Sunroof Exploded while driving

[OSUPokes]

2019 Ram Limited (pano roof) 5,000 miles.

So this monday I was driving on the highway and my sunroof decided to explode on me for no apparent reason. Was not hit by a rock, just decided to POP on its own. Awesome.... 2 month old truck.

Luckily I didnt jerk the wheel and crash and just ended up with glass in my hair, all over the truck, and slivers of glass in my skin making me itch. "Luckily" I was also near a dealership at the time and dropped it off as I was needing to head out for work. They called me 4 days later to say it was already to go, everything is fixed. Yeah, it wasnt.

I guess they never test drove it over 30mph, because it sounds like a window is halfway down in the car (completely obvious it is not sealed). The faster you go, the louder it gets. Took a look at the seal job and its aweful, not to mention the glass isnt entirely flat and looks like they did not know what they were doing. LOUD in the cab would be an understatement.

Going to take it to another dealership and have it re-done and hopefully they can get it right this time.

Anyone else hear of this issue? Hoping this is isolated, if my kids would have been in the back seat like they normally are.... they would have been peppered with glass.

 

[duke2001]

Just for your information, might want to check out this article. Sorry this happened to you. Hope no one was hurt.

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/exploding-sunroofs-danger-overhead/

 

[PTRAM]

No, I never heard of that but I am glad your kids were not in the vehicle. So I guess by the way you used the word "peppered" that it literally did just blow up. I stay away from sunroofs myself although I have never had one explode--just don't use them. Hope the second dealer can get it back to specs for you.

 

[OSUPokes]

Safety glass is designed to explode into little pellets of glass. It litterally just EXPLODED with a POP and all of it came raining down.

Agreed o nthe kids not being in the car! Could have been a lot worse.

 

[OSUPokes]

Just for your information, might want to check out this article. Sorry this happened to you. Hope no one was hurt.

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/exploding-sunroofs-danger-overhead/

Thanks for the article! looks like a minimal amount of cases reported, which is good.

I was hoping it wasnt related to the wind referb I hear occasionally inside the cab. Was thinking a pressure change flexed the window possibly? Im not engineer, but I would think it would take a LOT OF PRESSURE to do what it did.

 

[Kamikaze6780]

I heard someone say that a tinted sunroof can pop in high heat or if the sun is beating on it, but only happens to the tinted sunroofs.

 

[Electrical]

Yeah... an industry wide problem. Ongoing for many years now. Cause UNKNOWN.

Yours is the 3rd I've seen on this forum. Insignificant out of 400,000 trucks, unless it happens to you. Good luck with the repair.

 

[Electrical]

But the odds of 3 people out of this small minority who use this forum... seemingly beats the big picture odds a little.

We can do the math.

Out of 400,000 trucks, lets say only a tiny fraction would ever use the internet and come to this forum... say 500 trucks. 500 out of 400,000 is fair?

3 out of 500 is 0.6%. Not sure what you'd call that.

Regardless, doesn't matter. Odds don't matter if it's your truck. I just hope this isn't a trend.

 

[Mohab]

Did u tint the sunroof?

 

[SpeedyV]

We can do the math.

Out of 400,000 trucks, lets say only a tiny fraction would ever use the internet and come to this forum... say 500 trucks. 500 out of 400,000 is fair?

3 out of 500 is 0.6%. Not sure what you'd call that.

Regardless, doesn't matter. Odds don't matter if it's your truck. I just hope this isn't a trend.

And when you figure this forum has more than 6,000 members...

 

[Cannonball]

Im not engineer, but I would think it would take a LOT OF PRESSURE to do what it did.

I'd say your hunch is fairly accurate but a little bit of pressure over a large surface results in a lot of force. Let's see if I can lay some physics on this issue...

1st: prove there is a known force acting on the sunroof. The most negative Pressure area over a truck is between the A and B pillars along the roof. Which correlates to the fwd panel being the more common panel to break. For the nerds and nay-sayers: https://www.researchgate.net/public..._Truck_and_Trailer_Model_By_Wind_Tunnel_Tests

2. Prove there is something different with the new design. Bigger panel.

Pressure = Force / Area

The interesting part here is when comparing the old sunroof fwd panel to the new pano fwd panel. When you double the Area this negative pressure acts on, the Force doubles as well.

3. Why is the new design failing? We're double the Force on this fwd panel but I wager the engineers did not increase the panel strength accordingly in an effort to keep weight down.

4. Why are not all panels failing? Engineering may have increased strength but to only a marginal safety factor. Hard to know for sure.


The spirit of this though is to PREVENT all from having the potential to fail. I can definitly see engineering changes coming to this because 3 occurrences is 3 too many regardless of what % of build that may be.

