> Wow, lots of interest in this subject.

Yeah, this subject is one of those "hot button" topics, like tires or wheels.

> I stand by my reporting of the
> junkyard caper. Why risk the windshield popping out and hurting someone,
> just for a cool black gasket look,or because someone dosent like the old
> stuff,and lacks the ability to reinstall them?.

Because both simple physics and the current manufacturer of the rubber
seal say it's NOT a risk. We've already covered the manufacturer, who
says it's purely cosmetic. For the physics, let's be generous and
assume for Frank G's "experiment" that it took 50% less pressure after
removing the strip, that he was pushing with his arms rather than his
legs, and that he was a wimpy guy like me who could only exert 150lbs
of force.  The windshield being at approximately 30 degrees from
vertical, in a front end collision a little less than 2/3 the G force
applied is perpendicular to the window surface. Assuming 75lbs to
knock out a windshield means that a 20lb windshiled would require
3.75G's perpendicular to pop loose, which translates to 5.86G's along
the horizontal. Given that actual crashes seldom last longer than .2
seconds, that means that it'd take an accident wherein you went from
at LEAST 25mph to a dead stop to pop that windshield out. Flying
safety-glass windshields are really the least of your worries in 25mph
delta-V deceleration events.

> VW went to the trouble to
> put them in for a reason.I have seen them on other makes too.

Their presence doesn't determine their purpose. If they were so
critical to retaining the windshield, why are they absent on later
model Vanagons?

> Who am I to
> remove them? Not me , thats all.

That's fine. They clearly DO help retain the windshield and prevent
leaking to some degree. I'm just saying that it's incorrect to assume
that removing them is DANGEROUS via speculation, itself based on the
anecdotal reports of one guy in a junkyard's guesstimates.