Clarus Armourtec film promises windshield protection against common road debris

LONDON: There's a class of films called armoured automotive windshield films that reduce damage from common road debris when properly installed.

Companies like Madico with its ClearPlex, ExoShield and Diamond Shield promise such protection. Now comes UK-based Clarus Protect with a similar product.

Called Clarus Armourtec, it will be available at three price points, starting at £199 (RM1,126).

Clarus said its film would help save UK car drivers millions of pounds and thousands of hours of lost time as it reduces the risk of windscreen cracks, chips and breakages.

Clarus said its Chinese-made film is the only windscreen protection product in the UK tested by Thatcham: the safety, repair costs and security body funded by the car insurance industry.

According to the company, Armourtec is quicker and easier to apply than existing products on the market and has self-healing properties, with its durability and transparency tested over 32,000km this year on a representative fleet of cars: a Land Rover Defender, Tesla Model 3 and VW Golf R.

In the UK, the average cost of replacing a windscreen is £700 (around RM4,000) - and in many cases exceeding £2,000 (RM11,313) on premium and luxury vehicles.

"Windscreen replacement costs are a huge issue for the embattled British car and van owner," said Clarus founder and CEO Ian Fisher.

"Given the two leading vehicle glass repair companies in the UK report replacing up to two million windscreens per year, and Allianz has reported a 17% increase in windscreen claims since 2022, then we have conservatively estimated between five and 10 per cent of all windscreens are replaced each year – at a cost of over one billion pounds."

Fisher likened Armourtec to phone screen protection, which saves mobiles from cracked displays.

Similarly, windscreen protection saves time, money and adds peace-of-mind to car drivers and business owners, he said.

However, films can only do so much. For protection against more severe threats, such as ballistic impacts, more robust solutions like bullet-resistant glass are necessary.