:tap: :yawn: :tap: :yawn:
So, I know things happen with 1st year cars. You know things that they haven't worked the kinks out yet. But MY SUNROOF BLEW UP!! It was shut, there was no one in front of me on the off ramp, and no huge bump in the road. How does that happen? I had been hearing loud "thunks" when the unibody would tweak, and I had the dealership look at it at about 7500 miles, now that I just got my 10000 mile oil change, 3 days later my roof just goes pop. I am not sure why tC's are having the roof problem, but I was under the impression that the small un-movable window was the one that was breaking, not the sunroof. I think that the roof had been getting weaker over time, and for some reason the two bars that are spring loaded for the air dam, basically forced their way through the glass pane shattering it. That's all I can come up with other than the Chaos Theory and the stupid butterfly in Guatemala. Good news is, it is under manufacturers warranty so it will be fixed for free. Bad news is that my stupid Platinum Warranty, (that I have yet to get any use out of my $800 and my car has been in the shop about 6 times now including oil changes and modifications), doesn't cover my roof shattering and the dealership needing to order me a piece of glass, therefore keeping my car for a "few days" and have no loaner car! No complaints about the dealer, seriously they have been nothing but great from day one, just a little ____ed that I have no car again, and my extended warranty doesn't help yet once again. So anyone who's roof is making funny noises and/or whistling while you drive down the freeway, get it looked at. Take care, later.

wow sorry man. thats kinda scary and weird that it would just explode like that. didnt the dealer give u a rental car?

I am so sorry to hear about your troubles.. Hopefully your dealership will get the parts in quickly and it will be fixed and be better than new.

I'm just glad you weren't hurt by shattering glass..

Good luck.

WTF?!?! what you do?

yea i heard that happen to someone when they shut the door. the glass just popped...sry to hear man
hope all gets fixed

Thanks everyone.
Basically called the dealer and taped up the roof. Didn't get hurt so I'm lucky, but I was going about 55 just getting on the off ramp of the freeway.
No rental. Supposidly not covered in the extended warrenty.

If you have enough problems, check your lemon law, you may be up for a new tC!

i've heard this a few times now... is the sunroof made of tempered glass? i believe there was a thread a while back about a chip in tempered glass and how it might just blow up...

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=487791&highlight=tempered#487791

hmm this makes me think i shouldnt get a tC at all

Wow, ejector seat!

I hope they fix that well for you!

man...is that y the tC is so cheap...they cut a lil bit here and there, and make the ride cheap. If that's the case...i sure did regret that i got a tC

i get a popping sounds sometimes when i go over spped bumps and other big bumps... i hope my sunroof does not break :pray:

i get a popping sounds sometimes when i go over spped bumps and other big bumps... i hope my sunroof does not break :pray:

Go get yours looked at. Tell the dealer that it is popping when the unibody twists and see what they can do. Like I said mine was ok for about 2000 miles, but it wasn't fixed. I know they have a TSB out on it for the noise, something about tightening some bolts on the air dam, but have them look at the roof in the entirety. The air dam, sunroof: tracks and glass, and un-movable piece of glass.

I wouldn't consider mine a lemon, it has been in the shop 6 times but nothing severe until now. 2 oil changes because of the 5000 miles, 2 for modifications, and 2 for the roof including today. all 4 times related to the modifications and roof have been all day or over night and I haven't gotten a rental car because the extended warrenty only cover severe maint. work (but not glass) and no modifications where I "elect" to take my car in. I mean come on, I put an extra couple of grand at least in upgrades because of the pure price deal and I don't get a rental. What the hell? So does that mean if I put the (way overdue and probably not worth it) supercharger on it for $2600 I don't get a rental? Rediculous.

I know this sounds like I'm ranting, but I do love my car. Anyone that is thinking about getting one, I wouldn't get rid of mine. I have had my tC since Sept. and already have 10000 miles, it is a blast to drive. I was going to buy an xB until (I know there will be jeers about this) my girlfriend (of 4 years, so I have to at least listen a little bit) said she hated it, but loved the tC, I test drove it 3 times and loved it so i bought one. Like my signature says, I have a bagged Frontier also. My friends and I took it apart to redo some of the work that was getting old, and I never put it back together becasue I have had so much fun with my tC. Get one, just be ready for some 1st year modle stuff.

