2010 Limited Sunroof Exploded today!

[countryal]

MY wife was comming home from work today when she thought a gun had gone off next to her ear. The sunroof on our 2010 4-Runner Limited had exploded. Thankfully the inner cover was closed or she would have been coverd with glass! As you can see from the pictures the glass is pushed up from the inside so I know it was'nt hit from the outside. Has anyone else had this happen? I have owned a lot of vehicles with sunroofs and have never had this happen. Needless to say It goes to the dealer first thing in the morning. It has less than 2000 miles on it!

 

[reklov]

That is crazy, hope it gets resolved.

 

[NTUR4]

What the heck?! That is pretty crazy - keep us posted.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

what was the weather like when it happened?

 

[westwind77]

It looks like the main 'crack' runs diagonal, makes me wonder if somehow the frame is some how torqued/twisted causing pressure on the sunroof, then when a bump is hit in just the right manor the stress is too much and 'boom'. That seems like a highly unlikely situation, but physically it does provide a plausible explanation. Pressure from around the edges pushing in is going to be the cause of this, how that happened is not clear though. Best of luck with the repairs, make sure they find out what caused it!

 

[philsey]

I think your wife had the tunes cranked too high .... :dancin: :dancin: :dancin:

 

[zidaro]

Bummer!!
Hope there is a good reason and a better solution

 

[countryal]

Well, the Dealer determined something hit one corner of the sunroof outside and caused it to shatter and the reason for it being pushed out was the pressure inside the vehicle when going down the road.

 

[nashman69g]

of course they "determined" that...this could be possible; it also could be other things. Its hard to tell from the pictures. Maybe you can provide some more pictures from different positions.

 

[SeattleMike]

I could see a rock being kicked up in traffic and landing on it, and positive pressure from the fan causing it to crackle on the way home. It's just as likely as any other plausible explanation. If there were any issue with production, I am sure we would have heard of it by now.

 

[mpaquette]

Yeah, I could see a rock doing something like this, especially on the freeway or even a 2 lane road with a 55 mph limit.

On a previous vehicle, I had a rock hit the top of my hood on a freeway entrance ramp once. It was kicked up by a truck that was quite a ways in front of me. It came flying toward me in slow motion, then WHAM!! Put a nice big dent in my hood.

 

[zerowkul98]

Same thing happened to me!! Damn big rigs! Sorry bout your sunroof, man.

 

[nashman69g]

I'm not trying to discredit the dealer. I've had all kinds of crazy crap fly at me--including wheel barrows.

 

[dekeman]

The good thing in all this is, aside from no one getting hurt, is that the glass sheet seems to have remained in tact and didn't blow into a billion pieces, some of which would have no doubt gone into the roof cavity and been there to rattle around for eternity. It shattered exactly as it was designed to do, but didn't fall out. Neat.

 

[countryal]

The weather was sunny and hot 95 or better. My first thought was heat build up between the glass and the inside cover. then the temp change inside with the air cond. The service writer showed me how it looked like it cracked from the pass. rear corner to the drivers front corner. I would take some more pictures but its at the dealer now. I have contacted my insurance company and they are to send an adjuster out Monday to look at it. Bad thing now is, there is not a replacement in Jacksonville(We are in Alabama) so they are trying to get one out of California. It will be at least Wednesday before it gets here.

 

[ciaz]

I had that happen to me on the freeway in my Infiniti G35. A rock hit it from a car in front of me! YES IT DID SOUND LIKE A GUNSHOT!!!

See below:

 

[countryal]

I had that happen to me on the freeway in my Infiniti G35. A rock hit it from a car in front of me! YES IT DID SOUND LIKE A GUNSHOT!!!

See below:

Isn't it amazing how the glass pushes up from the inside!

 

[08fourrunner]

On the way to Oklahoma 6/04/08 at approximately 12:50 pm the sunroof of my 2008 Toyota 4Runner with 6600 miles on it exploded for no apparent reason. The outside temperature was 85 degrees and sunny. Speed was 70-75mph. There was a hole in the center of the glass like it was sucked up and out. The glass around the hole was in an upward position. We had the shade closed and the glass flew behind us all over the road. Although we didn't have glass enter the cab it was like a bomb went off. It exploded with what seemed like force behind it. The strange thing is that we had 2 trucks blow their horn as us as we were passing them, I still wonder if they were trying to tell us something was wrong with the glass. Toyota fixed it under warranty, but had to replace the rails and several other parts.

 

[terra4r]

could be pushing out due to the shape of the glass itself, and the stress associated with that. sucks anyways you look at it tho.

this happened to the the early scion tC's (all glass roof), they ended up revising the glass panel to be laminated.

 

[BrandonS]

I bet some of the bowing out is due to a low pressure area created over that area from the windshield being just in front.