My Glass Roof Has Just Expoloded - Has Yours?

[Ray]

"ramming the dealership" won't fix it though

*has the image of terminator saying "i'll be back" then ramming his car thru the wall*

[Phil_G]

All I can say is thank god for the sunblind! These are the pictures from the car this thread is about

[dtj01]

Thanks to Phil G for posting the above pictures.

As you can see the toughened roof glass has shattered - but not into little pieces as it is supposed to.

As mentioned previously my 11 week old daughter was sat in the front seat under this glass and it was only the fact that the roller blind was pulled shut that this glass did'nt hit her.

This is a serious safety issue. Even in Euro Ncap testing the first thing to shatter is the glass and with an area of glass this big why is'nt it laminated? Even the EPGAA - governing body for automotive glass safety - is asking for glass to be laminated (https://www.epgaa.com).
More and more cars start to have full glass roofs - for that light and roomy feel - not only Renault but Ford, Pugs, Toyotas, Minis, Vauxhall etc etc.

This combined with the rear window shattering on Saturday - when I turned on the heated rear window - I think something needs to be reviewed at Renault. Maybe it was a dodgy batch of glass - maybe not?

I'll keep you all posted - thanks for reading.

[shinyautos.com]

mate, sue them...



I can't quite believe that a 5* N cap car can have an area of glass that big and not be laminated.



Thank gawd, your little girls ok, i shudder to think of the consequences.

[europa]

It's not good by any means, but remember it is still safety glass - not plate glass - ie. it's not broken into large triangular shards.

I was in a car accident as a kid where a toughened glass windscreen shattered (and I got covered in the pieces) - I sustained the tiniest cut to one finger - it's pretty safe. Not something you'd have done to you by choice of course, but not lethal either.

[Old Bill]

Holy Crap

Good to hear that the family are all OK.

At least on the bright side, things can only get better with the car!

[Privilege]

It's not good by any means, but remember it is still safety glass - not plate glass - ie. it's not broken into large triangular shards.

I was in a car accident as a kid where a toughened glass windscreen shattered (and I got covered in the pieces) - I sustained the tiniest cut to one finger - it's pretty safe. Not something you'd have done to you by choice of course, but not lethal either.

Also its much better than laminated if you are trapped in the car as the fire service can easily smash toughened glass whereas laminated is a different story

[dtj01]

All

Thanks for your posts.

I am pleased to say this complaint is now resolved for our family. We are very grateful to our dealership who have been very supportive in our complaints to Renault about our expereinces in our Megane. It appears Renault have taken our experiences very seriously and resolved our complaint relatively quickly.

One closing comment, I would like to say in reply to the last post about safety glass. We saw that the safety glass has no sharp edges, but with an open mouthed and eyed infant in a rear facing car seat looking up to the glass roof I still feel the fact the glass falls into the car is still a safety issue which needs to be looked at not only be Renault but by all manufacturers using this manufacturing process.

What a great site, it was very useful to have all your feedback to see how common this issue is. Best of luck for your future success.

[soterman]

Good result!

I can feel what you went through mate, this has probably trashed your belief and confidence in Renaults! I wouldn't blame you, but at least your family is ok.

Good luck with your future ventures!

[europa]

Those poor folk must have been cursed, I've never heard of so many issues with glass shattering around them!

[DaveP]

Mine went pop today ( the panoramic roof on my sport tourer, not the CC). I have to say it was a bit scary. I was driving along the M25 this morning and the roof just seemed to explode for no obvious reason. I didn't see any flying stones, wasn't close to any lorries and hadn't just been under a bridge. I can only assume it went for the same reason as others have - internal stresses or similar. The original glass was actually changed just a few weeks ago to try to stop a persistent wind noise problem so this new section was still quite new. When it went it seems that a fair amount of the glass went upwards and back so I hope the car behind didn't get too badly showered. The bits did some damage to the rear of my car - quite a few scratches/cuts in the paint on the plastic section above the rear window. As I was driving along a busy motorway when it went I wasn't able to stop instantly. I worked my way over to lane one and whilst contemplating stopping on the hard shoulder saw the 1 mile to South Mimms Services sign so I thought it would be safest to continue to the services. There was still a big chunk of glass waiting to fall off (see picture) so I took it very steady. I was covered in bits of glass, some even down the neck of my shirt. Luckily most of the bits were the usual toughened "squares" so not too sharp but there were also quite a few very small shards that were very sharp. Anyway, as I still have 2 weeks of warranty left I was able to make use of Renault Assistance, who I have to say did a good job of sorting things. They arranged the AA to visit and set up a hire car, the AA took my car back to Bristol to my local dealer and me to the car hire branch nearby. Even got a call from RUK customer services to check I was okay and who seemed genuinely concerned about the problem. I'm rather put off the whole idea of glass roofs now - I'm amazed there isn't some kind og film applied to the glass to hold it all together. Here's a few pix taken with my phone.

[L77]

Scary stuff!

Glad all is well with you but how can you be expected to have any confidence in and sort of panoramic roof after this?

Get the finger our Reno

[navid.v]

sorry to hear about this,but glad that you are okay yourself.

[IainMW]

Glad you are OK, but very very scary stuff

I was covered in bits of glass, some even down the neck of my shirt. Luckily most of the bits were the usual toughened "squares" so not too sharp but there were also quite a few very small shards that were very sharp.

I dare not think about the out come if this glass had gone in your eyes? I think some very serious questions have to be asked now about whether this is an issue for VOSA?

Obviously what ever they did to your roof last time has caused this to happen.

Do you think you will feel comfortable driving your car once it's repaired? (Personally I don't think I would?)

[Shirley McBrinn]

The glass roof of my megane coupe cabriolet exploded three weeks ago. The car was stationary on the driveway. I got in the car and shut the door, the car roof came down on my head. Renault Customer Services are denying any knowledge of issues of this type and refusing to cover it under warranty. The repair bill is inexcess of £3k. The car is less than a year old. Has anyone else had a similar issue with the Coupe Cabriolet?