Keep it together now!
If you haven’t already, check out our quick article on how tempered car glass is made! Like your side glass, door glass, and rear windshield, your front windshield is made of tempered glass. Being the first line of defense between your pretty face and the high speed hazards in front of you (ever taken a bug in the teeth while riding your bike? yuck!) means your car’s windshield is doing double duty keeping stuff out and mitigating impacts from road debris.
To insure your safety against those dangers, your car's windshield is made of laminated safety glass. Two panes of tempered glass sandwich a layer of PVB (Polyvinyl Butyral) to make laminated glass. There are numerous benefits to this, mainly that when the glass is impacted to the point of shattering, the internal layer of plastic holds all the pieces together, keeping them from hitting you or spreading throughout the vehicle. That interlayer also acts as sound absorption material, and as a UV blocker; the top strip of tint you see on some windshields is actually this material colored in a specific fashion. A final resort feature, is also that laminated glass prevents passengers from being ejected from vehicles during severe collisions when seat belts are not worn; but you’re wearing your seat belt, right?