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Sunroof shattered on freeway in tilt Position

R

Romeo

Full Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Messages
10
Location
California
Hello All
Something wierd happend on my way to work this morning, my sunroof shattered on the freeway in the tilt position. It does not appear that anything hit it, it looks bowed slightly in the middle. I was wondering if anyone else experienced this problem on their vehicle.
Speed: 65 mph
Traffic: light to none
2003 Avalanche WBH

Thanks,
Romeo
 
OMG!! That must have given you a fright!

I'm curious... you say it shattered and thet it looks slightly bowed in the middle...

How can you see it's bowed if it shattered?
 
I assume that it is made of Safety glass and the plastic laminate is keeping it together and keeping the shape of the glass.

Of course, the weight of the glass may be making the center droop down so that may not be a sign that something actually hit the sun roof.

Reidan
 
Sounds like a trip to the dealer to get it fixed! Must have scared the beegeesus out of you. I am assuming that the glass stayed intact as automotive glass should,....That would be a huge mess if it didn't!
 
These days, if I'm not mistaken, windshields are still laminated, but side windows are just tempered glass - the kind that breaks into millions of little pieces when broken - don't know about sunroofs. I have seen tempered glass 'shatter' but remain in place - the frame holds it together like a huge interlocking puzzle until you touch it - then the pieces come raining down. Could be the case here. I've also seen tempered glass shatter for no apparent reason - temperature differences or something. Whatever happened to yours, hopefully the dealer will not accuse you of breaking it and will give you a simple warrenty fix. Good luck!
 
Did it happen while going under a bridge? (you know how kids are) Did you check to see if there is any marks on the AVs roof , tell tale signs that something hit you like a rock , bird, tomato lol( it's that time of season) Let us know what the dealer did or didn't do for you!
 
back in 94 when my father had just bought a new suburban, he was on a road trip when one of the rear windows shattered (barn doors on the back) wrapped in with plastic and drove home, took it to the dealer, they replaced it under warrenty, said the frame was installed too tight around the glass. When it shattered we thought someone shot at us from the unexpected BANG from behing.

Just another possibility

Regards,

Grey_Av
 
Something had to hit it......
 
A week ago my windsheild was shot by a .22 pellet gun while on my way to work. It was 6:00 AM in the morning and I was on a road that had no traffic on it. Who ever did it had good aim at shooting moving targets. It almost made it completely threw the windsheild and if it had it would have hit me in the face. it took a srew driver to get the thing out of my windshield.
 
We were coming home from our cabin one day, I was about 12 years old or so in the back of our '83 VW wabbit, some kids shot at us with a BB gun. I had the my window open playing "arm airplane" and missed me by maybe 6" My dad (on the local fire department) made sure we were OK, and still at about 50mph spun that car around on the highway, flipped on all the hidden lights and sirens just before sailing through their yard sliding to a stop at the front door of their house. NEVER have I seen kids move that fast! They had a nice litte talk with my dad and let me say I don't think they will ever touch a BB gun again. Just put a little dot on the metal of the door, but I really think those kids had to change their shorts that day.
 
Two things... Sun Roofs are usally made of saftey glass. Not 100% sure about the AV but mine was on my car when it was broken into the crooks had to bend the sunroof back to get into it after shattering the glass.

Other thing is about a month after getting my Av I had some kids hit it with a water balloon lauched from their roof. I didn't see which house it came from, but my passenger did. They didn't want to answer the door but I banged on it until it woke their grandfather up from his nap. Needless to say I had a discussion with him and the kids.

No damage and after I thought about it I did some pretty stupid stuff as a kid too so I guess I can't be too mad.
 
Powersurge said:
A week ago my windsheild was shot by a .22 pellet gun while on my way to work. It was 6:00 AM in the morning and I was on a road that had no traffic on it. Who ever did it had good aim at shooting moving targets. It almost made it completely threw the windsheild and if it had it would have hit me in the face. it took a srew driver to get the thing out of my windshield.
Click to expand...

WHAT? ??? Somebody shot at you at 6:00 in the morning? What kind of area was this? That is totally bizarre! :eek:
 
I've never had any problems with my sunroof nor have a heard anyone having the bowing problem. I'm sure the dealer will replace it without question and I hope that you didn't sustain any other damage to you or your AV.
 
Sorry it took so long to respond back, I wanted to show some pics of the sunroof.
I took it to the Dealer the next day and they have never seen this problem on any of their vehicles but replaced mine with no problems. They actually did not have the sunroof in stock so they took one off a suburban on the lot.
No damage other than sunroof, no falling glass, it stayed in tack.
Thanks for your resonses
 

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My sunroof shattered today,.... there is an impact mark on the glass. The break pattern goes right to one point. and there is an area where the glass broke out on the underside,.... no warranty here,... just about 350.00 to replace.
 
That is an amazing picture...something else how that just blew apart like that.
 
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