Last Friday morning, while driving my Fiat and starting to exit the highway, I thought a small bomb had gone off behind me. I look around and notice that I am covered with tiny pieces of what look like glitter, but quickly realize that it is glass! My sunroof has just 'exploded'.
I immediately called the Fiat dealership and was told to find a way to bring it in and that I would NOT receive a courtesy car unless I purchased a specialized service agreement. I am now covered in glass, crying and driving 45mph down the highway while my car throws pieces of glass at any other poor car that happens to be behind it. Upon arrival I'm told that I must have been hit with a large rock and that I'm probably going to need to contact my insurance. They stated that Fiat is not responsible cause sunroofs don't exploded and I can't PROVE that a rock didn't hit me. Has anyone out there been treated so poorly by a dealership or has a similar problem?

Frannie said:

Last Friday morning, while driving my Fiat and starting to exit the highway, I thought a small bomb had gone off behind me. I look around and notice that I am covered with tiny pieces of what look like glitter, but quickly realize that it is glass! My sunroof has just 'exploded'.
I immediately called the Fiat dealership and was told to find a way to bring it in and that I would NOT receive a courtesy car unless I purchased a specialized service agreement. I am now covered in glass, crying and driving 45mph down the highway while my car throws pieces of glass at any other poor car that happens to be behind it. Upon arrival I'm told that I must have been hit with a large rock and that I'm probably going to need to contact my insurance. They stated that Fiat is not responsible cause sunroofs don't exploded and I can't PROVE that a rock didn't hit me. Has anyone out there been treated so poorly by a dealership or has a similar problem?

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I'm no physicist but if a large rock hit it wouldn't the rock be in your car now?

I'd give Fiat's US head office a call if I was you.

RobinPJ said:

I'm no physicist but if a large rock hit it wouldn't the rock be in your car now?

I'd give Fiat's US head office a call if I was you.

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It could be caused by a small sharp stone hitting the glass - the stone could have bounced away from the car rather than falling into the interior. It could also have been chipped on a previous occasion & chosen to shatter at a later time.

It could be the result of residual manufacturing stresses in the glass suddenly 'letting go' if the glass wasn't properly toughened during manufacture.

It could be caused by the body flexing if the sunroof wasn't properly sealed & there was metal-to-glass contact.

The reality is there's now no way to actually determine the cause.

The situation is exactly the same as if it had happened to the windscreen - the only difference being that the windscreen is laminated, and thus would crack rather than shatter. I can't see anyone having much success trying to claim against FIAT's warranty for a cracked windscreen.

In the UK, either situation would be dealt with by making a glass claim on one's insurance (assuming you are comprehensively insured). Normally you only have to pay the glass excess (deductible if you are an American) & it shouldn't affect your no claims bonus.

Proving this resulted from a defect in manufacture is probably impossible (even if it was). It isn't known to be a common problem on glass roofed 500s, at least not in the UK.

Hi Frannie

I hope you're ok and have had a chance to recover from your ordeal.

Its completely understandable that you're upset and although it seems very unlikely that a rock (unless its a boulder) should have caused the glass to shatter (especially at only 45mph), I can understand the dealers stand point as they have no way of proving them-self what actually occurred the best you could try is to negotiate some sort of good will gesture from them to reduce the cost of replacement, it is extremely unusual for a sunroof to shatter.

make sure you have a good clean out to get rid of all those tiny pieces of glass

Like to add to the previous posts. Sorry to hear of your ordeal and that you're OK. First case that I've seen on here.

Remember reading somewhere that the glass thickness is thicker on the sunroof model in comparison with the fixed glass roof (but it could be the other way around). Not that it matters if a rock was the cause.

Keep us posted on the outcome.

As per JR. The glass will have smashed due to a few issues.1) A foriegn body hitting it either today or tbh at any time previously2) A fitting issue whereby the roof is under pressure due to missalignment3) A manufacturing defect.Trouble is that proving this is near impossible. This is why it 99% of the time it becomes an insurance claim

loveshandbags said:

SECOND case that I've seen on here....(but it could be the other way around )...

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This is the other thread (Click here). Glass is tempered & there's a possibility that it may not affect your no claims if covered under windscreen cover (probably differs in the US).

Fixed glass roof is thicker at 5mm compared with c.4mm of the glass in the sunroof (courtesy of Fiat500USA).

Does that mean that Fixed roof model is more robust ?