i strongly disagree about the extreme temp difference being the reason for glass to shatter. i know for this particular person it definetly isn't.

even if it's hot as hell outside and your running your ac full blast, i don't believe it's going to shatter any glass. the ac doesn't just freeze the cabin in the instant, it takes a bit of time for the cabin to get cool gradually. it's not like all of a sudden the cabin is freezing. and if that's the case, all of our sunroof would shatter in the summer time. it's only extreme if your roof was frozen shut and you pour boiling water on it or something.

another incident is when the roof shatters during a hot day under the blazing sun with all the window rolled up. i'm not 100% sure, but i don't think our car is air tight. which is why i don't think it's b/c of the interior air pressure increased by heat that makes the glass shatter due to pressure.

i'm leaning more to the fact that the tC's body integrity got the worst possibly rating according to consumer report. maybe our body structure is so poor and flexible that the heat expanding the metal or body flex during a drive just breaks the glass.

i'm just guessing, i haven't found any real data on why our sunroof shatters. but imo the glass does feel more gragile and thin compared to other models

 

Consumer Report is pure crap.

 

"i'm leaning more to the fact that the tC's body integrity got the worst possibly rating according to consumer report. "

I've never seen this rating in Consumer Reports, but if, IF, this was true (what is your source?) then it must not have really mattered in the big picture, because they gave it a "very good" score and a "recommended" in a recent import comparison.

 

i thought that the sunroof windows were tinted so they wouldn't break like that. If they do break, it would be more like the windshield and not shatter everywhere...

 

THe Manager (Morris) doesnt play that kinda **** @ smith town... he's a stand up guy.

 

It is true. Ive seen it too. It was the lowest rating that the tC had. Im not suprised with all of the rattles and such. I saw it in the CR magazine that has all the ratings for all the cars in it.

 

got a link to that report?

 

Are you like this in all aspects of your life?

Talk about making a HUGE deal out of something so minor. Your sunroof broke, they're fixing it, and no one is hurt.. where's the problem?

 

Pray tell, Nick, when did I make a "HUGE" deal out of this. If posting on an Internet site is a "HUGE" deal to you, Nick, then maybe you should look at your own life! I easily could have:

1) Reported to the NHTSA. I didn't even go that far.
2) Launched a lawsuit. Many people suggested this to me. My response, "WHy the hell would I do that? I didn't even get hurt.
3) Pasted all over the 'Net the Scion is a crap company and Toyota is out to kill people. Did I? NO. I even said Scion is doing a good job taking care of the problem.

Don't talk about me if you don't know me, Nick. And you don't know me, Nick. Stick to talking about the cars, Nick.

 

You have to have a subscription to read the report (I had a friend print the report for me before i bought my tC), and I believe it had a black half dot in the body integrity category. It didn't make a difference to me seeing as the tC is on CR and Intellichoice "recommended" lists.

 

I remember reading several reports on the tC before I got mine...and I don't remember seeing any with a "worst possible" rating on the body integrity. I do recall it being lower than the ratings on the other aspects of the vehicle...but if hypothetically you rate 10 aspects of a car...and 9 get 5 star ratings...but that one gets a 3 or 4...does it make it the "worst possible" rating? I don't think so personally.
Just wondering...

Anyway, I haven't "studied" my wind deflector or anything, but if I remember right there are two rails that are on springs that raise and lower the deflector as the sunroof passes over them. If the sunroof moves out of the way, the two rails allow the deflector to move upward...and if the sunroof moves back foreward they pass over the rails and force the wind deflector downward. If I'm wrong, someone please correct this...but if they work in that manner and the sunroof was closed when this happened, I don't believe a faulty part on the wind deflector could have caused this to happen.

I can't say what did...but I don't think it was that... And it definately wasn't the "extreme" difference in the temp of the cabin and sunroof. As stated by someone else previously something like that could have only occurred if you dumped freezing cold water on a super hot sunroof...or vice versa. And it would have had to be pretty cold or hot to make glass that hot break.

As for the "tint should have held the glass together"...the glass is designed to shatter into hundreds/thousands of little pieces in the event it breaks so that it basically rains little pieces of glass that isn't sharp enough to damage anything... If the sunroof was designed to maintain it's integrity after breaking...it would be a 50lb rock falling on your head...and I would imagine that could hurt...

 

Since I may be getting a new car, I was thumbing through the Consumer Reports and Consumer Guide New car reports and ratings. Consumer Reports did indeed give the worst possibole rating (Solid black circle) to the tC's body integrity. Not that I believe 90% of the stuff in Consumer Reports, though.

 

The wind deflector is held down by the sunroof's edges. The sunroof shattered (edges and center), windeflector popped open. Not the best design, I imagine the wind deflector puts constant pressure on the sunroof, making its breakage all the more easy.

 

http://tijil.org/CR_compare_scion.gif

 

SWEET...

 

I'm pretty sure the tC got the poor body integrity rating due to the all glass roof. It IS glass and of course would not hold up as well as a metal roof. If the body integrity as a whole were an issue, I'm pretty sure the crash test ratings wouldn't be as good as they are.

 

The tC got it's poor body integrity rating for reasons OTHER than the roof was made of glass. Here are the criteria used:



If you want to read the description of ALL the ratings, and the number of problems for a vehicle to rate "average", click this:

http://tijil.org/cr_ratings_key.gif

You'll note that to rate "average" a car has to have no more than three of those body intgegrity problems listed above. The tC rated two steps down from "average."

"Body integrity" is not "crash safety."

Tom

 

have you ever tried to push down your wind deflector by hand? it's not *that* hard. the springs aren't stiff enough to put excessive strain on the glass.

 

i wouldnt get rid of it just for that, just a freak accident

 

Based on their criteria I'll give them wind noise and rattles and squeaks but I don't think that merits their lowest rating. But hey I'm no "Consumer Reports Expert". Either that or they were given a sh*tty test vehicle.