Shattered Sunroof - Assistance and Advice...

[55jwb]

Hi,

my wife was driving her i3 this week after the car had been stationary for over a week as away on holiday. whilst driving through a quiet village with a speed camera van at one end everyone was only doing 30 mph or just under and her sunroof suddenly explodes covering her in glass! it was in her hair and in her clothes and in the process cut her arm and when hitting her eye even managed to tear a contact lense!

Suffice it to say she was extremely shaken and made a very emotional call from the side of the road trying to tell me what happened. I asked her if she could move the sun blind over enough to be able to drive without any more glass falling on her which she did and she got herself to our local dealer. Dealer were great, sorted the hire car and looked into parts, 5-10 days...

that was yesterday, just took a call from them today and they are saying they believe the sunroof was actually hit by something because of the shape of the shattering and as such it cannot be a warranty claim... the parts without fitting and VAT are likely to come in at £2,500!! WTF!!

I have asked for pictures of what they claim to be the impact area but wondered if there were any thoughts on here or experiences of sunroof exploding anywhere else?? I have a vague recollection that not long after we purchased the car last year we had a recall for a sunroof issue, anyone remember that??

many thanks

Jason

 

[55jwb]

update!!!!

Dealer has just come back to me and said it needs 15 hours of labour as the whole roof needs to be replaced in order to replace the broken glass in the sunroof, total "estimated" bill including parts, labour and VAT £4,500!!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

the car is only work £20k retail, its 25% of the value of the car!!!! what if it went again? whilst highly unlikely how can two sunroof's be 50% of a 2 year old car's value!!!

I am totally floored, dealer suggesting there is nothing I can do and want me to contact insurer to get authorisation for the work!!! WTF!!! I can risk driving around in this car for fear of a broken sunroof, having googled it today, its not as uncommon as you would think!!!

helpful guidance gratefully appreciated

 

[joey003]

Damn, that sucks - sorry to hear about it. Almost makes me question whether I should not have ordered the sunroof on my soon to arrive i3. Between that and the few stories about the all glass hatch being expensive to replace/repair, I hope I don't run into any issues.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Personally, I don't see the allure of an extra hole in the roof! While driving, I can't take the time to view things, it lets in more heat, creates more glare, adds weight at the worst possible location (high away from the center of gravity), reduces headroom (admittedly, a personal problem!), is a potential leak and squeak point, costs more to buy, and it's not uncommon to actually cost more to insure.

Whatever floats your boat, but there are cars I'd like to consider, that only come with one, and that generally, puts them out of the running. IOW, I'd much rather not have one, or even the option, then the manufacturer wouldn't tie it to an options package that forces you to either get it or live without something else you really do want.

Tempered glass is funny stuff...a hit or scratch from something doesn't always immediately cause a failure, but the nature of tempered glass is that if it has been damaged, when stress is applied, it can explode to relieve that stress starting at that weakened point. So, it could easily have been something that hit the glass, but it didn't need to have just happened when it broke. High temperatures, hitting a bump that twists the chassis (the CFRP is pretty stiff, though), a rapid thermal shock, all can trigger that explosion if the surface has been compromised earlier. Course, if it's a big enough 'hit', it can happen immediately.

Sorry to hear about the loss. Hope you have good insurance!

 

[55jwb]

We didn't spec the car, it was an ex-bmw car so it came as it did....

with hindsight I would choose to be driving around in a car that could have that much of a liability of cost of replacement.

£4,500 is an excessive amount of money for any car, let alone a small'ish i3

As posted above, I think what happened is there was a previous impact, when it went last week it was over stressed, it was tilted and had not been driven in over a week and had been sat in hot weather a lot...

I am trying to appeal to the dealer to support me in applying to BMW for a contribution to the cost of replacement as this does not seem fair...

 

[Diarmaid]

You are correct,
£4,500 is an excessive amount of money for any car repair, I have ordered a new i3 and this news really appals me, I just hope for your sake that your insurance will pay for the damage and that your wife recovers from the shock.

 

[GI3L]

update!!!!

Dealer has just come back to me and said it needs 15 hours of labour as the whole roof needs to be replaced in order to replace the broken glass in the sunroof, total "estimated" bill including parts, labour and VAT £4,500!!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

the car is only work £20k retail, its 25% of the value of the car!!!! what if it went again? whilst highly unlikely how can two sunroof's be 50% of a 2 year old car's value!!!

I am totally floored, dealer suggesting there is nothing I can do and want me to contact insurer to get authorisation for the work!!! WTF!!! I can risk driving around in this car for fear of a broken sunroof, having googled it today, its not as uncommon as you would think!!!

helpful guidance gratefully appreciated

20k ? do you have a BEV or REX.. but even 20k? how many km/miles did you put on to it?

 

[Surge]

Old post, just saw this...

This is very likely NOT an impact, but defective glass. Google it.
It happened with the side window of my Lexus CT200h. There are many instances of faulty glass, especially sunroofs, that "explode".

Was it a hot day? Was there a large temperature difference between the inside and outside of the car?

You should fight this and file a suit if necessary.

Something hitting the glass would have caused a crack in the area it hit, and you would have seen the object if it was large enough to destroy the entire sunroof.