Exploding sunroof
 

Has anyone had a sunroof explode for no apparent reason? I'm asking because on yesterday I was driving home and all of a sudden I heard a loud boom. I thought someone threw a rock in my back windsheild but I didn't see any damage when I looked. However, when I approached a red light I got out of the car and looked up and saw that the sunroof had shattered in the middle. I immediately looked around to see if anyone was throwing objects and no one was around. I was also in the middle lane and no tree or debris hit it either. It was totally strange.

Of course, my first reaction was to call the dealer. Well, after not getting anyone on the phone, I decided to drive to dealer since they were still open. All of the service reps thought this was odd but they taped the damage and advised me to return in the morning to speak with a service manager to see if it would be covered under warranty. Well, the next morning I took the car and the service manager thought it was odd as well. He did agree to have Honda investigate this issue and they put me in a rental vehicle. I'm hoping that all turns out well and that I can avoid using my insurance.

I also did several Internet searches and have found other examples of this happening with other cars. I was wondering if any of the new cars experienced this problem as of yet. I have a 08 Accord.

RE: Exploding sunroof
 

I have never heard of this. That is crazy. Let us know how it goes!

RE: Exploding sunroof
 

Wha.....

I smell a recall on the horizon.

RE: Exploding sunroof
 

So do I!
Unless somehow a rock was launched up in the air and landed on the sunroof, breaking it. But that would be highly unlikely. I've never seen that happen in my 3+ years of insurance claims handling experience.

RE: Exploding sunroof
 

Just wanted to let everyone know that Honda has decided to replace the sunroof glass. I got the call from the service rep this afternoon. I will try to find out on Tuesday when I pick my car up what they think the cause of breakage was. I also wonder if they will even share this information with me especially if it was a defect with the sunroof.

RE: Exploding sunroof
 

Knew it was too soon for a radical new design....:P

That just me being bitter of the lack of performance parts for the 7th gen.

my wife's '10 accord exploded it's sunroof 5 days ago. no trees above, nobody around, parked in the garage all night. She was on the way to work, only a couple of blocks from home. Dealer says something must have hit it(there was nothing). Insurance says they don't cover heat related damage(? they didn't even go to the dealer to look at it and it was still morning, maybe 68). NEITHER IS RELATED TO THIS BREAKAGE! We are now waiting for another week for the regional service mgr to come to town (nobody mentioned a loaner). First foreign car we have ever bought (40 years,20 cars,trucks,jeeps)probably the last.

:mad:

2010 Crosstour exploded sunroof
 

I have heard of this before and most of time it has to deal with the sunroof being tinted too much or has a very highly reflective flim on it and it heats up too much with the sun and just explodes. Its probably very unlikey something hit it. I would have to be coming straight down from the sky to do that.

The description of an "explosion" suggests the glass is under substantial compression, hence the noise when stress is relieved. This may be a manufacturiing/assembly issue. Perhaps the side trim pieces are overtightened somehow?

Comprehensive insurance might cover this damage.

good luck

Honda Sunroof Explosion
 

Like some others, I also experienced the frightening event of having the sunroof explode on my Honda Accord while travelling down the turnpike at 65 miles an hour. There was no apparent foreign object coming through the sunroof, so I can only guess it happened on its own. Go figure.

damn that's pretty cool.. well not if I was in your shoes, it's not, that just sucks.. but it sound so cool.. sorry.. Sounds like the glass on the sunroof was under serious duress from pressure.. Something has to be too tight, that glass isn't supposed to shatter easily either..

Exploding Sunroof 2010
 

I had the sunroof explode a few weeks ago while driving along a country road. Very loud boom. No apparent object/meteorite falling from the sky. Honda dealership was gracious enough to fix it for over $1,600!

and you paid that much?? if your wasn't under warranty, at the very least, you should've asked an independent shop or something or a body shop to get a quote.. i don't know if body shops fix them.. geez man..

a bunch of you guys seem to have this happen to you.. I wonder if y'all could get some sort of class action lawsuit going.. that's kinda ridiculous..