Again, thanks everyone for the concerns. I just wanted to post and let everyone know to get their roof looked at if they are popping. I'm fine, no cuts, no nothing just scared when it popped, it was kind of loud. I thought someone got into an accident on the freeway right after I exited or something, then i heard air rushing in and looked up, and found I had a convertable. Take care everybody.

any pics?

Unfortunatly no pics. I was about 40 miles from my house and only about 20 from the dealer. A storm was coming and i didn't want to drive to get my camera. I dropped my car off and 5 minutes later it was raining so I am glad I got it there

eh.. thanx for the true opionion about your car... iam planning to buy a sw soon... your giving me 2nd thoughts on it... i never thought the roof would be a problem.... i didnt even know it was tempered glass.. i thought it was the same glass as the winshield... is there anyway to prevent it from breaking??? like invisable bra for paint chipping.. but for the roof.... aHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhh ____... my sw tc comes next week...

there is a girl that lives in my town who has her xB on bags. not that it has anything do to with the glass shattering, but she shut the drivers side door. and the rear window just shattered. it was screwy.

maybe it was just a defect on the construction of your car, i hope its not a defect with every tc

around 5000 miles on my car, and my sunroof stops opening. the roof got off track (one side would open and the other side lagged) and the cables got all twisted up and grinded the sunroof motor. so it had to be replaced. parts are currently waiting for me... but it still isn't fixed.. haven't found the time to do so....

:tap: :yawn: :tap: :yawn:
So, I know things happen with 1st year cars. You know things that they haven't worked the kinks out yet. But MY SUNROOF BLEW UP!! It was shut, there was no one in front of me on the off ramp, and no huge bump in the road. How does that happen? I had been hearing loud "thunks" when the unibody would tweak, and I had the dealership look at it at about 7500 miles, now that I just got my 10000 mile oil change, 3 days later my roof just goes pop. I am not sure why tC's are having the roof problem, but I was under the impression that the small un-movable window was the one that was breaking, not the sunroof. I think that the roof had been getting weaker over time, and for some reason the two bars that are spring loaded for the air dam, basically forced their way through the glass pane shattering it. That's all I can come up with other than the Chaos Theory and the stupid butterfly in Guatemala. Good news is, it is under manufacturers warranty so it will be fixed for free. Bad news is that my stupid Platinum Warranty, (that I have yet to get any use out of my $800 and my car has been in the shop about 6 times now including oil changes and modifications), doesn't cover my roof shattering and the dealership needing to order me a piece of glass, therefore keeping my car for a "few days" and have no loaner car! No complaints about the dealer, seriously they have been nothing but great from day one, just a little ____ed that I have no car again, and my extended warranty doesn't help yet once again. So anyone who's roof is making funny noises and/or whistling while you drive down the freeway, get it looked at. Take care, later.



extended warranty kicks in after your 3/36000.... do you have over 36000miles on your car? curious....

If your car is at the dealership overnight you're entitled to one of their fleet cars.

Wait a minute, your Girlfiriend didn't like the Xb, and so you got a Tc? Who spends the most time driving the car you or your Girlfriend? Also, who pays the monthly note on it, you or your Girlfriend? In my eyes the only way you can redeem yourself is if you tell me that they were both or the Tc is a manual. :P

BTW, thats crazy, sorry to hear about your Sunroof. :(

extended warranty kicks in after your 3/36000.... do you have over 36000miles on your car? curious....


Thats exactly what I was wondering.


Also, did they flat out DENY you a loaner car? I guess it depends on the dealer, but I used to be a service advisor for a Toyota dealer and we were able to get a loaner for pretty much anyone who needed one. The manufacturer's warranty should allow you one if the work takes a certain amount of hours. And DEFINITELY if they need to keep your car overnight.

