Sunroof

Had the car a couple of months and the sunroof shattered last week when parked up and closing it. Dealer says it isn't a warranty item. WHAT!!!

Anybody else heard of this?

Agghh. Feel your pain. I understand exactly where you are coming from - but consider that windows and windscreens are not generally warranty items if they are broken / break / chipped etc. as they may consider that as normal wear and tear.

You haven't said where you are based.

I haven't got my warranty definition with me, but a quick search found (for UK/Europe)

http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/owners/warranty.aspx

Quote

MANUFACTURER'S WARRANTY
Subject to our terms and conditions, Mitsubishi Motors Europe B.V. (hereinafter called “MME”) warrants that any of the "Basic Warranty Items" of the new vehicle manufactured by or for MME shall be free from any defects in material or workmanship under normal use, provided that correct maintenance has been carried out.

Any of the basic warranty items covered by this new vehicle warranty will be repaired or replaced free of charge by any MME Authorised Mitsubishi Distributor or Mitsubishi Motors in the UK Authorised Dealership within the warranty period.

Unquote

and . . . .

Quote

Please refer to the Pan-European Services Booklet in your vehicle for full warranty details. New vehicles that have not been supplied in the UK by an authorised Mitsubishi Motors Dealer and sourced through the Colt Car Company Limited may not benefit from this warranty. Please check with your authorised Mitsubishi Motors Dealer if you would like confirmation of the warranty relating to your vehicle. The warranty provided is in addition to your legal rights. We reserve the right to inspect the vehicle (whether before or after any work is carried out) and/or any damaged or replaced parts.

Unquote

Jeff

It depends on the cause. If it somehow got chipped or scratched deeply previously -most likely as sunroofs normally don't shatter spontaneously; this is the first time I even heard of it- it is surely an insurance matter. If it is a manufacturing fault - and that is virtually impossible to substantiate- it will be a guaranty matter.

It strikes me that a vehicle that is less than 2 months old and stationary when it happens should reasonably be considered a warranty issue. We are waiting for the importer to come back on this. No marks, chips or other body damage present.

A letter to the CEO may follow; it works! VW became reasonable about door corrosion on a Phaeton at just under 10 years after some squirming and evasiveness. I discovered a warranty extension (that one slipped out!) and also stated that 2 previous repairs had been done poorly, as well as many reported instances of the same. Writing to the UK and German bosses changed their attitude very fast.

All about being reasonable, polite and immovable.

Hmm... My insurance company would pay, not worth the hassle. Granted that Mitsubishi might make a goodwill gesture for marketing reasons, companies often do,but I'm sure that they don't have a legal obligation.

The European law stipulates that the onus is on the manufacturer to prove that it is NOT a manufacturing fault for the two first years.
A self-shattering sunroof is is clearly a manufacturing fault as it is hard to prove that you somehow pressed the button in an incorrect way unless there are large marks and bumps on the roof related to an external event.

The insurance company may pay and take the issue to Mitsubishi, but I would suspect that they will ask you to go back to the dealer.

The warranty on any item, including cars, is best seen as a means of attempting to minimise the manufacturers' liability.

Buyers rights are much better protected by the various layers of consumer protection legislation and amongst the many strands of those are the facts that any item has to be fit for purpose and the buyer is entitled to expect that an item will operate in the manner for which it was bought for a reasonable period of time. That word 'reasonable' again...which is of course dependant on the individual facts of any case.

However, protection under consumer legislation often extends far beyond the time that manufacturers allow in their warranties.

In the case of the sunroof, if there is no evidence of previous damage and nothing was obstructing the hatch seal area which might have caused twisting of the frame as the sunroof closed (etc, etc etc) then I would say there was a very good chance of success simply using consumer protection legislation and in the total absence of any other possible cause that kind of leaves the possibility of inherent defect as the cause of the shattering.

Having said that I can't for the life of me actually imagine how it could happen.

:?

JimB

Edit: I see Karl typed a more succinct reply while I was bashing away on my keyboard.

karl said:

The European law stipulates that the onus is on the manufacturer to prove that it is NOT a manufacturing fault for the two first years.
A self-shattering sunroof is is clearly a manufacturing fault as it is hard to prove that you somehow pressed the button in an incorrect way unless there are large marks and bumps on the roof related to an external event.

The insurance company may pay and take the issue to Mitsubishi, but I would suspect that they will ask you to go back to the dealer.

Click to expand...

Over here most insurances have a "broken glass"clause. Anyway, we all seem to agree that the costs should not be paid by the owner.

Is not part of the issue here the need to find the cause.

If it was the glass that had a fault then a repair will be fine, if however there is some misalignment in the build that actually caused the issue then a repair will just end up going the same way?

Thank you to Mitsubishi.

