Why are car windshields laminated?
Side and rear windows are tempered so that they shatter into relatively harmless chunks on impact. But windshields are laminated, so that even though they shatter, all of the pieces are kept in place. Why is this? It seems that if a laminated windshield shatters/spiderwebs and remains in place, it would completely obscure the driver's vision while he is trying to control the car. Additionally, if someone is thrown from the car, through the windshield, they would be cut by the glass shards that are stuck to the laminate. So why are windshields laminated, or more importantly, why aren't all windows in a car made of the same type of glass?