[Matt8929]

Anybody else on here have their glass roof shatter for no apparent reason?

My wife was driving down the interstate with the kids in the car when she heard the loud noise of the roof shattering. Glass was contained by the sun shade which was closed at the time, so kids were not hit by glass. The glass that broke was the portion that does not move (not the moonroof).

There was no apparent evidence of object impact. Other interstate traffic did not appear to cause or become affected by any similar event. No other vehicle was involved.

[Matt8929]

Bump

[AAA]

Originally Posted by Matt8929

Bump

Get in touch with Wild Blue. He's active on the X7 forum. I'm pretty sure he had a similar incident and if I recall BMW ultimately took care of it.

[bobt1972]

If you have a glass coverage through your auto insurance (may even be a zero deductible), they will cover it. I had the same thing happening on my old car, was very low hassle and free. After that, I always make sure I have this option in my coverage, it only costs a few dollars a months extra.

[Security_IE]

Sorry to hear about this one, but I'm glad everyone is OK. I hope that I don't see this on my X5, but it happened on my 135. https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1432163

With the sliding glass panel, I was able to get one from a recycler and replace it with just a few screws between the glass frame and track. Replacing the fixed panel may be more involved.

Take a good look at your paint for insurance purposes. In my case the glass shards scratched/chipped paint on the roof and trunk lid beyond a "buff out" repair.

[Matt8929]

Thanks, everyone. I’ll take a look at those items.

Insurance covered a small portion of the work. I insisted on having the dealership do the work because new car etc. Wound up costing me a lot. My choice, but didn’t want to deal with rando shop replacing BMW glass with brand-x glass.

The car is back together and I had glass protection film installed at a local shop to mitigate future issues.

Other than this issue the car is in great shape.

[VTENGR]

any guesses as to why this happened? Did you have the sunroof tinted? Also a little bit surprised this is not covered under warranty. If there's not window tint on the roof, and no evidence of impact, then the only likely cause is a flaw in the glass that caused it to shatter when it heated up.

[gqgambler]

Would be hard to prove that there was no impact. Travelling at highway speeds the smallest rock can cause significant impact damage. Glad everyone is OK. Surprised dealer didn't cover it under warranty.

[DG-X5]

Originally Posted by VTENGR

any guesses as to why this happened? Did you have the sunroof tinted? Also a little bit surprised this is not covered under warranty. If there's not window tint on the roof, and no evidence of impact, then the only likely cause is a flaw in the glass that caused it to shatter when it heated up.

Curious as to the relationship between OP possibly having the sunroof tinted and a higher potential to shatter - is that a known phenomenon?

[VTENGR]

Originally Posted by DG-X5MC

Curious as to the relationship between OP possibly having the sunroof tinted and a higher potential to shatter - is that a known phenomenon?

It's nothing that I can substantiate. I recall reading that it's not a great idea to tint the sunroof because the tint will keep the glass from thermal expansion on hot sunny days. I guess the theory is over time this weakens the sunroof glass until one day - pop. I don't know if it's jus internet fodder or if there's merit to it. I think this was on an old Acura or Lexis forum. As you can imagine, the debate ensued...

If his sunroof is tinted after market and this happened, it would be the first I've actually witnessed where one could point to it as a reason why.

[VTENGR]

Originally Posted by gqgambler

Would be hard to prove that there was no impact. Travelling at highway speeds the smallest rock can cause significant impact damage. Glad everyone is OK. Surprised dealer didn't cover it under warranty.

But for a warranty claim, isn't the onus on the dealer to prove that it was not a defect, not for the owner to prove it was?

[YuicyYumboYack]

Originally Posted by VTENGR

It's nothing that I can substantiate. I recall reading that it's not a great idea to tint the sunroof because the tint will keep the glass from thermal expansion on hot sunny days. I guess the theory is over time this weakens the sunroof glass until one day - pop. I don't know if it's jus internet fodder or if there's merit to it. I think this was on an old Acura or Lexis forum. As you can imagine, the debate ensued...

If his sunroof is tinted after market and this happened, it would be the first I've actually witnessed where one could point to it as a reason why.

Besides the x5 I also have a prius, and the rear window on the hatch below the spoiler is known to randomly shatter. It actually happened to mine. I initially thought someone broke into the car, but there was nothing in the trunk, and nothing was stolen. I can't say for sure, but I believe it just shattered on its own similar to OPs sunroof.