THE.K.W.C

Very long but interesting. FYI I have a 2006 Lexus GS300


So let me tell your my day.


I got up at 3am on January 6, 2011 to go for a day trip snowboarding in Lake louise Alberta. Driving from Edmonton Alberta , the trip took 4.5Hrs due to very bad road conditions closer to the hill. After having an amazing day on the hill me and two of my buddies heading home the same way we came at about 4pm. After passing through Calgary on our way back to Edmonton, I became tired and swapped seats with the rear passenger who had slept the entire trip. At this point, the time is approximately 8pm and the roads are completely dry with no sand or rocks. Cruising at a steady 120Km/hr in a 110Km/hr zone , we soon find ourselves well spaced out with other vehicles far off in the distance as we drive along the dark moon lit highway. Just as we were discussing if were were going to make a pit stop or continue on out way straight home, BOOOM. it sounded like a gun shot struck the car. All three of use are wide awake and my first thought is the front window must have shuttered because I now had pieces of glass on my face and on my clothing.

After looking at the windshield, it was fully in tacked and thats when my buddy pointed to the sun roof as he pulls shards of glass from his hair. Prior to looking at the sunroof, the interior fabric shade was noted to be pulled 1/2 way over the sun roof. Upon pulling back the shade, the sun roof had a foot ball sized hole in it. Stunned, our next through was that the roof rack which was holding our snowboards on the roof must have broke a part and smashed the window so we immediately pulled over to inspect the damage and secure the equipment.

Upon stoping on the side of the highway, I was shocked to find that the roof rack and the snowboard equipment had in no way or could possibly have broken the sunroof due to there being at least a 6 inch gap between the bottom of the boards and the roof of the car. Puzzled, I now thought a rock must have been kicked up and smashed the window........but the closets car in front of us, was so far off in the distance, you could barley see its tail lights not to mention the fact that the three (3) snowboards completely shielded the window from any debris and that I also had a protective wind deflector on the front of the rack that covers the area between the top of the front window and the bottom of the rack.

Having no idea how my 2006 Lexus GS300 had just suffered a smashed sunroof, we removed all of the gear and noted that the window appeared to have broken from the inside out. The sunroof was shattered into a million pieces with large quantities flying onto the road at highway speeds. If my sunroof had shattered with out me or my two (2) buddies present in the car, I would not have believed that is randomly shattered it for a second. At the time of this incident, the outside temp was 3C or 38F according to my cars computer so frigid cold temps or out of the question. After slowly making our way to Red Deer, we obtained some duct tape and cardboard and performed a patch job to make it home. of course pictures were taken and will be posted ASAP.

Back on the road, we googled "Shattered sunroofs" and I was overwhelmed by how many people have had the exact same thing happen to them even with different makes, models and years of vehicles. Some of these people were able to convince the dealership to pay for the damage but most companies refused.

Has this happened to anyone else??? of course my next step is to see if lexus will pay for this because its clears it was a defect in the glass but i'm not holding my breath.

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

Wow, that is freaky, thanks for sharing and hope Lexus takes care of it, if not, I would make a claim with insurance to get it sorted out

06ausiecar

There was one posted in the 5th gen 4runner forum about the same thing. I've read about 1st gen scion tc's doing this, not frequently, and actually have read a post about at fellow 3rd gen GS owner whose sunroof has done it. Good luck making it right and glad everyone is ok. If it helps too, it seems all the toyotas go side to side like door to door and most buckle and push up. You have a bighty big whole in yours.

worker

wow. Windshield is said to shatter too if there is enough power from the impact right? but usually when a rock hit it it cracks. I have never heard of any crack on moonroof.

chuckGS350

My in-law her 2002 ES300 did the same thing last month.
No rock or anything. Just shattered.
The trend continues.

Bushwack

Sounds like you had a drastic change of pressure. Nevertheless, check your insurance. When I changed insurance companies, I specifically asked if side windows and the sunroof is covered (just like front and rear windshield). Sure enough, there is an amendment in my policy covering all glass as part of the structure of the car (even includes taillight lenses). There's a possibility your insurance company will cover it at a no-deductible claim.

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

Wow thats crazy! hope Lexus covers that, cause I would have a fit.

TWong350

iTrader: (8)

Definitely agree here. I can't think of any other reason why it would spontaneously shatter.

designo

iTrader: (6)

Yup, i have read a few threads about this issue on the 3GS section. To me, this looks like a possible defect from Lexus. They need to look into this defect and issue a bulletin

Bushwack

I won't dismiss the defect possibility (maybe contact the NTSB??). But I've heard the same thing happen in a Cadillac and a Benz.

In regards to the Benz (a 2007 S class), he left about 30 minutes before sunset (it was about 65 degrees) and got to the foot of a mountain about 15 minutes after sunset (going to Big Bear). Traveled about 45 minutes up, passed the 2,500 ft level and a few minutes later the sunroof popped.