 

[19RamLimited]

Could have been buffeting . Some times when you have just the rear windows down you will hear it pretty bad then as you roll the rear windows up the audibility of the buffeting goes away but it’s stull there and the upper less mounted portion of the window from flexing finally fatigued to the point of explosion.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

All it can take is a tiny nick / flaw in the glass to cause a failure. F150 forum has had these same failures reported occasionally for years. Rear glass have similar breakage stories. It doesn't take much to break auto glass with the right tool. You can wack glass with a bat and it'll just bounce off. Hold a tiny spring loaded glass breaking tool on the glass and hit the button and bam the glass has shattered into a bunch of little pieces.

 

[Pnewbold]

2019 Ram Limited (pano roof) 5,000 miles.

So this monday I was driving on the highway and my sunroof decided to explode on me for no apparent reason. Was not hit by a rock, just decided to POP on its own. Awesome.... 2 month old truck.

Luckily I didnt jerk the wheel and crash and just ended up with glass in my hair, all over the truck, and slivers of glass in my skin making me itch. "Luckily" I was also near a dealership at the time and dropped it off as I was needing to head out for work. They called me 4 days later to say it was already to go, everything is fixed. Yeah, it wasnt.

I guess they never test drove it over 30mph, because it sounds like a window is halfway down in the car (completely obvious it is not sealed). The faster you go, the louder it gets. Took a look at the seal job and its aweful, not to mention the glass isnt entirely flat and looks like they did not know what they were doing. LOUD in the cab would be an understatement.

Going to take it to another dealership and have it re-done and hopefully they can get it right this time.

Anyone else hear of this issue? Hoping this is isolated, if my kids would have been in the back seat like they normally are.... they would have been peppered with glass.

Looks like no activity on this thread since Jan 2019, so certainly doesn’t look like a trend, but the sunroof of my 2021 RAM Limited Longhorn Edition exploded on me today. Extremely, disturbing experience while driving on the interstate with cruise set at 70 mph...

 

[Eighty]

Looks like no activity on this thread since Jan 2019, so certainly doesn’t look like a trend, but the sunroof of my 2021 RAM Limited Longhorn Edition exploded on me today. Extremely, disturbing experience while driving on the interstate with cruise set at 70 mph...

Can you provide more details?
Was it hot outside? Cold inside the cab? I’m wondering about any temperature differential.
Did you have any other windows open or partially open? I’m wondering about any pressure differential.
Is your sunroof tinted? Previous reports of this being a common factor.
Anything else about the situation that seems relevant? Like, were you driving behind a rock truck?

 

[cj7]

Pressure differential? You guys made me laugh.

unless you’re driving a RAM U-boat or a RAM jet....

 

[Eighty]

Pressure differential? You guys made me laugh.

unless you’re driving a RAM U-boat or a RAM jet....

Hey, I’ve seen some crazy stuff like that before. A couple years ago during a hurricane, my entire chimney cap got sucked out and landed in my front yard. And we were only experiencing winds of about 90-100 mph. Pressure differential is the primary cause of structural collapses during wind events. They happen by something as simple as a breached window.

 

[MurphBigHorn]

I’m wondering if the roof are popping while just the driver window is down. If I have only the driver window down. It feels like the truck is going to shake apart. And kinda make a really annoying sound. Almost as worse as almost every vehicle when you just lower one rear window.

I have to crack a rear window if I want to ride with my driver window down.

 

[ALT_F13]

Could be misaligned track for the sunroof that caused it to bend slightly. Sun plus some bump on the highway and here you are.

I hope it will be replaced under the warranty. But it will be hard to prove that it wasn't just a rock falling on it...

 

[Pnewbold]

Can you provide more details?
Was it hot outside? Cold inside the cab? I’m wondering about any temperature differential.
Did you have any other windows open or partially open? I’m wondering about any pressure differential.
Is your sunroof tinted? Previous reports of this being a common factor.
Anything else about the situation that seems relevant? Like, were you driving behind a rock truck?

Hot outside...yes...Oklahoma ~98 degrees
Cold inside cab...yes...climate set to 72 degrees
All windows closed, so buffeting going on
Sunroof has factory tint
No vehicles within 100 in front of me and wasn’t passing under any overpass with falling debris

This is one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever experienced. I still haven’t heard from the dealership (dropped it off over a day ago). Add to this that dealership has NO vehicles to provide as loaners, so no boating for me this weekend.

This is an uncommon, but real thing... https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/exploding-sunroofs-danger-overhead/

So where does the burden of proof lie? Me to prove that this didn’t happen as result of debris strike or RAM to prove that it did happen as result of debris strike? The truth is...the sunroof spontaneously exploded on a clear day with no FOD in the area. Honestly freaked me out enough to where I won’t likely ever have the sun shade open with the glass closed ever again, but what are the chances of this rare anomaly ever gracing me again?...hopefully the odds will keep me safe in the future!