$1600 is rediculous!
 

my wife's sunroof exploded in the summer of 2010 when the car was only 2 months old. after negotiating with the dealer we agreed to pay his cost for the roof, about $450, and they installed it with no labor costs. even at that i was rather upset for paying anything when it's a manufacturing defect.:mad:

sunroof broke
 

Yes ! my Honda 2008 Accord just had sunroof broken with no reason on July 7,2012. So I called polices to do a report to find out more if some one try to break in or a bullet falling from the sky.but did not find any thing .today I got a claim from my insurance but i will talk to Honda customer service to fine out more information ,because I think this is a danger to public .
Thanks
Kseng

car-part.com shows used prices in $200-$300 range. Installaiton is easy.

good luck

2012 Honda Accord - exploded sunroof
 

10-22-2014 I also was driving early 5:30 a.m. on a 6-lane road with no other traffic. there were also no trees overhead because of the width of the road when I heard a odd cracking sound followed by air movement in the car.

I pulled off the road and discovered that the sunroof had cracked and shattered.

We took the car to the dealer who said it is not covered because he had never heard of a sunroof cracking unless caused by an accident and that a rock must have hit it. We asked him to take pictures and send in a claim to Honda. I also had pictures I took. After reading this site, I will press him to send in the claim. He offered no rental car.

This sounds like a recall for sure. thanks. for the info.

2014 Honda Accord sunroof exploded outwardly
 

http://20150328_135120Hey! I just want to see if this is a possible recall-able problem. We were on the interstate yesterday with no traffic in our near vicinity when there was suddenly a loud "POW" almost like a gunshot and immediately I heard loud wind noise. I pushed open the sunshade only to see a massive hole in the glass sunroof. We were very near a local Honda dealership. When we got to Bob Boyte we stopped in the new car lot. A couple of salesmen approached us, one stated that one of his customers' had done exactly the same thing a week ago. Another recommended us to the service department. They were absolutely NO help! I won't even take my Honda there for service-ever! The service writer took my VIN, walked over to the Parts guy, parts guy said it would be about 5 days before they could get one. Then the service guy handed me an invoice for $1033.06 and asked, "Do you want us to order it?" He hadn't even been out to the service bay to examine the car. LOL. Then he made another idiotic statement. "Don't open the sunroof; the broken glass can get into the mechanism and cause more damage." My reply to that? "Dude, I have a gaping hole in broken glass above my head. Why would I try to open it?" Then I said, "What kind of rocket scientist does it take to have that much common sense? Then I told him NO I do not want you to order anything, my insurance will handle it." Never will that Honda dealership get any of my business. Long story short.....I'm reading a lot of the same problem in Hondas. I plan to return to the dealership where we purchased the car and try to get a "class action" lawsuit going. What do y'all think?

Cheapest way to fix is used part, unless you can get dealership or insurance to pony up.

good luck

Honda -- Hello! My sunroof also exploded two days ago. The temperature was 55 degrees and I was out in the middle of nowhere in Idaho, miles from any town or house. No one had passed me or come by in many minutes, I was doing 65, and the sunroof just went up like an explosion. It looked like a crown with all the shards sticking up. My Honda dealer said something hit it -- NO, NOTHING HIT IT. It's a 2012 Honda Accord EX. Honda better start owning up to this defect.

I am curious about this as my 2015 also has a sunroof. Luckily it has not shattered!
My Accord was built in Marysville. Could the plant's quality control be inferior at each building location?
I have noticed small quality defects on my wife's CR-V that was made in Mexico.

This 2012 Accord was built in Marysville also. Now that I can see the sunroof glass, it's apparent that the glass is really thin. I'm wondering about glass fatigue from being in the slipstream. No matter, Honda needs to fix this. I'm so disappointed that I'm thinking about going to a Toyota Camry. That's a good car.

