Sunroof shattered...options?

[Srad600]

Yep, that's why I'm not surprised they declined to help. The problem then becomes (for me), why did the sunroof fail and will it happen again.

I've had sunroofs in just about every car I've owned since the early 90's and this is only the second one I've had break. The last one broke because PGE was working on a transformer overhead and dropped a big old magnet onto that sunroof (fortunately my neighbor witnessed it, because PGE left without saying a word). So I don't think this is normal (at least I hope it's not...)

 

[Srad600]

It doesn't appear to be tempered glass (I'll check the label when I get home) because there appears to be no dicing. We've all seen the remnants of tempered glass, small little chunks. The glass is very hard to break due to the compression/tension Craigo spoke to. I can't tell if it's laminated, like a windshield either. The cracking is really weird. I know the car is sealed very tightly, so maybe a pressure blowout. There were a number of instances like that in the '80 where rear windows were shattering. If it happened while it was closing I would go with a jammed whatever causing the frame to bend. But sitting in your driveway...that is odd.

FYI, The glass is tempered. You can tell by how it breaks (chunks instead of small shards).There's typically a tempered symbol or mark on the glass as well, but since mine is now in pieces I can't find that one piece.

 

[CX-5um]

Sante Fe, 3-series, and Murano have the most reports of exploding sunroofs....well at least in Canada.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3816319/exploding-sunroofs-car-models-brands-transport-canada/

 

[craigo]

FYI, The glass is tempered. You can tell by how it breaks (chunks instead of small shards).There's typically a tempered symbol or mark on the glass as well, but since mine is now in pieces I can't find that one piece.

Some are laminated as well.

 

[Srad600]

Some are laminated as well.

Yep, some (a lot) of auto glass is laminated. But check out the markings for this glass. (Edit) Looks like this glass could be laminated as well.

 

[yrwei52]

Yep, some (a lot) of auto glass is laminated. But check out the markings for this glass. (Edit) Looks like this glass could be laminated as well.

The laminated auto glass mostly is used on the windshield. Normally the marking will say something like "LAMIPANE" (Mazda) or LAMISAFE (Honda) indicating it's the laminated glass. The rest of auto glass should be at least a non-laminated safety glass, which when break, will become many tiny pieces with no obvious sharp edges. They should be a tempered glass too with marking stating "TEMPERED" or "TEMPLITE" (Honda).

The way your sunroof broke doesn't look like a safety glass with tiny pieces which is very strange:

 

[erhayes]

Hot glass and AC on high might give a thermal shock. Ed

 

[Srad600]

The laminated auto glass mostly is used on the windshield. Normally the marking will say something like "LAMIPANE" (Mazda) or LAMISAFE (Honda) indicating it's the laminated glass. The rest of auto glass should be at least a non-laminated safety glass, which when break, will become many tiny pieces with no obvious sharp edges. They should be a tempered glass too with marking stating "TEMPERED" or "TEMPLITE" (Honda).

Yep, true BUT Safety glass can mean that the glass was laminated, which is why I'm saying it could be. There's no way to know for sure.

The way your sunroof broke doesn't look like a safety glass with tiny pieces which is very strange:

Agreed, but there's the glass marking so not sure what to make of that.

 

[yrwei52]

Yep, true BUT Safety glass can mean that the glass was laminated, which is why I'm saying it could be. There's no way to know for sure.

Our sunroof glass definitely is not laminated otherwise the marking would say "LAMIPANE".

Agreed, but there's the glass marking so not sure what to make of that.

Honestly I really don't think our sunroof glass qualifies as safety glass based on your picture. I had 2 incidences where the tempered safety glass on my vehicles got broken in. They all became small pieces like the picture shown on broken safety glass.

 

[Srad600]

The glass did eventually break into small chunks (as safety glass should), It just took a while. I doubt Mazda (or any brand) would label their glass with a type that's incorrect, that could result in some serious fines? Either way, I guess we'll see how long this one lasts. (boom05)

Also from Wikipedia (so take it with said grain of salt) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_glass
Safety glass can either be tempered, laminated or wire. We know for sure it's not wire so that leaves either tempered or laminated or some combination of the two.