There are primarily two types of safety glass.

Tempered glass is used to create entrance doors and other components in commercial buildings. It’s also used in vehicles as door, vent and back glass. During the manufacturing process, tempered glass is heated to over 1,100 degrees. It’s then shot with cold air, which forces the glass to cool very rapidly. That process causes the outer surface to become much harder than the inner material. As a result, tempered glass shatters into tiny fragments with rounded edges when it’s broken.

Laminated glass is used primarily for vehicle windshields. Two sheets of glass are bonded together by a plastic inner layer known as polyvinyl butyral. The inner layer softens the blow when anything hits the windshield and prevents the glass from separating. That, in turn, reduces the chances that you and your passengers will be seriously cut in the event of an accident.