPG with the Sungate coating, but without the antenna. These windshields are DW01453 GBN and they were used as OEM windshields only from June 18 to August 1 of 2001. Then, with the new 2002 model vans, GM added the new more efficient compressor and switched to a non-coated windshield (the DW01454 GEN), which continues as the OEM windshield to this date.

    To further complicate matters on the ARG side of things, some offshore manufacturers have been selling a version of the DW01293 GBN that is made with Solar tinted glass but does not have the Sungate coating. NAGS has called this part a DW01432 GBN. In addition, these offshore parts use a ceramic grid or a wire embedded in the vinyl as the antenna. Neither of these dated technologies delivers a radio signal as strong as the Sungate Antenna windshield delivers. The following chart summarizes the windshields for these vehicles: