any updates from OP?

 

Though I've not had the roof window breaking problem some have mentioned (& hope I never do) suspect that if it broke outwardly the cause was not related to anything hitting it. As sunroofs get bigger they are subject to additional forces & even the slightest movement of the roof could shatter the window. Would not take much force

 

Which is why they should have a flexible surround. For the smaller front sunroof, I believe the glass is in a metal frame that rests inside the roof opening, surrounded by a gasket. Dunno about the rear sunroof.

And I dunno why the heck they thought that rear sunroof was necessary or even desirable. Talk about feature creep.

 

You all sounded like Acura is the only vehicle that has a panoramic sunroof. It’s the norm, almost every SUV in this segment has it. However, this is definitely not normal (assuming reports of road conditions are truthful and no debris smashing in)

No sunroof should require film or any sort of DIY to prevent it from shattering under normal circumstances but maybe a temp fix for those who are worried... (and worry you should be if you have younger toddlers)

Good luck on class action tho, there was someone here trying to start one but probably went no where. I also seriously doubt we will hear anything official from Acura given the track record they have with RDX’s reported issues.

 

In the 1950's every car had rocket fins.

 

if you’re going to do that, you may as well go with a darker heat reflecting tint to make it more comfortable to keep the sun shade open when driving. I had a 20% tint added to mine and I like it very much.

of course, I’d much rather have no sunroof at all.

 

If you install tint on the inside of the moonroof, they will use that against you if something does happen and you try to call foul. Best option is to keep the sun shade closed.

 

Mercedes-Benz recalls 750,000 cars for sunroofs that can fly off

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/04/...pADy8WSppbe4Dm

 

Um, because it’s awesome?! I don’t see how anyone doesn’t appreciate the pano sunroof. It’s amazing, and one of the reasons I bought the car. I wish I had the luxury of riding in the backseat so I could appreciate it more!

 

yea I agree with that

 

I agree too!

 

Which is kinda the point. If you're NOT riding in the back seat, what benefit does it provide? Maybe it gives you a better view of the boulder that's tumbling down a hillside and about to crush you?

Whatever. If I want a better view, I ride my bike or walk. Pretty simple, actually. More people should try it.

 

You might be missing the point.....what you said is like someone saying, 'well if I want to go faster, I'll ride a motorcycle' or 'if I want comfort, I'll sit on my couch'. By your logic, why have back seats? You literally see ZERO benefits? If so, then all good, keep your shade closed and you'll forget you have a pano in no time.

 

I'm not missing anything. I see no benefit to ME, driving the car, and even when I have a back seat passenger they aren't all that interested in having a glass sunroof above their heads. The constant glare would interfere with their iPhone viewing.

The problem is that the feature has costs, whether I use it or not. It's a huge hole in the structure of the vehicle, and the structural reinforcement that was done to accommodate it eats into storage space.

Not that my opinion matters, cuz the thing isn't going away for this vehicle. So if you like it, enjoy.

 

Alright man, you are entitled to your opinion. It's not for everyone! I wish you would like it and enjoy it like some of us on here! Besides that though, you have to admit, this new RDX is pretty great.

 

Natural light, the feeling of openness...sitting in a car without a pano sunroof now feels dark and cramped to me.

 

I would love if sunroof was an option you can add, so that only people that need it could get it... but unfortunately its not the case.
I personally rarely open it up, its more of a toy for me to show others, but have no practical use for it in a daily life.

 

so no one is concerned about the explosion but rather just not have them to begin with... another "advance tech" that is putting a ding on Acura's unreliability rating i guess?

 

apparently some people like these sunroofs. I just wish it was optional. Its probably not cost effective for Acura to build it as optional configuration, so its the same on all cars....

 

AFAIK this ain’t a widespread problem, or one particular to Acura. There are some anecdotes in this thread, but that’s not data. One commenter here talked about experiencing it in his Murano and said it was the 86th such case for that model, but even that represents only an incredibly small percentage of all the Muranos on the road.

 

Yeah, I think folks forget that just because some people bring up issues on a forum, it doesn't mean it's representative of the entire line up of the vehicle. It's a given that there will always be defects as even six sigma will not give you 100% perfection (trained green belt).

 

yeah, 56K RDXs were sold in 2019.

 

If they sold a flat 56K then about 2 should have the sunroof issue.

 

How do you know that? Do you have access to repair records for every RDX sold, including repairs done at independent shops? Amazing.

 

Hi Wander - I probably wasn't clear. I don't know how many sunroof defects occurred for the 56K RDX's sold last year. I'm just saying that even if Acura/Honda subscribes to the Six Sigma methodology in manufacturing then they will still have at least two vehicles with this defect.

Even if they had 100 RDXs of the 56K sold, that's still only .18% (not even 1/5 of 1%) of all vehicles sold with this defect.

My point is that even if 100 vehicles had sunroof issues, that's still less than 1% of the 56K sold and not representative of what 99.82% of RDX owners would experience.

 

Just like you dont know. We saw one or two failures here, we would see a larger number here if it would be an issue.

 

Assumption, NOT fact.

Pulling random numbers out of thin air does not impress.

OTOH there are a lot of things I'm more worried about than my sunroof exploding. Hopefully, I'm not naive.

 

Acura seems to have used a different methodology with the infotainment system.

AFAIK design issues may supersede random process failures in manufacturing.

Anyway, here's hoping more of these "low probability events" don't crop up as these vehicles age.

 

there are 100s of people on RDX forum, and one or 2 complained, its an issue now?
when there is an issue, you will know from dozens of posts.

 

Back in 2001, when I had Acura CL and there was indeed an issue with their 5AT, you KNEW from numerous posts that there is a PROBLEM.

 

Did that transmission problem crop up right away, or did it take a while? It took 10 years and 154k miles before the 5AT in my 2003 MDX got killed by the radiator/transmission cooler time bomb.

For all I know, this "exploding sunroof" thing is a rare glitch, and I hope that's the case. But the data are sparse, and these things haven't been on the road very long.

On this forum, there have been complaints about sunroof "popping noises", presumed to be related to torsional flex of the vehicle. Whether there is any association with these "explosion" glass failures remains to be seen.

 

With failing transmissions it become obvious after 6 month of car being sold, forums were plagued by complaints.
squeaking front suspensions and squealing brakes are real issues, many have had the same complaint. So far I have not seen a pattern with glass shattering, but popping sound is a common occurrence.

 

This happen to me a few days ago. Loud explosion. Nothing hit it. Is pushed up from the inside with force. Shattered glass. At dealership. Waiting for the bad news. The dont want to fix anything under warranty.

 

If you haven't done so, please report it here.
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/

 

With a crack line like that I don’t know how they can deny warranty. If something hit it, it would be either shatter or have a chip mark (like windshield)

 

I agree. The crackline is crazy and looks like something was forced from the inside. Dealer told me they took pictures and sent them to Acura so they can decide. Haven't had much luck when they do that. I'll keep everyone posted as to what happens.

 

If I were a betting man, I'd say Acura will deny responsibility and push this off for the owner to file a comprehensive insurance claim.

So far, I haven't seen any reports where Acura covered this under warranty. If they did, it would open the floodgates for others.

 

if they do deny it, it is very very obvious the failure was a mechanical failure of the sunroof, I would fight them in it

 

The problem is it costs time and money to fight. But it only costs time to escalate to the regional Acura rep.

OTOH check out post #29 in this thread for costs to replace the moonroof assembly. The problem is the headliner needs to come out, and they pretty much have to gut the interior to do that.

https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...opping-983401/

 

Before they decline coverage they must prove it was road hazzard