Sometimes you have to be a little insistent about it, or you may have to wait until they have a loaner available if they are all in use. I'd inquire about it again if I were you. My local dealership lent me a nice white xA while they were doing work on my car :)

was your sunroof all the way open when you were driving on the freeway? i don't really think you're suppossed to do that?

awww.... sorry man... i have been hearing some weird sounds coming from my roof also whenever the sunroof is closed but the copver is open... but when i close the cover or when i open the roof, the sound disappears... you guys think theres just a loose screw?

ive worked at car dealers for 18 years ive seen this happen
to various cars porsche/audi/acura/toyota/land rover porsche convertable back glass many times acura sunroofs
its more common than you think and factory tech reps cant
exp it ether

I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and guess it was some sort of fluke. I mean, if you think about all of the accident reports we get here on this website, about bodies being twisted and sudden impacts and what not, and most if not all that I've read have said the sunroof came away intact. All of the pics I've seen on www.wreckedscions.com appear to have the sunroofs intact as well.

So, logistically speaking, now we know it can shatter/explode, but as proven time and again, in the large majority of cases, it will be completely safe.

was your sunroof all the way open when you were driving on the freeway? i don't really think you're suppossed to do that?

I've never heard that before... Why?

dotn know if anyone said this but if it is the dealerships fault that they have to keep your car over a period of time they have to provide you with a car. Check your warranty book. The only exception is if it is a conflict of scheldule that will not allow you to pick the car up. So I would talk to the dealer and get a car while your TC is being worked on.

Peace,
MD

Ok so to answer a bunch of questions and an update. It turns out that not only is the glass broken but the track assembly somehow destroyed itself also, so they get to keep my car until mid week waiting for the track. There is a rental waiting for me when I get off work. I'm not sure what the whole extended warranty thing was but that is how I was told when I asked. My platinum warranty doesn’t cover glass so we’ll have to see what happens. You are probably right; I wasn't persistent because that is how I am. The roof was COMLPLETELY shut. Not even cracked open.
To answer the thing about the girlfriend, I drove the xB, liked it but she didn’t. So I test drove the tC, and liked it even more. Besides my twin brother just bought a BSP xB so I can drive that to get my fix. Anyway, it sucks but we’ll see what happens in an hour and a half. Well I have to get back to work. Talk to you later.

was your sunroof all the way open when you were driving on the freeway? i don't really think you're suppossed to do that?

I've never heard that before... Why?

there is nothing wrong w/ having your sunroof open all the way while on the freeway.... to scare people

ltacosta, can you explain a little more clearly?

I'm glad he pointed out that this was a fluke. There hasn't been a recall on it, or even a bulletin, unlike "sunroofs making noises." Who knows, the glass he had may have been defective. The company that Toyota is doing business with might have had a guy who was working on this certain glass and gotten distracted or not left it in the oven long enough causing it to weaken. So many factors could be accounted for, almost impossible to tell.

The same exploding glass thing happened me once several years ago in an Isuzu Trooper (the first boxy ones).

I went over a road irregularity that made the body of the car twist a little, overcoming the structural rigidity of the windshield and making it explode.

Probably, the rear portion of your glass roof assembly was not capable of taking the stress coming from the body and it exploded.

I'm glad you are doing fine and the warranty will cover it.

Good luck :wink:

That's crazy man glad you're ok. Hope everything gets worked out

Well, sounds like everything will work out okay and no one got hurt.

Just curious why you even bothered with added the extended warranty?

Peace of mind probably

I wouldn't say it is bad for your sunroof to have it all the way open on the interstate but if you do open it all the way at that speed the suroof is to large for the stabilizer bars that hold it in place. This results in a lot of up and down movement because of the air passing over and under it. If you watch it at 70 mph with it all the way open you will see what I mean. I don't think it would break off from this but I can't imagine it being good for it either though

so will installing struts bar and rear sway bar improve the "regidity" of the car which prevent the body from twisting, which in turn cause the glass roof to crack?

was your sunroof all the way open when you were driving on the freeway? i don't really think you're suppossed to do that?

And why is that? You can use it whenever you please. And I think he said it was closed anyways.

