Ridiculous.

This morning, I'm driving to work on the Long Island Expressway, going about 63-65mph. Windows and sunroof all closed, no cars around me, no overpasses to go under, when all of a sudden...

BOOM! Sounds like someone shot a gun right next to my ear. Glass *rained* down all over me and all over the inside of the car, and where previously I had my glass roof over my head, I had clear sky. Moonroof, shattered into a million little pieces.

Took it in to the dealer (what an embarrassing drive that was...), who hooked me up with a rental. Dealer called me today to say everything will be covered under warranty and I can have my car back tomorrow or Saturday. Great.... You know what? I don't even want it back.
There is NO WAY IN HELL I will ever feel comfortable driving a tC again, so I'm 99% sure I will be getting rid of it and getting another make/model within the next couple of weeks. I just can't imagine spending my hour long commute wondering and anticipating another breakage.

Sorry for the rant, just be aware that there is probably a serious design flaw in our cars. The roof was closed and there was nothing that could've struck my roof, unless it was dropped from above by a Pteradactyl. The thing just seemed to say "Ive had enough" and decided to explode.

I really hope this happens to no one else, but I get a feeling it will.

 

that must have been wuite a shock. I have a feeling there was more to it like was it really hot outside and you had an ac on? Something to cause an extreme temp difference? I have seen a few sunroofs shatter from being the sun and an extreme temp diff occurs due to like weather.

 

the sun roof needs to be safety glass!!!

 

maybe it was just a bird who had been holding it in for a while

 

this has happened to other vehicles before including one of my friends. it's temperature stresses that cause it. i wouldn't consider it a major design flaw as it is just multiple isolated incidents (granted quite a few)

don't let this take away from owning the car. it's just a little bad luck.. that's all.

 

I would've thought the same, but the temp was around 65-70 degrees (only 8 a.m.) and the daytime high temps recently have only been in the 70s. Low temps in the upper 50s or low 60s? So no extreme temperature changes. I do think the A/C was on, but I think the temp control **** was about the third of the way right of "cold".

I've seen the threads of other exploding roofs, and I always thought, "yeah right, must've been some extreme situation or carelessness", but I now I believe that there's almost nothing that can be done prevent or lessen the chance of this happening! It just...happened!

The really sucky part is that I love my tC in every and all ways, but i just can't risk this happening again. If you're on the highway and glass shatters into your eyes...well...you can imagine... I just feel extrememly lucky this time.

 

so then the solution? store your car in the shade?? or what?

 

Solution is, wear a goggle and helmet

 

what year is your tC? I know about 6 months ago i got a letter from scion (mine is an 05 by the way) stating a recall on the sunroof/moonroof and that it was to be replaced by the dealer. Then about 3 months later i got another recall notice about the little front plate of the sunroof (the thing that goes up when it's open) on that also being recalled. So the problem was noted by scion for at least some cars and i know mine has already been replaced (both recalls). Sorry to hear about your unfortunate incident though

 

there are no recalls.... they are TSBs.. completely different.

the TSB on the deflector is adding a laminate to it so that when it does shatter (nothing will prevent it from doing so if your moonroof is open, the deflector is up and some big thing hits and breaks it) that pieces won't fly everywhere.

they don't however have enough incidents on the actual moonroof shattering to have a tsb done. so hmm... yeah.. oh well...

that's what warranty is for.

 

my god

 

My car is on '05.

Hmmm, i had the reflector recall done at the beginning of this year.

I didn't know the actual moonroof was recalled. If so, then maybe my replacement will be a different "version"? I'll have to ask at the dealer when I pick up my car. If so, then maybe I can feel more comfortable with the replacement and i won't necessarily give up the tC.

Thanks for the info.

 

I think that everyone should get their moonroofs tinted with either a clear tint or really light tint. I would not recommend a dark tint because then the glass will heat up even more. If the glass breaks, the pieces will be held together by the tint. There will also be a lot less glass fragments to clean up.

For the comment: "the sun roof needs to be safety glass!!!" The glass is meant to do this, it is safety glass. When fully tempered glass breaks the glass fractures into small, relatively harmless fragments. This phenomenon called "dicing," markedly reduces the likelihood of injury to people as there are no jagged edges or sharp shards. Be glad it is tempered glass, or you would have deep cuts on your head, face and shoulders!

What do you expect from one of the largest moonroofs on the market. A few will break.

 

i meant like safety glass like the windshild kind of safety glass

 

In the famous words of Mencia, find yourself a helmet, put on the helmet.

I would definitely recommend a seller that is a favorite among the many members of Scionlife and Scionetics. Chad is the owner of RockBlocker at http://www.rockblocker.com

You can actually get a hold of him in the Desert & Salt forum about the kits he has that are just like the paint protection kits. He has the sizes for the wind diverter and the sunroof.

 

Hey man I bet it's just like getting struck by lightning- there's an infinitely small chance that it'll happen to YOU again.

 

my bad...not a recall a TSB but yeah i received a TSB on the sunroof and had it replaced

 

life lesson #1 whereing a helmet with a face mask cant hurt to be worn as schwettynuts said

 

ive heard of this happening to another car also.. sorry to hear.

 

yeah, when i go to pick up my car, I think I'll be wearing one of these: