Justification for driving around with the sunroof open and the windows down...it relieves the pressure.

Glad to hear the dealer has seen this, knows what it is, and is fixing it.

 

Do you mean a bottle of champagne? Wine should not be a problem as it is not under pressure. So remeber kids, no drinking and driving ( or opening champagne in the car) because you might blow out your sunroof!!

 

The dealership called late yesterday and said if the glass came in as requested that I should have my car back today. They have removed the old glass and cleaned up the debris, so they are ready to go once the glass arrives.

I did not have the auto-temp on when the roof glass blew. Call me paranoid but in the future, I think I will always have the auto-temp on or a window down to insure some airflow through the cabin.

Once I get the car back, I'll post any final thoughts about the delearship experience and any subsequent findings.

 

SHARK, do you know if the replacement sunroof glass will be tinted?

 

Do you live like up in mountains or something where the temperature in the car could have had an effect on it?

EDIT: just saw the pics and dealer explanation

 

I would have them check the vents which control airflow out of your car. My hypothesis is, If they've been blocked up, this created a significant back pressure in the car with air coming in but unable to get out, which popped the sunroof.


/edit, oh hey, just read the dealer's feedback above. Wow, surprised they support my hypothesis, it seemed far fetched.

 

Good one

 

I slammed the driver's door on my father's BMW X5 last year and the entire rear window shattered. They replaced it no questions asked under warranty.

 

So I gave this some more thought. Looking at your picture above, I noticed that a part of the seal around the glass looks off in the top left corner. If so, it might have let air through the gap and inside the roof area. Since your sunvisor door was closed, this air had no where to go so it built up pressure until your sunroof shattered.

This makes more sense, as the pressure would need to have been fairly significant, and if it had built up inside your car, I think you would have noticed...

 

With that kind of pressure would your ears have popped?
Or maybe if the roof did not shatter would opening the car door sound like opening a bottle of soda? (Whoosh).

 

It sure didn't happen from that awesome low freq. subwoofer we have.

 

Picked the car up today. Its looks great. Yes, the replacement window was from Acura and is tinted like the original. The was no charge as it was covered under warranty. It seals up nicely and doesn't rattle (which was a concern of mine!)

Kudos to my dealership, Acura of Boardman, who handled this repair quickly and properly. Very professional Having it blow out and then repaired in a little over 24 hours or so is quite impressive.

They did take pictures to send to Acura for their review. They can only guess and still assume its from cabin pressure and defective glass but who really knows. If they hear anything for Acura, they will let me know and I'll pass it on.

I know there have been quite a few horror stories about Acura service and customer care. This is my 1st experience (beyond routine service) and I am quite pleased with the way it was handled.

 

Tempered glass can do some odd things so out of curiosity you Googled a bit and came up with some interesting info about tempered glass.

It seems that there is a fair amount of evidence that supports "spontaneous breakage” or “delayed breakage” in tempered glass. That is, something in the manufacture, installation or even a previous "whack" could set up conditions for a failure weeks later. Or, it could be due to an impurity in the particular piece of glass. Here is one such reference. There are plenty more to be found as well

Since I am skeptical that the pressure in a moving car would be enough to "pop" out the sun roof I'd say that there is a good chance you had a "spontaneous breakage” or “delayed breakage” and the slight positive pressure in the cabin was enough to make it blow out, not in. Yes, there are a few square feet of glass there so even a few psi would be a lot of force but your ears would have noticed a few psi bump.

So I, for one, am not concerned about a rash of such failures and simply put this in the "shit happens" file.

The best news is that Shark was not hurt and the dealer is being very good about it.

 

The guy I usually use to get my glass fixed told me this exact same thing. The molecular structure of tempered glass is such that even using the rear defrost may blow out the window. Of course, these are very rare events, and your sunroof might be one of those times.

 

I thought I had Deja Vu when I read this... then I searched and found this thread:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...unroof+shatter

That poor guy seems to have had to pay the repair cost himself. I also think I read another thread about it somewhere on here but couldn't find it. I thought I remembered someone saying it was due to a twist or pressure on the sunroof due to the tracks not being aligned correctly.

 

was there a reallllly bad lightning storm around your car or something, recently? I hope that never happens to me, i always drive aroud with the sunroof closed but the cover pulled back, for the extra light.

 

If the dealer won't cover it through warranty, try your comprehensive insurance (glass breakage), if it costs more than your deductible.

 

Hey, that was me! I also had deja-vu when I saw the thread title. Picture posted by shark is exactly how mine looked. Unfortunately, my dealer wasn't as cooperative. Pohanka Acura, are you listening? As noted, I paid $250 out of pocket deductible through insurance comprehensive coverage.

Keep your sunshade closed, b/c someone may be next to have this happen. I tend to agree that is flaw of the tempered glass manufacturing process.

Oh well, just memories now......

 

Adobeman, I think you hit the nail on the head. Since this happened, I have found quite a few people who have had "spontaneous breakage" of tempered glass including rear windows and side windows. It certainly doesn't seem to be an Acura/Honda problem as it seems to cover all makes and models.
Fortunately it is still quite rare.

 

damn, was Cheney on the passenger side with his gun and saw some ducks flying above..??....


...."..all he needed to do was to open the roof just this much and I would have gotten that damn duck....."




But seriously there had to have been a drastic change in the weather or the temp had to have been close to 100 for that to happen...my

 

Very unpleasant story. I just found out the same thing on a 07 MDX. Check it out. Something is not right with the glass.

Try to break the glass with your hands. You will be surprised even you break your arm you won't be able to break the glass. I had the experience to break the door window (which is much bigger than the sunroof window) with a big hammer to rescue someone trapped inside. It's not a easy task to break it! It can't be the cabin pressure. If it is, way before the pressure is high enough to shatter the glass, all passengers will be killed first. The glass must have very high residue stress from the menufacturing process, aka, defects. And, what scared me is, the quality of Honda parts is very similar. So, if one car has that problem, most likely the others will have the same thing. It's just not happened yet. Not to say it has 2 already.

Suggest you report to NHTSA asap.


http://www.acuramdx.org/forums/showt...threadid=26708

 

wow thats a recent post too....dec 2006!

 

well that sucks but you got it taken care of quickly.

Too bad you didn't get some a-spec wheels for your troubles...

 

I had that happen to me also. And as you can see the glass blew outward. However, with mine if you look close you can see a possible impact spot on the leading edge. It was nice of your dealer to cover it but I think still a rock may have grazed it.

I was driving down a freeway and heard a loud BANG! Then an open air sound. Sliding back my cover I saw this...

I was fixed and everything still appears stock thank goodness. Sorry that happen to you too Shark.

Oh and I have an 2004, this happen a few months after I got the car.

 

Dealer nvr heard of it?.. either they're stupid.. or they're lying. cause i've heard of this problem before.... and i KNOW dealerships talk.... this happends to TL's and RL's for some strange reason.

 

Hey MikeBenz,

Sorry to thread hijack, but your PM is full.