2016 Lexus RX350: sunroof shattered

Filed Mar 20, 2021 · 68,000 miles · LA

I was driving down highway and heard a loud explosion. I was very shaken up. It was a scary experience. I was traveling 220 cross lake bridge and at time could not pull over. I kept hearing crunching noise above me. I opened sunroof inside cover and that's when I noticed the sunroof was shattered and it was what had exploded.

Filed Nov 29, 2020 · Visibility · 23,000 miles · AL

Sunroof spontaneously shattered

Filed Jul 19, 2020 · 23,685 miles · MO

Sunroof spontaneously exploded. I was driving about 45mph on my way to work during a rainstorm around 6:30am on april 23 2020, when I suddenly heard a very loud bang. I looked up to see that my sunroof had burst and there were glass fragments raining on my head. I closed the visor to prevent more glass and precipitation from falling into the vehicle, and pulled under an awning to assess the damage. The glass had burst outward (pictures attached), and there were no dents or chips on the outside of the vehicle indicating that it could have been struck by something. Other than the shattered glass, there was no debris on the inside of the vehicle. Additionally, at the time the glass burst, my vehicle was the only car on the road within several hundred meters, so this could not have resulted from any sort of road debris kicked up by another vehicle. I suffered minor cuts to my arms and head, but did not have any major injuries. My rx350 had fewer than 24k miles on it and was 3 years old, so it should have been covered under basic warranty. Lexus ultimately denied any sort of manufacturer defect, and did not honor the warranty. I had the vehicle repaired at a lexus dealership for $1,465.

Filed Feb 17, 2020 · 55,650 miles · TX

While I was driving on the highway around 3:30 pm cst, my vehicle sunroof just exploded and the glass shattered. There were no vehicles in the front for at least 150 meters.I was on my way to the airport. The wind noise was loud and also I had booked the parking outside (non-covered) so I had to go back home and take my wife's car. In this process, I almost missed the flight. As per the weather report it was going to rain the next 3 days so I knew I couldn't park the car outside with the broken sunroof which would cause further damage. Fortunately, the sunroof was closed so when the glass shattered it didn't come inside and didn't hurt me. I am not sure what would have happened if it was open?

Filed Jan 26, 2018 · TX

Exploding sunroof on new car, I was leaving for work around 6:30 am january 2018 to go to work. As I was starting my car and putting the car in reverse I heard a loud shatter. I immediately and carefully opened the visor between me and the sunroof it was completely shattered. Small fragments of glass were pouring into my car. I was not even driving at a high speed so there was no possible way a rock or another object came into contact with the window. The car still has paper tags on the vehicle. I called my insurance and had to file a claim. Cost was $1200 to repair at the lexus dealership. I just droped it off today. Nobody could give me any answered. Apparently I am not the only one, since I have found this page there are 3 more sunroof explosions out of the total of 29 complaints as of now. I as well filed a police for insurance purposes.

Filed Jan 4, 2018 · 35,000 miles · VA

I was driving my 2016 lexus rx 350 exiting the highway when I heard a loud boom. It was loud like a shotgun. We didn't see or feel anything hit the car, but the noise was loud and scary. Since there was no obvious evidence of anything, I carefully opened my visor for my sunroof to see that my sunroof had shattered. It just exploded. Nothing hit it or fell on it. The sunroof was convex like it exploded and not concave like something had fallen on it.

Filed May 8, 2017 · 5,800 miles · TX

I was driving on I-10 east close to the tx-la border, on pavement that was even, although not without some occasional roughness. Traffic was heavy and moving around 65 MPH. It was 67 degrees and cloudy. I had been on the road for about 3 hours, when my friend and I heard a loud crack. It sounded as if something hit glass, but we saw no flying objects and the sound was singular; no additional or residual sounds. We both jumped and started looking to see if the windshield was damaged but did not see any damage. Later when we stopped for gas we washed the windshields and did another look, including looking for paint damage. We found nothing. We continued driving to our destination. The next morning when we got in the car and shut the door, we heard glass falling. I stood on the open door and saw that there were two small holes in the sunroof and the entire sunroof was shattered. The cobweb effect was 100%, and extended to every square inch of the glass, all the way around the perimeter. I called the lexus dealership nearest me; and I called our insurance provider to start a claim. Given I was some distance from home, it was late friday, and no one could get the glass, I had a local automotive repair shop (the local area contract for our insurance company) collision wrap the roof so I could drive home, avoid flinging glass on traffic, and be protected in case of rain. My husband notified the dealership where we leased the vehicle and made an appointment (we go tomorrow). No one from the two dealerships or the insurance company mentioned that sunroofs on lexus/toyota have been known to spontaneously "pop" since 2010. The cause of this risk must be defective design and/or glass; the sunroof materials being used are evidently unable to take the pressure and absorb the shock. The roof's most vulnerable part is exploding as a result. 2016 model; driven 6 mos; >6000 mi.