Sika conducts Malaysia’s first live automotive windscreen crash test

Sika, a leading Swiss-based specialty chemicals company and a global supplier of windscreen bonding solutions, staged Malaysia’s first exclusive live windscreen crash test at the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) PC3 Laboratory in Melaka.

The test demonstrated that a windscreen is structurally bonded to the vehicle body to strengthen the cabin and protect occupants in a crash, and that the wrong adhesive or poor workmanship can compromise that protection. The event is recognised by the Malaysia Book of Records as the First Automotive Windscreen Crash Test Evaluation 2026 in Malaysia.

The demonstration comes at a time when road safety remains a national priority. Malaysia recorded 6,537 road fatalities in 2025 and total road accidents reached a record 790,614 cases, both higher than the year before. Under the Malaysia Road Safety Plan 2022-2030, the country has committed to halving road deaths by 2030, a target these numbers show is slipping further out of reach. Amid these figures, the safety role of the windscreen is rarely discussed.

For the demonstration, a passenger car was crashed at MIROS PC3 in Ayer Molek, the national full-scale crash test laboratory in Melaka that is also used for ASEAN New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) testing. The vehicle was run into a frontal barrier at 48 km/h, replicating a real-world collision to show how a correctly bonded windscreen holds in place and keeps the airbag and cabin working as designed. The windscreen supports the airbag as it inflates, helps keep occupants inside the vehicle and reinforces the roof in a rollover.

“A windscreen is a safety component, yet it is often replaced on price and speed alone. What matters just as much is the adhesive used and the standard of the installation, because those are what keep the glass in place when it is needed most. We chose to show this in a live crash rather than explain it on paper, so there is no doubt about how much the quality of a replacement matters,” said Daphne Wong, Head of Automotive & Industry, Sika Malaysia.

Poor installation carries real risk. A windscreen fitted with the wrong adhesive or before the bond has cured can detach in a collision, and Malaysia’s hot, humid climate shortens an adhesive’s working time, which makes skilled fitting matter even more. Sika runs a Certified Auto Glass Installer Program in Malaysia, training local workshops to fit windscreens to its standards.

In Malaysia, more than 400,000 cars are installed with Sika windscreen adhesive every year. The live crash test used SikaTack DRIVE, Sika’s automotive glass replacement adhesive with superior application properties. It offers a 60-minute Minimum Drive Away Time (MDAT) and has been tested with 95th percentile crash test dummies against the United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 212, an international benchmark that measures whether a bonded windscreen stays in place during a crash rather than being pushed out, which is what allows it to support the airbag and the roof.

Sika has been bonding windscreens for the automotive industry since 1980 and helped establish the industry’s safe drive-away time standards. Over the past four decades it has conducted more than 80 crash tests to verify passenger safety after windscreen replacement.

SikaTack DRIVE is available through Sika’s certified installer network in Malaysia. For more information, visit https://mys.sika.com/en/safe-auto-glass-replacement.html.

Alongside the crash test, Sika is running the Sika Certified Auto Glass Installer Campaign, which encourages car owners to choose a certified workshop for a safe windscreen replacement. Sika’s certified installers work exclusively with Sika windscreen adhesives and follow a continuous training and certification programme.

From 15 September to 31 December 2026, customers who have their windscreen replaced at a certified workshop can enter a monthly lucky draw by submitting a photo of the workshop’s Sika Certified Auto Glass Installer signboard together with their receipt to Sika Malaysia. Three winners are drawn each month, each receiving a petrol card worth RM100.