We did offer to go and meet the Chairman next week to discuss the matter, but they have now agreed to cover the repair.
It is still their policy to not cover the glass, but an exception has been made in this case.

The roof will be sent off for examination later.

gobman said:

Thank you to Mitsubishi.

We did offer to go and meet the Chairman next week to discuss the matter, but they have now agreed to cover the repair.
It is still their policy to not cover the glass, but an exception has been made in this case.

The roof will be sent off for examination later.

Click to expand...

I had a similar problem with a former company car, driving along nobody else around and a rear quarter-light cracked in a spectacular way yet no missing glass, all held in place by the laminate layer.

Dealer tried to fob it off on a stone being thrown up by an invisible car, I then pointed out the plastic trim around the window had also cracked in two places, plus the plastic trim on the opposite side had cracked in the same way. The dealer than said the cracked plastic was due to an incorrect car shampoo being used :|

I knew, he knew that it was flex in the bodywork.

Rover :lol: eventually authorised the repair. A few months later the trim cracked again ...

Congratulations on the outcome which was the correct one and well done Mitsubishi.

LAST WEEK

Tuesday: dealer authorised to repair the car and order the sunroof.

Friday: we check progress with Mitsubishi... The order wasn't placed, now the TWO in the country have been taken. There will not be another in the UK until mid June.

We tell the dealer that we are not happy (go figure) and what are they going to do as we do not have a car and have been paying out since 26th April on a car we can't use. Potentially it will be 2 months until we can use the vehicle again. The offer is for a hire car...we will hear on Monday what, when and where it will be as head office have to authorise this; strange when it is the dealer's mess-up.

The decision making process, communication and chain of responsibility at Mitsubishi leaves much to be desired.

LATEST:

We are now told that there is a sunroof and we get the car back today. From what we have been told... which lucky customer has been told a story to deprive them of their repair I wonder? This is not what we were after, some other poor soul being strung along.

And the funny thing is that the sunroof is by Webasto, with production in Europe, so the missing roofs are shipped from (say) Holland or Poland to Japan to be shipped to the UK as spare part...

gobman said:

LAST WEEK

Tuesday: dealer authorised to repair the car and order the sunroof.

Friday: we check progress with Mitsubishi... The order wasn't placed, now the TWO in the country have been taken. There will not be another in the UK until mid June.

We tell the dealer that we are not happy (go figure) and what are they going to do as we do not have a car and have been paying out since 26th April on a car we can't use. Potentially it will be 2 months until we can use the vehicle again. The offer is for a hire car...we will hear on Monday what, when and where it will be as head office have to authorise this; strange when it is the dealer's mess-up.

The decision making process, communication and chain of responsibility at Mitsubishi leaves much to be desired.

LATEST:

We are now told that there is a sunroof and we get the car back today. From what we have been told... which lucky customer has been told a story to deprive them of their repair I wonder? This is not what we were after, some other poor soul being strung along.

Click to expand...

Just back up north from London and my sunroof shattered when I was in fast lane of M1. Quite disconcerting as no impact just sudden noise above our head and took several minutes to realise what had happened. Managed to get across two busy lanes with wife hanging onto internal cover to keep it closed and stop glass falling in on us. A few miles down road managed to get into lay-by off hard shoulder and reach up onto roof from outside to remove broken glass. Took precaution of removing the now very brittle glass around perimeter - surprised how thin it actually was. Discussed matter with highway traffic officer in marked car who pulled up and then followed me for a few miles and gave thumbs up that everything ok. Pulled into next service station (Newport Pagnell) and duck taped perimeter then nursed car home at 60 mph for next 200 miles or so. Will contact dealer tomorrow but wonder whether there is defective batch of sunroofs and with only 2 sunroofs in country perhaps a more common problem than we are aware. My car 1.5 yeas old.

jaapv said:

It depends on the cause. If it somehow got chipped or scratched deeply previously -most likely as sunroofs normally don't shatter spontaneously; this is the first time I even heard of it- it is surely an insurance matter. If it is a manufacturing fault - and that is virtually impossible to substantiate- it will be a guaranty matter.

Click to expand...

Spent a little time googling this - it seems now relatively common with suspect being the thinner types of glass being used. This link shows it actually happening. In my case today there was nothing in front of me so maybe hit by a meteorite which vapourised on impact.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/07/31/spontaneously-exploding-car-sunroofs-that-sound-like-a-bomb-going-off-heres-whats-probably-causing-it/

Hi. Only just joined this forum, as I was Googling the topic of sunroofs. I recently bought a secondhand 2015 Outlander PHEV, and I've been happy with it ... until the sunroof spontaneously shattered, with a thudding sound, while I was stationary in a car park. It seems I am not the only one, so I thought I would add my experience here. I'm hoping the insurance company will cover it as they do windscreens (been on hold for some time!).