Audi A5 Sportback exploding sunroof
10-31-2015, 10:21 AM
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Audi A5 Sportback exploding sunroof
I purchased a brand new Audi A5 Sportback in April this year.
About a week ago, I was travelling on the motorway at night with my family in the car when the sunroof simply exploded with a huge bang and fragments of razor sharp glass came in through the vents in the inner cover which was highly dangerous.
At the time, we were travelling around 70-75mph with no other vehicles around, no bridges and in the inside lane. It was a very frightening experience and we pulled over at a nearby service station to inspect the sunroof under lights only to find the remaining glass around the perimeter was all curved upwards.
I reported this straight away to the Audi dealership from whom the car was purchased but they were totally disinterested and simply say that an object must have hit it and that I should make an insurance claim. They aren't even interested in seeing the sunroof despite having sent them photos. Needless to say I feel extremely let down.
Being an engineer I find it incredibly hard to believe that an object could have hit only the sunroof and with such a force when travelling horizontally at speed. Also, why would the glass point upwards? I strongly believe that this is much more likely to either be a design or manufacturing fault with the glass.
I have looked at other Audi forums and there have been problems with exploding sunroofs on other models previously but I'm trying to find out if anyone else has experienced similar problems with an A5 Sportback?
About a week ago, I was travelling on the motorway at night with my family in the car when the sunroof simply exploded with a huge bang and fragments of razor sharp glass came in through the vents in the inner cover which was highly dangerous.
At the time, we were travelling around 70-75mph with no other vehicles around, no bridges and in the inside lane. It was a very frightening experience and we pulled over at a nearby service station to inspect the sunroof under lights only to find the remaining glass around the perimeter was all curved upwards.
I reported this straight away to the Audi dealership from whom the car was purchased but they were totally disinterested and simply say that an object must have hit it and that I should make an insurance claim. They aren't even interested in seeing the sunroof despite having sent them photos. Needless to say I feel extremely let down.
Being an engineer I find it incredibly hard to believe that an object could have hit only the sunroof and with such a force when travelling horizontally at speed. Also, why would the glass point upwards? I strongly believe that this is much more likely to either be a design or manufacturing fault with the glass.
I have looked at other Audi forums and there have been problems with exploding sunroofs on other models previously but I'm trying to find out if anyone else has experienced similar problems with an A5 Sportback?
10-31-2015, 07:41 PM
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The exact same problem happened on my wifes BMW X5 a few years back. It was a factory custom build new and the same thing happened to us on the highway with less than a year on the clock. We also received the same response from BMW. they blamed it on a random rock somehow hiting the sunroof at a time when there were no cars on the road. We were forced to repair it through insurance. Good luck.
11-01-2015, 05:42 AM
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There was a local news story (I'm from Houston) a few months back about this exact thing. It said that Audi and KIA had issued voluntary recalls on certain models (didn't say which) but it looks like manufacturers are still blaming the issue on objects hitting the sunroof.
How to prevent car sunroofs from shattering spontaneously | Money - Home
Have you tried reaching out to Audi directly? Since we don't have the Sportback here in the US, it wouldn't show up in the NHTSA database for complaints, but honestly, your description matches what others have experienced. I would skip the dealer and contact Audi directly. The dealer isn't Audi.
How to prevent car sunroofs from shattering spontaneously | Money - Home
Have you tried reaching out to Audi directly? Since we don't have the Sportback here in the US, it wouldn't show up in the NHTSA database for complaints, but honestly, your description matches what others have experienced. I would skip the dealer and contact Audi directly. The dealer isn't Audi.
11-01-2015, 07:43 AM
#4
AudiWorld Super User
Make sure you file the incident with NHTSA.
I purchased a brand new Audi A5 Sportback in April this year.
About a week ago, I was travelling on the motorway at night with my family in the car when the sunroof simply exploded with a huge bang and fragments of razor sharp glass came in through the vents in the inner cover which was highly dangerous.
At the time, we were travelling around 70-75mph with no other vehicles around, no bridges and in the inside lane. It was a very frightening experience and we pulled over at a nearby service station to inspect the sunroof under lights only to find the remaining glass around the perimeter was all curved upwards.
I reported this straight away to the Audi dealership from whom the car was purchased but they were totally disinterested and simply say that an object must have hit it and that I should make an insurance claim. They aren't even interested in seeing the sunroof despite having sent them photos. Needless to say I feel extremely let down.
Being an engineer I find it incredibly hard to believe that an object could have hit only the sunroof and with such a force when travelling horizontally at speed. Also, why would the glass point upwards? I strongly believe that this is much more likely to either be a design or manufacturing fault with the glass.
I have looked at other Audi forums and there have been problems with exploding sunroofs on other models previously but I'm trying to find out if anyone else has experienced similar problems with an A5 Sportback?
About a week ago, I was travelling on the motorway at night with my family in the car when the sunroof simply exploded with a huge bang and fragments of razor sharp glass came in through the vents in the inner cover which was highly dangerous.
At the time, we were travelling around 70-75mph with no other vehicles around, no bridges and in the inside lane. It was a very frightening experience and we pulled over at a nearby service station to inspect the sunroof under lights only to find the remaining glass around the perimeter was all curved upwards.
I reported this straight away to the Audi dealership from whom the car was purchased but they were totally disinterested and simply say that an object must have hit it and that I should make an insurance claim. They aren't even interested in seeing the sunroof despite having sent them photos. Needless to say I feel extremely let down.
Being an engineer I find it incredibly hard to believe that an object could have hit only the sunroof and with such a force when travelling horizontally at speed. Also, why would the glass point upwards? I strongly believe that this is much more likely to either be a design or manufacturing fault with the glass.
I have looked at other Audi forums and there have been problems with exploding sunroofs on other models previously but I'm trying to find out if anyone else has experienced similar problems with an A5 Sportback?
Alternatively, file a small claims court suit. Audi might settle out of court to prevent wider claims.
02-08-2016, 11:20 AM
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Exploding sunroof - update
Thanks to everyone who've provided advice. Needless to say the saga has been a long, drawn out one and I'm currently without the car as its being repaired by an approved Audi garage over 4 months after the incident took place! I won't go into all the details but the sunroof was eventually repaired by Autoglass under my own insurance but they damaged the mechanism in the process and left quite a bit of glass in the roof lining which was still rolling around when cornering. Now my insurance company are claiming against Autoglass! Suffice to say that, despite escalating it to the top of Audi customer care in the UK, Audi themselves are completely disinterested claiming it's an act of God and only at my insistence inspecting the car and logging the incident. The dealership (Spire Automotive in Hatfield) have been appalling from the very start with next to no aftercare despite Audi's official marketing stance. I have been a loyal Audi customer for over 15 years now and can't see myself ever again buying a new Audi with the way I've been treated. I have relayed the story to all of my friends and not one disagrees. Indeed, a couple of friends have elected for another make of car purely on the strength of my experience. Good luck to all Audi owners particularly those with sunroofs!
02-17-2016, 10:08 AM
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Exploding Sunroof Class Action Lawsuit Investigation
You may want to submit your spontaneously exploding sunroof experience to Attorneys at classaction.org who are currently investigating whether class action lawsuits can be filed. You may be able to join existing litigation or start a new lawsuit.
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