That sucks. I have been thinking about this and as much as I love my tC, I dunno. If this happens to me I might look in to something else :nope:

I think that something hit your glass. My wife has about 5000 on hers and not a problem. The only squeak we ever heard was from the foam insert in the spare tire well. I am betting that a rock, another car, hit you glass.

Hi

I've got over 12,000 on my tC already and its doing fine. I don't hear unusual creaks or other noise from the car body. The only strange noises I get come from my radio (when I change stations using the preset buttons I often hear a POP-ing sound from the passenger side speaker).

Was your roof tinted? When I got my windows tinted, the company I went to refused to tint the roof. They told me that since the roof presents a flat surface to the sun, the heat would get trapped between the glass and the tint and that the glass could shatter. It sounded like BS to me but it gave me a reason not to pay an additional $30 for the roof.

What's up everyone? Here is what the techs think happened to my roof. My roof was making weird noises every time the unibody flexed in a certain way, like going over speed bumps and entrances to shopping centers because my roof was not seated properly. I took it in like I said at about 7000 miles and they said they tightened the roof bolts a little. It seemed fine for a while and then it started making noise again. For everyone that doesn't know what I'm talking about the roof would clunk, thunk, or make some weird noise. Eventually, (unrelated to the bolts they tightened), a rivet or bolt of some kind that held the sunroof track in snapped and lodged in the track. When I went to shut the roof it never fully sealed causing a lot of pressure both on the track and glass when I would be driving down the road. About Tuesday I began hearing a whistling noise while driving that I chalked up to being part of the thunking problem. It turns out that is when the roof began to not shut. Less than 48 hours the roof gave way. When the glass shattered the track somehow broke futher and now it needs to be replaced. The roof was not tinted and nothing hit my glass, due to the fact that the glass was 98% fully shut the rock would have had to go straight up and down, and be very unlikely. Not impossible, but unlikely.

I was able to get a rental car since the dealer wont even get the track until at least Tuesday. Hertz (who my dealer is partners with) was going to give me a Corolla. He offered me a bunch of upgrades and some optional insurance stuff and told me that would be my responsibilty. I know all that is standard but I asked why my $24000 was being turned into a $14000 car and why would I spend a bunch of extra money for upgrades when the dealer was paying for it. I'm not sure if he gets paid per car he rents but he gave me a free upgrade to a 2005 Solara SE V6, so who knows.

As soon as I can I am going to get the front strut bar and rear sway bar. I don’t know if it will help but one of the major locations that the roof makes noise is at the main entrance to my work, so to lower the flexing going over that bump I'll try it. Besides I was going to make it a kind of TRD/Hotchkis whore anyway. I got the extended warranty because I drive all the time. The 3/36000 would be expired after a year and like 5 months at this rate. At least my car will have some kind of warranty for like 4 years before I hit 75000 miles. So, all in all I guess mine was a fluke, just be careful with your roof, if it makes noise get it looked at. I was lucky to be wearing a jacket and sunglasses otherwise things might have been different when the glass fell through. Got to run. Take care everyone. I hope I didn't freak out everyone too much. :relief:

And I thought *I* was unlucky... I caught a low-flying rock on my sunroof and have a little scratch from it, but it held.

By any chance were you going under an overpass? Kids have been known to drop rocks and bricks and stuff on cars before...

for some reason i dont believe that guy, I want to see some pics!!

i've heard this a few times now... is the sunroof made of tempered glass? i believe there was a thread a while back about a chip in tempered glass and how it might just blow up...

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=487791&highlight=tempered#487791

hmm this makes me think i shouldnt get a tC at all

Yea ever since I read that first thread on this months ago I get nervous driving down the highway with my sunroof open.. but.. *big knock on wood here* no problems yet, I've cruised around going 70 or more, and, not so much as a peep from my sunroof. I'm sure there are just "bad batches" so to speak, on new cars.. just like how the paint's messed up on mine, it seems to be okay on others. These problems seem to come in waves- most likely has something to do with production batches because it isn't a problem everyone's having. This is a very unforunate and scary thing to have happen to you so I wish you the best of luck in getting it repaired!

