I want to share with everyone the experience my wife I had yesterday and also to find out if it's happened to anyone else.

I was driving her 2009 MC yesterday when the sunroof, for lack of a better term, exploded. I was going about 60 mph, all the windows were up, and fortunately the sunshade was pulled ahead when the sunroof glass just gave way. It sounded like a bomb went off inside the car. When I stopped I could see that the remaining glass was bowed outward as if someone had kicked the glass out from the inside.

After determining that it was safe to drive, we drove on to the next town and vacuumed away the glass that was sitting on the sunshade as well as the tiny shards that managed to fall through it. As it was raining slightly, I got some duct tape and plastic to seal the opening off . We made the remaining two hour drive home to Calgary without difficulty.

My wife had to take the car to work today but thought I would check here to see if this is a common occurence with the Minis before I call the dealer. If it is, it could support my case for warranty coverage for a new replacement glass.

I've done a search on sunroof issues and I could only see problems with it sticikng, either open or shut in hot weather.

 

Sources of "why" are hard to find with glass breakage --

But I would be at dealership asap.

 

Looks like BMW has a history here, and a precedent for warranty coverage:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...loding+sunroof

I'll bet that was scary. Hope you enjoy a quick and satisfactory resolution.

 

I never saw anyone post that happening. Obviously defective glass, and very disconcerting to say the least. I mean there are tons of Arizonans who leave their cars locked in 115 degree heat and the thing doesn't blow. The interiors are probably 150 degrees sometimes.

 

Thanks for the posts so far and the link. I'm just waiting for a call back from the local Mini dealership right now. My wife is now on her way home from work so I will likely head over there as soon as she gets home with the Mini.

Yes, my response when it happened was WTF!!! Scared the heck out us both. All I can say is that it was a good thing that the sunshade was closed or we would have been covered with glass shards.

I'm 99% certain that it was not as a result of a rock. For a rock to hit the sunroof I would think that it would have to be bouncing on the road and a person would see that coming.

 

Wow thats crazy, I've never heard of that hapaning on any car.

Keep us posted as to what happens with it, and good luck

 

Search some more; one thread on the subject (in Stock Prob... or Interior?) had detailed tech of the issue that resulted in a change by MINI to Warranty it.

 

glad u ok...keep us posted

 

Sounds like an issue due to the pressure difference at high speed. Seems like these issuses were happening at highway speeds......


Is there a link to that?

A~

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post2128190

 

Oh boy, now I'm going to be afraid of it.

 

That same thing happened to me in a different type of car. It was scary!

 

Any chance this happened shortly after or before going under an overpass? Maybe something was thrown from the overpass and was the cause of your sunroof breaking.

 

Nope. On a 2 lane highway, nowhere close to any overpasses.

Temp was about 15 degrees C (60 degrees F) with a very light rain falling so it certainly wouldn't have been a result of pressure built up from extreme heat.

I will see the dealer tomorrow armed with some of the info that I've found here. Hopefullly they'll say that warranty will cover it.

 

Hope you get it resolved, would of scared the #### out of me.
Hailstone, ice off airliner, meterorite ?

 

Thanks for providing the link; that was the thread I referred to.

Most likely just pure spontaneous breakage from a defect. Quite rare, but it does happen.

Had a sliding glass door to the patio do it once (thirty years ago) and it just ended up as a pile of diamonds.
Was right there and nothing touched it and absolutely no warning.

Tempered Glass is normally a lot stronger than you would think,
that's why they sell those special tools to break a glass after you drive off into a deep canal.

 

I could have sworn there was a thread about the sun roof exploding... Scary, glad no one was hurt.

 

There's enough pressure upward against any car roof (look at the old convertables driving, they looked like pillowcases with a blower in them) to shatter a sunroof that had its structural integrity disrupted by cracking. The whole thing would decide to go all at once in an upward direction. Pretty classic physics experiment imo.

 

Just imagine how much pressure is applied every time you slam the doors or shut the boot!

 

That is what I was thinking...... Lots of pressure and if glass is up there, it's only a matter of how fast your going and how much pressure is in the cabin......

A~

 

I don't know but this should be a valid warranty claim. MINI said that "they had no other claims of such damage on a R56" in Chili Carts 2008 happening, so "sorry, no pay". Well you have his history on your side, go after them!! This really no different than having a gear shift lever break or an alloy wheel suddenly turn to powder. Odd, yes but still something that should not happen. If was a common problem then it would be a recall situation.

Ben

 

The pressure is constant what happens is when the car is moving the air flowing over the roof has less pressure so if their is a defect in the glass the interior pressure could cause it to blow outward.........It's called the Bernouilli Effect/Principle.......next time you are on the freeway and see a convertible check it out in action. BMW has had similar issues in Z3 Coupes, X3's etc for years. Other manufactures have also had the same issue.

Here's a video that simplifies the principle.

 

If it was in the closed position it could have been an adjustment issue with the sunroof motor. If it pulled the frame down hard on the last closing. If the frame is loose, but sealed, the glass can move around under the normal stresses of driving. Clamped down tight, the glass and frame become part of the load bearing structure of the roof. The metal roof can flex, the glass....not so much.

 

As far as shutting the doors, there is no pressure build up when you shut a door. The reason the windows dip when you open the door is to keep from pressure building up when you shut the door.

 

Well, actually, the windows dip because the trim on the side of the roof is lower than the window's full up position.