Google produced a link to a class action lawsuit for exploding sunroofs. W/I that link is explanation that designs have reduced thickness (lower weight) may be source of problem.

I also found a Wall Street Journal article:

http://wjla.com/news/local/7-on-your...t-think-105226

Nothing definitive, but sounds like a design defect. Too many instances of this happening.

good luck

Exploding Sunroof
 

On Aug. 15, 2017, My 2015 Honda Accord Sunroof glass simply explodes for no reason. This is anywhere from $400 to $700 to replace. Not covered by insurance. This needs to be investigated why this keep happening. 😢😢😢😢

I have a 2011 Honda Accord. Was driving on the highway for about 30 min and "bang" - I could hear the air coming through the closed interior sun roof cover. Pulled over and like above, a huge hole in my sunroof! Was not going under an overpass, was not in back of a large truck or other vehicle. Really strange!! And what a pain as 30 min later it started raining!!!

One thing I'm curious about and what seems to be a common denominator reading this thread is that mostly everyone mentioned they had their shade closed in the car when the "explosion" happened. Wonder if it has something to do with it being closed for some reason? Jeez if it was open at the time you could really get injured with glass fragments.

Hi,

I apologize if resurrecting threads from the dead is frowned upon in this forum, but I created an account just to reply to this thread.

The date was mid-August 2019. I was driving my Accord '08 EX-L down the highway, when my sunroof exploded. The cover below it ("shade") was open (what's the point of having a sunroof otherwise) and we were plastered with glass. Interestingly, the 'explosion' seemed to be 'upwards', so maybe we were spared a little. Again, to be clear, glass was sticking upwards. I am pretty certain nothing hit me. I have no explanation of the incident. The weather wasn't that hot. I suspect chassis pressure on the frame.

I do have a comprehensive insurance, but I've foolishly selected a $500 deductible, which means I was on the hook for $500, whatever the repair cost is. And I did do a repair cost research. Didn't even bother going to the dealer, because I knew their quote would begin at $1,100, maybe more. Called a repair shop, they quoted me $350 just for the labor. As for the part itself - a brand new OEM sunroof glass costs about $350 when discounted. So I was supposed to pay $700 for a non-dealer repair with my own brought parts? Not this guy. A second-hand sunroof assembly* (I'll come back to that later) goes between $75 and $150 on eBay. Found a local salvage yard that gave me the assembly* for $125. Installed it myself, it's about 30 min of work and you need just two screwdrivers (the important one is Torx 25).

Now, for the 'assembly' part. If you read 'assembly' somewhere, it means the whole thing - glass, motor, huge metal frame thing. You don't need that. All you need is the 'glass'. It can be bought for about $30-$40 from a salvage yard, if you find or are patient enough to wait for one. My advice - don't pay for new glass/assembly and repairs, do it yourself for $40.

When it happened, I was still 700 miles away from home, so needed to improvise ...

So, here's the sunroof, as it exploded. Not just cracked. Exploded.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hon...510e18c8c3.jpg

Bought some WalMart tape and nylon
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hon...08a1a026a2.jpg

And taped it all up, to avoid water damage to the car and also reduce noise
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hon...a1f8d37a45.jpg

Turns out, at 85 mph, that tape just comes off so I had to stop every few miles to re-tape it, until I reached the next WalMart and got the 'MAX strength' tape (white):
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hon...49a7b18a31.jpg

A day after I got home, I bought the 'assembly', which is all of this, for $125. I needed just the glass part (comes with rubber around it and is held by 2 bolts on each side).
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hon...e0d0e74831.jpg

Easy to replace, trust me, I am not a mechanic. This video has helped me a lot, though -
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hon...4354765fa6.jpg

I should mention - cleaning up all the shattered glass from the mechanism is very important and also extremely difficult. I've used a vacuum cleaner and a screwdriver to get to the difficult to reach parts.