Are the majority of the sunroof pops coming from 2004 or 2005 models? Or is it a mix?

my roof poped ever since i got the car from the unibody flexing. Turns out it was 2 screws that needed to be tightened on the sunroof. I just looked at the screws yesterday and noticed that they almost completely rounded out the screws so if something ever goes wrong they might blame ME for taking it apon myself to try and fix thing and messing up the screw head. Also Ive been getting a wind noise at high speeds or when it is really windy outside, it all depends. Ive been able to recreate it with the Service manager in my car with me but when i leave it with them they claim that its not making any noise and that they cant drive the car past 70mph to try and recreate the noise. So maybe one of these days my roof will shatter and I can bring it to them and hopefully get things fixed

so does anyone know what plant these tC's, that are having moonroof problems, are coming out of? Or do they all come from NJ?

The car is made in Japan... Not sure about individual parts

did you get it tinted, by any chance? my tint dude said that no one should tint it because the way tint works and stuff.. the glass sunroof could shatter. not sure the specifics or science behind it, but that's what he said.

1st... I'm not sure why you would even want to tint the sunroof... it is already tinted.

2nd... sorry to hear about your roof!

3rd... driving fast with it open is not that big of a deal, but watch for birds... yes, I said birds! On my last car I was driving about 60 and a bird of some kind flew out of a ditch and right across my hood... I guess the path of the wind over the car pushed it up, and it hit the back edge of my sunroof where it sticks up when open. Did not break the glass, but destroyed the mechanism!! Cost $1700 to fix because the whole thing came as one peice! Talk about bad luck!!!

I hope you get it all worked out!

1st... I'm not sure why you would even want to tint the sunroof... it is already tinted.

2nd... sorry to hear about your roof!

3rd... driving fast with it open is not that big of a deal, but watch for birds... yes, I said birds! On my last car I was driving about 60 and a bird of some kind flew out of a ditch and right across my hood... I guess the path of the wind over the car pushed it up, and it hit the back edge of my sunroof where it sticks up when open. Did not break the glass, but destroyed the mechanism!! Cost $1700 to fix because the whole thing came as one peice! Talk about bad luck!!!

I hope you get it all worked out!

Also Ive been getting a wind noise at high speeds or when it is really windy outside, it all depends. Ive been able to recreate it with the Service manager in my car with me but when i leave it with them they claim that its not making any noise and that they cant drive the car past 70mph to try and recreate the noise. So maybe one of these days my roof will shatter and I can bring it to them and hopefully get things fixed

Yes, when it's really windy, you'll hear wind noise. Your car is not aerodynamic in all directions.

The dealer can't do something illegal (speeding) to test your car. If your roof shattered when you were doing over 70, your warranty wouldn't cover it anyway. Neither would your insurance.

thats crazy! im sorry to hear. hopefully they get it right this second time around or its a long road ahead... :doh:

The dealer can't do something illegal (speeding) to test your car. If your roof shattered when you were doing over 70, your warranty wouldn't cover it anyway. Neither would your insurance.

in some places like mich, the speed limit is 75 mph... so they'd be well within the law to go that speed. there may even be a place with 85... and really how would they know?

And I thought *I* was unlucky... I caught a low-flying rock on my sunroof and have a little scratch from it, but it held.

By any chance were you going under an overpass? Kids have been known to drop rocks and bricks and stuff on cars before...

yeah that happened around here before... recently they killed this lady... rock flew through the widshield (it was quite big) and killed her...

stupid freaking kids... If I catch kids on an overpass doing that I'd kick their ___

makes me kinda nervous for if it ever hails outside....

in some places like mich, the speed limit is 75 mph... so they'd be well within the law to go that speed. there may even be a place with 85... and really how would they know?

That's great. Dude can go see a dealer on one of those highways in Michigan then (long drive from Louisiana though).

