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Sunroofs shattering without warning at increasing rate

It's a danger any driver can face on the road.

More and more sunroofs in cars are shattering without warning. It's scary for any driver, even one without a sunroof, because it could happen in the car next to you, causing the driver to lose control and crash.

"All of a sudden, we heard what we thought was a gunshot," said Kate Vasiloff, whose sunroof shattered. "We couldn't figure out what it was. There was no car in front of me. I was stopped at a stop sign."

"The first thing – I mean, I jumped. I started looking around me. I thought it was outside the car but it was really, really loud," said Kara Lofton, who also had the sunroof of her car shatter suddenly.

The two women have different cars, but the same story. Neither hit anything, and nothing and no one hit them.

"We couldn't figure it out until we looked above and opened the sun visor, and glass fell in on us," said Vasiloff.

These aren't isolated incidents. The number of reports of sunroofs shattering for no apparent reason has gone up. Depending on the type of sunroof installed in your car, the glass may crack but stay in place, or the broken pieces could rain down into the car.

"It was very clearly bubbled up. So I knew it had to be a defect in the glass or in the manufacturing or something, but something hadn't struck it," said Lofton.

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An investigation by Consumer Reports found the biggest spike in reports of exploding sunroofs has come since 2011. They're from all states, at different times of the year, in all different temperatures. Some happened while the car or SUV was in motion, others while it was stopped.

"The incidents covered 208 different models and 35 different brands. So this is a widespread problem," said Jeff Plungis of Consumer Reports.

Some of the models with the highest numbers of reported exploding sunroofs are also some of the most popular in our state. They include the Toyota Scion tC, Hyundai Veloster, Kia Sorento, Nissan Murano, Kia Optima, Ford Explorer, Honda Accord, Cadillac SRX, Nissan Maxima and the Hyundai Santa Fe.

A national expert on the issue lives in Pittsburgh, and had an explanation for why the number of sunroofs exploding is rising.

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"It seems to be growing because of the number of vehicles that now have sunroofs. There's a large population. And it's also growing because they have the panoramic sunroofs, which are like multiple pieces of glass," said Russ Corsi, who worked for PPG for more than 30 years and is now the president of Technical Auto Glass Consultants.

Corsi said winter could be the most dangerous time of year for sunroofs in our area because vehicles are going from warm garages to bitter cold outside.

"If you have a defect on the glass anywhere, that thermal shock could cause a crack to run across the glass. And if it's tempered, it will blow up into all those little pieces," said Corsi.

Corsi recommends asking a state inspector to look at your sunroof whenever you get your car inspected. If there are any chips or scratches on the glass, the best thing to do is take it to a glass shop where they can evaluate whether it needs to be replaced.

For more information about the Consumer Reports investigation and class action lawsuits that have been filed because of exploding sunroofs, click here.

 

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