Hello everyone,

Last night while driving back home on I-25, at around 9:30 pm, in Denver I heard a loud explosion sound. I looked over to the passenger side of my car to see the front passenger window shattered and the rear window shattered as well. The only thing keeping the window together was the tint film. Luckily, I did not lose control of the car and was able to exit the highway safely and parked in the Aururia Campus parking lot.

Initially, I thought someone had thrown an object towards my car, either intentionally or unintentionally. I called Denver police who responded promptly as well as campus police.

Now armed with flashlight we start looking at the damage in the vehicle and all indications seem to suggest that something occurred within the vehicle. There was little to no body damage on the outside other than where one window ends and the other begins. What’s even more bizarre about this is that there was some sort of liquid stain on the interior side of the passenger door, the passenger seat, and below the back window as well as something that looked like a copper/rust stain that was also on the inside of the passenger door and below the back window. Finally, there is a section on the passenger door, right below the lock where it appears that something cut through the leather.

I am no expert when it comes to knowing how vehicles or their electrical systems operate, but, I along with the police officers at the scene concluded that something must have happened with the airbag system. The side airbags did not deploy at all, and I don’t know if that was because they were not active since no one was sitting in the passenger seat.

I have attached some pictures regarding the incident; any feed back or comment is greatly appreciated. Sorry about the quality of the pictures, they were taking with a camera phone at night.

The car is currently at a dealership where I was told that there was no malfunction of any sorts and that it appears to them that something hit my car. The police officers and I were unable to find any debris inside the vehicle.

 

One more picture. I do have plenty more if anyone is interested.

 

I guess I forgot to mention that I have an R56 that I have had for about 3 years and currently has just shy of 70.000 miles.

 

...that would have scared the crap out of me. Glad you came through it unscathed.

I haven't a clue as to the cause. Seems like anything related to the safety system pyrotechnics-wise would have at least thrown a detectable code.

 

Check this thread out. It also has links to two other threads. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...er-window.html

Hope it helps!

 

Giessy,

do you have a photo of the side of the seat closest to the door damage. It almost looks as if the firing mechanism for the air bag in the seat blew with out filing the airbag. This could be a real problem in an acident if the airbag needs to deply and the fieing mechanism explodes instead and then burns someone.

 

Looks like rust in your pics, like off a cable or chain that may have been winged at you(?). Also damage to the trim on the outstide makes me believe that something was tossed/kicked up at you. Not sure about the "liquid" stains. Great job maintaining control!

 

schatzy62, unfortunately, the first picture I posted is the best one that I have for the seat side closest to the door.

Thanks LadyGodiva, I’ll check out those threads.

Here are a couple more pictures. My insurance company is sending out an estimator who is going to look at the damage. This should be interesting because my insurance policy does not cover manufacturer defects and I don’t know if mini would acknowledge if it was a manufacturer defect.

 

A couple more...

I will keep everyone posted on what happens. If this really is a manufacturer defect, I hope that it was only in my car. It was a very frightful experience.

 

I am agreeing that it looks like something hit right between the windows. It may just be the photo, but it sure looks like impact marks.

Chain seems like a good fit to me.

 

Holy crap! That's weird. Can the police test the area/residue for acid? It appears in the pic of the inside passenger door that something caused the vinyl to bubble and that orange-ish/rust-colored staining looks almost like a liquid stain. Glad you're safe above all else but will definitely keep an eye on this thread so keep us posted as you come to some sort of resolutioin. Good Luck!

 

It's pretty obvious that something hit your vehicle. Possibly it was an object kicked up by a vehicle near you or something that fell off of a truck. I think you will not have a problem with the insurance company taking care of it. You will be out the deductible though. Glad you weren't injured.

Bob

 

or something like that. You got clobbered by something that came into the car and melted.

Ice.

I'll betcha.

...Les

 

Where you by chance carying any sort of explosives?

No honestly I am glad you are ok, and I am stumped as to the cause. My first thought was the flotation device of death system(airbags) but I am not sure. I will look into it more, keep us posted on what the verdict is.

 

That's really bizarre...

My thought is something came thru the passenger window, scraped the inner top of the door, and hit the pillar, and fell back to the road. It just didnt come into the car.
Road debris, I am thinking, something that had some sort of liquid or goo in it, like an old can of something. Needs a forensic exam!!

