How To Clean Shattered Glass In Car

by Sam | Last Updated: October 29, 2020

Have you recently been involved in a car accident, or did your vehicle get vandalized? Regardless of what happened, there's a good chance you have broken glass scattered throughout your car. Not to worry – as there are different methods you can use to remove glass from car seats, door jams, and window sills. Below I've listed three helpful options for the best way to clean broken glass out of a car.

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Preparation

Have you ever been in a rush and cleaned the inside of your car? I call this speed cleaning. Empty water bottles, take out containers and receipts have seen my wrath. But you need to be careful whenever dealing with broken glass. It's very important to be prepared before glass removal, as you don't want to get cut.

Use the Right Equipment

Whenever dealing with broken glass, cut resistant gloves are your best friend. These things don't cost that much money and they can really protect you in the process. If you are cheap and don't want to spend the money, an old towel can work as well. Just make sure to cover your entire hand, so you don't leave any skin exposed.

Remove the Big Pieces

Before using a vacuum (which I will discuss in more detail below) it helps to remove the biggest pieces. Even if a vacuum is labeled as heavy duty, it isn't built to remove everything. Make sure to use cut resistant gloves, or a towel, to remove the largest pieces from the car first.

Best Way to Clean Broken Glass Out of Car

Modern day car windows are made with tempered glass. Apart from being much stronger than regular glass, it also breaks in a very unique way. Internal stress causes tempered glass to break into small cube-like chunks. It's still sharp to the touch, but there won't be any large sharp pieces.

For these reasons, it's best to use some type of vacuum for glass removal. This can be anything from a shop vac, or a built in vacuum at your local car wash. A vacuum will always be the easiest way to clean broken glass out of a car.

Use a Shop Vac

Once you have the biggest pieces removed, it's time for the real cleaning. If you've never heard of a shop vac, it's basically a heavy duty vacuum that's much more powerful than the one for your house. A vacuum used for cleaning carpets doesn't have the power to remove heavier material like glass.

Begin by cleaning the seats first. It's best to remove all the glass from the high areas in case it falls back down. If you start off by vacuuming the floor, glass will naturally fall back onto this area. This will add time and create more work in the process, as you will need to go back and re-clean the floor.

Go to a Car Wash

If you don't have a shop vac available to use, a car wash is the next best option. Most car washes have a cleaning section with built in vacuums that are coin operated. Remember that these machines are stationary, so you may need to move your car to deep clean all of the areas with glass.

Hire a Detailer

If you're not a DIY type of person, hiring a professional cleaner is always an option. There are two downsides to this. The first is that a professional detailer will cost more money. They may charge you an hourly rate, or a flat fee. Hiring someone will also take more time. You probably don't want to wait a week for someone to clean glass out of your car.

Cleaning Tips

There may still be some leftover pieces of glass after vacuuming the interior of your car. These small pieces can get stuck underneath floor mats, in between seams, and on the tracks of the car seat. The good news is there are a few tricks you can try, to remove this stubborn glass.

Separate the Seams

Broken glass will get everywhere in your car. One of the most common areas is in between the seams of the seat. This is a problem with all interior types, but will be more common with cloth seats. It's easier for glass to get stuck in cloth seats with deeper fabric. The best way to clean these areas is to separate the seam with one hand, while using the vacuum with your other hand to remove the glass.

Remove the Cushions

Depending on your vehicle's make and model, you may have the option of removing the seat cushions. It's easier on some cars than others, but it can definitely help clean those hard to reach areas. If this isn't an option, try adjusting the seats forward and back. This may sound like an obvious tip, but you can access more area when the front seats are up just a couple of inches.

Use a Lint Roller

Even though a heavy duty vacuum can be a helpful tool, it may not remove all of the broken glass in your car. For those really hard to reach areas, to using a lint roller. A lint roller uses sticky tape to pick up pieces of fabric, but it can also work on glass. I've even heard of some people wrapping duct tape around their hand (sticky side out) to pick up all the remaining glass.

Final Thoughts

By now you should know the best way to clean broken glass out of a car. Having thousands of glass chunks in your can can be a nightmare, but the good news is they can be removed with a few simple steps. If there's one thing you get from this article it's this: go slow and don't rush the process.

When rushing to clean broken glass, there's a high possibility that you will accidentally cut yourself. But you can also damage the interior of your car by cutting the seats. So set aside a block of time where you can safely and properly go through all of the steps for glass removal.

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