Driving down the highway at about 70 mph. Suddenly hear a very loud noise that sounded like a gun shot and then the sound of breaking glass. I ducked behind the wheel expecting to have my windshield hit me in the face, but the windshield was fine. Sat back up (luckily did not cause an accident) checked all the windows and all were fine. Then heard the wind noise coming from above me. Opened the sunroof internal cover a little bit and saw the sunroof was broken. Drove to the nearest glass repair shop and got out of the car.
To my surprise the sunroof had about an 8" hole in it with the remaining pieces of the glass pointing upwards, as if it had been hit from inside the vehicle and exploded. Pieces of glass were sitting on the internal cover which I luckily had closed.
Took the car to a Toyota dealer and every one in the shop came out to see it because they had never seen a sunroof broken like that, with the glass pointing outwards.
Was told that they would repair it under warranty but then was called and told that the district manager said it would not be covered because it must have been hit and imploded.
Update from Oct 10, 2015: The Toyota dealer originally told me it would be covered under warranty (I didn't ask or think about it, they offered). When the service manager returned he called and said since the sunroof imploded (NOT CORRECT, it EXPLODED) I would have to pay to have it fixed. He never saw the broken sunroof when he made his judgement. Everyone in the dealership service bay came out and took pictures because they had never seen a sunroof explode like mine did before.
I plan on filing arbitration paperwork and fighting the issue.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Driving down the highway at about 70 mph. Suddenly hear a very loud noise that sounded like a gun shot and then the sound of breaking glass. I ducked behind the wheel expecting to have my windshield hit me in the face, but the windshield was fine. Sat back up (luckily did not cause an accident) checked all the windows and all were fine. Then heard the wind noise coming from above me. Opened the sunroof internal cover a little bit and saw the sunroof was broken. Drove to the nearest glass repair shop and got out of the car.
To my surprise the sunroof had about an 8" hole in it with the remaining pieces of the glass pointing upwards, as if it had been hit from inside the vehicle and exploded. Pieces of glass were sitting on the internal cover which I luckily had closed.
Took the car to a Toyota dealer and every one in the shop came out to see it because they had never seen a sunroof broken like that, with the glass pointing outwards.
Was told that they would repair it under warranty but then was called and told that the district manager said it would not be covered because it must have been hit and imploded.
Update from Oct 10, 2015: The Toyota dealer originally told me it would be covered under warranty (I didn't ask or think about it, they offered). When the service manager returned he called and said since the sunroof imploded (NOT CORRECT, it EXPLODED) I would have to pay to have it fixed. He never saw the broken sunroof when he made his judgement. Everyone in the dealership service bay came out and took pictures because they had never seen a sunroof explode like mine did before.
I plan on filing arbitration paperwork and fighting the issue.
- Blake C., Laurinburg, NC, US