Definitely keep us posted!

 

I wish I could see how much glass is on the floor inside the car. With you and the police (who saw all of the damage) guessing that *it* came from in the car, I'm guessing that there was very little glass inside. If it were a chain or something else from outside, I believe there would be a ton of glass in the car.

I'm completely with CalicoGal - if that goo could be analyzed, and it turned out to be MINI goo (as in part of the airbag system) then they would have to make good on it.

And if their were a malfunction, as schatzy62 pointed out, would it throw a code?

Best of luck getting to the bottom of this - I'm interested to know what happened... Very glad you're OK. Would have scared the crap out of me, too!

As I read this, I had flashbacks to a seagull that once dropped a sea urchin on the right, front fender of my Bronco II (no I'm not making this up). The sound of it hitting the truck was frightening enough - but it became a little worse when we realized that fragments of the sea urchin had glanced off the side mirror, came in through the open passenger window and lodged in my buddy's neck, who was sitting in the passenger seat. He was a little bloody, but only superficial cuts. To this day, we refer to it as the "sea urchin shrapnel incident".

Sorry for the hi-jacking...

 

Wow, must have been loud too.

Back window shattered from impact of object with B pillar, not from a direct hit. I agree with poster above. Some rusty contruction equipment tossed by some misguided lad, or bounced from the back of a truck or kicked up from the roadway by another vehicle onto your car.

Great driving skills BTW. Didn't lose your cool, and pulled safely to the side of the roadway taking all the appropriate measures.

You gonna be an airline pilot some day ?

BTW: If it happend in a contrustion zone or site. I would go back there and get their info. They are required to have insurance to cover stuff like this....

 

I agree that it looks like some kind of object (container, rock, aircraft toilet ice, deer, etc) was flung at your car, busting the front window, and hitting the b-pillar, causing the rear side window to break. The one side shot shows the glass stress cracks radiating from the impact area. A deer running into the side of your car could explain the damage and the moisture, but there would usually be hair left on the car.

If it had been an airbag inflator deploying, you would definitely know it. Had the inflator fired, there should at least be some airbag trying to escape. They do partially fire sometimes (gas leaked out or missing propellant), but there should still be exit residue from where the airbag is located and a definite gun-powder smell. Either way, if any airbag fires, the initiator becomes an open circuit and would trigger a warning. The system checks electrical resistance for all airbags each time you start the car.

 

Another vote for an impact. Had that happen to my in, where else, Denver. 67 Bug. A rock about the size of a grapefruit bounced out of a truck, off the road and directly centered the windshield in front of the passenger. It did not come through, and no glass got in our eyes. I did have to clean off the seat. Can't blame blame my passenger. Truck continued on.

 

Maybe you got hit by lightning...

 

My guess is a meteor strike

 

woke up one AM and went to my 09 S in the carport and the rear pass quarter window was shattered. like your glass, the tint held it together. But I (or the Safelight guy) could not find impact points, so he theorized that dust from (then frequent) windstorms could have incised and weakened the glass to the point that it just gave way. It's also a well known fact that German glass is not the toughest out there.

But that door damage is truly bizarre! Keep us posted.

 

Thanks everyone for the serious responses and the funny ones. Definitely after reading some of the comments a chain does sound like a more fitting possibility than a malfunctioning airbag that did not deploy.

My girlfriend received a call from the insurance inspector/appraisal. According to him I’m lying. He states that either the car was stopped when it happened or someone drove up to my car and started beating on it because of the multiple impact points. Now I’m just waiting his phone call to clear this up so that the Mini people can order the parts and start working on my car.

 

Hope you're able to get it fixed without too much hassle!

I heard a loud bang driving home last week and didn't see anything. I had read the threads on here about the exploding sunroofs and was worried! Looked around, everything seemed in tact. Not a crack or anything anywhere. Then i was like "oh no! If it hit the paint, that'd be even worse!". Drove home... walked around the car. Mindy seemed fine, just the same small paint chips she already had. What a relief. I'm sure you had to be in quite a panic.

 

I also vote impact with the others here.

Could have been anything really... though it looks like some sort of rusty/greasy/(i assume) metal part. Like a part from a bulldozer on a trailer, ect.