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BMW Sunroof problems seem to keep falling in
By Gary Becker
Is there a problem with the sunroofs on some BMW's? Several local American television stations and contributors to BMW internet forums are reporting that the sunroofs on a handful of BMW's explode leaving the car's occupants to sit through a shower of broken glass.
WSXY-TV in Columbus, Ohio reported that a Westerville, Ohio woman experienced the sunroof in her 2008 BMW 328xi shatter while she was driving. The woman claims that a year ago she was driving and heard a loud gunshot type sound followed by pieces of broken glass raining down on her. She looked up and her sunroof was gone.
Denver, Colorado's KWGN-TV reported that on Christmas Eve, a Parker, Colorado woman was driving on I-25 in her 2 month old BMW when suddenly her sunroof exploded. The woman told KWGN-TV, "It sounded like somebody blew out or shot out one of my windows, and so it startled me quite a bit as you can imagine. My ears were ringing and there's glass everywhere,"
In March of 2011, KGO-TV in San Francisco reported that a San Jose woman has a similar experience with her 2010 BMW 328i while she was northbound in highway 101 and the sunroof suddenly shattered above her head. The woman then went to her BMW dealer who was told by BMW corporate that it was not a BMW issue and for the woman to contact her insurance provider.
The woman then contacted KGO-TV who in turn contacted University of California, Berkleley Professor of mechanical engineering Tarek Zohdi. Professor Zohdi calculated that a rock shot into the air by a truck or car would reach a height of 10 to 15 feet before falling back to earth. There was no way in Zohdi's opinion that a rock falling from that height could gain enough speed to break the glass in a sunroof. Zohdi told KFO-TV, "There is not a chance in the world that an unintentional rock that is lofted by a vehicle would ever break a sunroof panel".
A post in bimmerforums.com from April 2011 claims, "I took the car out of town for a weekend trip and on my way back just a few seconds after exiting onto the highway, I heard a loud bang, something like a gunshot, and the next thing we know was a bunch of shattered glass showered all over the interior of the car."
From roadfly.com, May, 2009, "I was driving my 2009 335i X-drive on the interstate yesterday on my way to my second home. I was not going under an overpass, there were no trucks near me, nor were there too many other cars in the vicinity. I heard a loud pop and my sunroof shattered. I saw nothing coming at me, nor did I find any rocks in the car. My roof and trunk are scratched, probably because of the flying glass shards."
From m5board.com, May 2007, "On Monday of this week I was driving to the DFW airport and just before I entered the ticket booth (airport entrance) I heard this loud noise (like a small explosion) and glass shattered. I immediately pulled over, got out of the car and looked at my sunroof. The entire middle of the glass had a hole the size of a basketball. I instantly thought someone threw a rock down on my car from the overpass just before the airport entrance. I looked for a rock or anything that could have been dropped onto the car and found nothing. In fact, the remaining glass shards that were still attached to the sunroof were all angled upward indicating the glass shattered from the inside out."
Other than random local television reports and forum posts which cannot be taken as reliable testimony, there is no actual hard data to indicate or refute any possible wide spread problem with sunroofs on BMWs. BMW itself has not released any "official" statement on the issue. We will continue to follow the story.
Additional Videos
Denver, Colorado's KWGN-TV Video
Follow up article
12/30/11
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