Exploding sunroof...wtf?!

Lots of different manufactures have had this happen. We have seen quiet a few from 2010 Mazda 3*s up to cx5*s etc. It*s not warranty ever. Impact causes this. My buddy*s ford and chevys and sisters Honda also have had this happen. Nothing to worry about go through insurance have it replaced at a body shop or glass shop and go on your way.

Not everyone is so quick to increase their insurance rate by making a claim, particularly on something that may be defect
 
Agreed that this is not as uncommon as one would think, but I am 100% certain this was not caused by impact. Mazda certainly should cover the repair given the circumstances (6 month old vehicle under b2b warranty, sunroof blew outwards), but I somewhat expect them to try deny the claim. No harm giving it a try and have insurance as a backup.
 
Agreed that this is not as uncommon as one would think, but I am 100% certain this was not caused by impact. Mazda certainly should cover the repair given the circumstances (6 month old vehicle under b2b warranty, sunroof blew outwards), but I somewhat expect them to try deny the claim. No harm giving it a try and have insurance as a backup.
How is it possible a rock or something can hit a closed moonroof at 70 mph? Windshield, yes, but not the moonroof!

You should really push Mazda to pay for the damage, MNAO、BBB、etc. like Chris_Top_Her suggested earlier.
 
How is it possible a rock or something can hit a closed moonroof at 70 mph? Windshield, yes, but not the moonroof!

You should really push Mazda to pay for the damage, MNAO*BBB*etc. like Chris_Top_Her suggested earlier.

Maybe a rock from space, a meteorite?
 
Not everyone is so quick to increase their insurance rate by making a claim, particularly on something that may be defect

Agree 110% on the insurance aspect you present. May be a defect? Utter non-sense...definite defect, either in materials, workmanship, or, engineering. Most likely a combination of all three leaning more heavily on the design side.

My 2010 low/no-tech Suzuki's moon roof glass was struck, while tilted open mind you, by a large tennis ball sized nut falling from a very large tree (god knows from how high) while driving down the road. It did not shatter, it did no crack. It is fully functional and leak-free to this day. No added tint and I always have the interior shade fully closed and only just cracked, slid open an inch or two, anytime the glass is tilted open. I leave the car out in full sun all summer w/o any issues as one would expect. it is parked in the garage during the worst days of most winters recently.

As I've eluded to in several threads for those paying attention, the money to pay for all of the added non-sense tech installed in today's vehicles has to come from somewhere. Short of raising prices to where no one would purchase the vehicles....other existing features get cheapened up to compensate, it's simple math. Cheapened up to the extent that what was never a problem in the past now becomes problematic as the norm. Things that took many years to become reliable and functional for the duration of the vehicles life. Result? Auto makers will attempt to force us to fight, or, claim it under insurance...pay, pay, pay, one way or another. I'd be curious to know if anyone experiencing this particular failure w/ an extended B2B warranty is forced to decide between those two choices of recourse.

The sunroofs are another unwanted package option that resulted from me simply wanting the premium factory sound system in both the CX5 and the 2010 Kizashi.
 
Agree 110% on the insurance aspect you present. May be a defect? Utter non-sense...definite defect, either in materials, workmanship, or, engineering. Most likely a combination of all three leaning more heavily on the design side.

My 2010 low/no-tech Suzuki's moon roof glass was struck, while tilted open mind you, by a large tennis ball sized nut falling from a very large tree (god knows from how high) while driving down the road. It did not shatter, it did no crack. It is fully functional and leak-free to this day. No added tint and I always have the interior shade fully closed and only just cracked, slid open an inch or two, anytime the glass is tilted open. I leave the car out in full sun all summer w/o any issues as one would expect. it is parked in the garage during the worst days of most winters recently.

As I've eluded to in several threads for those paying attention, the money to pay for all of the added non-sense tech installed in today's vehicles has to come from somewhere. Short of raising prices to where no one would purchase the vehicles....other existing features get cheapened up to compensate, it's simple math. Cheapened up to the extent that what was never a problem in the past now becomes problematic as the norm. Things that took many years to become reliable and functional for the duration of the vehicles life. Result? Auto makers will attempt to force us to fight, or, claim it under insurance...pay, pay, pay, one way or another. I'd be curious to know if anyone experiencing this particular failure w/ an extended B2B warranty is forced to decide between those two choices of recourse.

The sunroofs are another unwanted package option that resulted from me simply wanting the premium factory sound system in both the CX5 and the 2010 Kizashi.

I agree 100%. I have owned 12 vehicles in 50 years of driving over a million miles. Most were low-tech and not high trim vehicles. Never had a cracked windshield and driven lots of gravel roads. Never had a sunroof and don't want one. I have had several warranty claims but never had to fight one. I look at insurance is a one off for catastrophic accidents and would not use it for under $1500 repairs.
 
Last edited:
The pictures are undeniable. The thing blew from the inside out. Unless you were driving and banging on the glass with a hammer from inside the car.
 
What music were you playing? If its Kanye or J Beiber, your claim may get denied.
 
Haha...Was actually rolling silent (no music) when it exploded, so it was that much more startling. No music > Justin Bieber any day

Mazda has agreed to replace the sunroof under warranty. Pictures definitely helped, and apparently I’m not the first to have this happen. Still going to have moonroof tinted prior to install.

I can say that so far, I have been very pleased with the level of service I’ve received from my local Mazda dealer (Modesto). And quite pleased that Mazda is willing to take care of an obvious defect under warranty (as they should) as opposed to denying any responsibility, which it seems most manufacturers do for this issue.
 
How is it possible a rock or something can hit a closed moonroof at 70 mph? Windshield, yes, but not the moonroof!

You can't imagine a rock, or other hard object, bouncing off the road and hitting the sunroof? Just has to have the right trajectory and BAM! I don't think this is what happened though and obviously Mazda did the right thing and covered it.
 
You can't imagine a rock, or other hard object, bouncing off the road and hitting the sunroof? Just has to have the right trajectory and BAM! I don't think this is what happened though and obviously Mazda did the right thing and covered it.
Or some juvenile miscreant tossing things from an overpass.
 
BTW this isn’t a Mazda issue, this is a widespread auto glass industry issue. CR has a write up on it.

 
I wonder if the boot (trunk) vents were blocked with items? That might pressurise the interior I suppose.
 
And hit the moonroof then the moonroof blew outwards ⋯ (uhm)

It's a space thing! It's known as "inverse gravitational pull equilibrium". Since the meteor entered the atmosphere uninvited and with a downward force, some"thing" had to go back upward to replace it in order to keep things in equilibrium! That "thing" would be the glass going upward. However, the shouts of the vehicle's occupants caused an atmospheric inversion that then caused the glass to reverse itself and shower the shouters (and a following Camry). Basic Quantum Physics 101 plus Sci-Fi 210! All of this is easily avoided if you don't drive under a meteor! 👽
 
lmao...now it all makes sense!

As for conditions, it was just two of us in the front seat with some baggage in the back under the cargo cover. I would say about 2/3 of the cargo area under cover was occupied, and that too fairly loosely (ie not stacked like Tetris). Sunroof closed, sunroof cover open, radio off, and ac/vents set at the lowest fan speed.

Had to be either manufacturing flaw in glass, or the inverse gravitational thing mentioned above.
 
BTW this isn’t a Mazda issue, this is a widespread auto glass industry issue. CR has a write up on it.

Interesting article- no known causes. Mazda isn't even listed, I guess there's some credit due for that. I know it was a big issue for Hyundai as the article states.
 
Last edited:
Back