A legitimate business will refuse to break the law for a customer, whether "they" would know or not. And if there's a cop around with his radar on, "they" would most certainly know.

funny that they arent allowed to go over 70MPH yet the sales person took me out in an auto tc and took it up to 95mph with no problem but when i decided to go that fast he told me to slow down. Oh and they would never know if I was going 40 or 120 if my sunroof broke I would just pick up the phone and say i was driving home from such and such and the sunroof just shattered/blew up. Oh and this isnt typical WIND noise that i hear it is a LOUD very high pitch wistle that use to be constant but now it comes and goes depending on wind speeds and speeds of my car. Ive been in other tc's and never ONCE heard this noise. The dealership knows there is a problem they just cant pinpoint it because they cant reproduce the sound and told me to come back with the car once agian when i can produce the noise almost consistantly.

I don't get why getting a rental was such a problem?

Part of the TC's 3 year bumper 2 bumper warranty includes "transportation assistance" which means if the dealership needs to keep your car for more then one day to compelte repairs, they have to give you a rental.

Unless you have over 36,000 miles, they should have given you a rental no questions asked.

in some places like mich, the speed limit is 75 mph... so they'd be well within the law to go that speed. there may even be a place with 85... and really how would they know?

That's great. Dude can go see a dealer on one of those highways in Michigan then (long drive from Louisiana though).

A legitimate business will refuse to break the law for a customer, whether "they" would know or not. And if there's a cop around with his radar on, "they" would most certainly know.

I wasn't talking about the dealer test driving. Actually it wouldn't make sense anyhow, even if a dealer took it up to 100 and it doesn;t pop that time, it doesn't mean it won't happen later, or that the stress didn't have an adverse effect.

my point actually was in some places you can go that fast and not break the law, then 75 mph (and up) is a legitmate speed that the car should be able to drive at without problems. Therefore there's no reason the warrenty shouldnt cover the defect, b/c that IS a defect.
Unless they clearly issue a warning saying... the sunroof is unable to handle stress at high speeds and not to use it at speeds exceeding X.

and yes cops would know.. what the heck does that have to do with trying to get your sunroof warrentied (unless you get caught JUST as your sunroof gives out). And insurance would cover it, it doesn;t matter what bone head thing you were doing... thats the whole point of insurance... you just better have comprehensive or collision or whichever section they cover it under in your state. Unless i willfully destroyed the vehicle to get replacements (in that case its fraud), insurance exists to cover driver stupidity (which is why your premiums go up when you get caught speeding etc).

The only reason why they would say no to fixing it under warrenty is if they claim that glass isn't covered (cuz technically it isnt covered under warrenty). so if you dealer is a real $%#@ about it, you might have problems.

Same ____ happened to my girlfriend's car this past Saturday, December 3rd. Sunroof just shattered out of nowhere. We were going 40 mph with the sunroof closed. NO ONE was in front of us. No signs of anything hitting the glass. We took pictures and she is bringing it to the dealer tomorrow.

there's a TSB on it now; infact, you should have a letter in the mail about getting the "anti-shatter" vynil coating.

good luck!

Hot Dang... this post was resurected from oblivion...

Yep.... Sunroofs tend to blow up sometimes....

The front air dam does more than the main panel.... if it was your air dam... the overlay is meant to help it stay together when impacted.... but... rocks are rocks... and we got glass.

damn that is nuts!

It was the main sunroof itself. The big glass that comes up and back. It was not the deflector that shatter but the sunroof.

Hey everyone im new to the site but friday on the highway my sunroof just exploded and shattered, glass was falling in on me i drove it to the dealership i bought it from and started to b*tch due to i was on the way to the beach but they put me in a rental car and told me they would look at it and tell me if it was the car or a rock or a bird wtf my boyfriend looked at it and said no way was it a rock or a bird so im glad to know im not the only person this has happened to ........ P.S. I have pics.....

Hey everyone im new to the site but friday on the highway my sunroof just exploded and shattered, glass was falling in on me i drove it to the dealership i bought it from and started to b*tch due to i was on the way to the beach but they put me in a rental car and told me they would look at it and tell me if it was the car or a rock or a bird wtf my boyfriend looked at it and said no way was it a rock or a bird so im glad to know im not the only person this has happened to ........ P.S. I have pics.....

show the pics and keep us updated on what happens with the dealer.
if mine ever shatters, i'm going to print up some pics and bring them in with me