2017 Subaru Outback: sunroof shattered

Filed Dec 29, 2025 · PA

Driving on a flat dry road with cloudy conditions we heard what sounded like a shotgun. Pulled over and found our Moonroof exploded. I have dashcam video with audio of the explosion as well as photos and video of the damage immediately after

Filed Nov 3, 2024 · VA

While driving on main road sunroof spontaneously exploded! Speed 55 mph, temp mid 60s. This occurred 11-2-24 about 6pm. Clear weather, open road. I purchased the car new in 2017 and have never even opened the sunroof as I don't like them and car is always garaged when not in use. It has only 27,773 miles on it. No one was hurt but very scary. Will take it to dealership tomorrow, 11-4-24, as the entire center of sunroof is gone with only edges of glass remaining around the perimeter. I will have mechanic report tomorrow (today is Sunday

Filed Jan 19, 2023 · Body · VA

Retractable sun roof exploded/disintegrated while vehicle was under power on an open road . Photo of damage exceeds the maximum size for uploading. Can be transmitted by email if desired

Filed Sep 15, 2021 · Body · NY

While driving on 9/14/21 at about 40 mph, we heard a loud crash and the sound of broken glass. I pulled off the road shortly after to inspect my vehicle and found that the sun/moon roof had literally exploded. The shade was closed and no broken glass entered the passenger compartment. Upon closer inspection, the remaining hole in the sun roof (measuring approx. 14 in. wide by 8 inches deep) indicated that the force breaking the glass had come from the inside rather than the outside as the rim around the hole was convex rather than concave. Also there was very little glass resting on the outside surface of the closed shade inside the cavity, with the majority of it on the roof toward the rear of the vehicle. I am now in discussion with both my insurance company and the dealer that I bought the vehicle from. I did take 3 pictures but am unsure how to send them with this report.

Filed May 2, 2020 · 8,500 miles · CA

Sunroof exploded with a fair size hole in it! Also, the windshield glass has cracked lines in it. Stated with a small stone ding and now has expended to a crack line hald way across the windshield. To me, subaru has a glass issue with my 2017 subaru outback. The auto has all of the safety features, so replacing the windshield is not cheap, due to the sensor cameras. The roof blow out happened while driving it. Also, the small stone ding occurred while driving it as well. All occurred while driving the subaru on city streets. Subaru did replace the sunroof at no cost; the outback was still under warranty. The windshield started to crack shortly after having safe lite repair the ding. That occurred about 6 months ago.

Filed Feb 17, 2020 · 7 miles · CA

Sunroof exploded while driving on freeway

Filed Aug 10, 2019 · 25,000 miles · CO

My wife was driving on I-80 in nebraska. With no traffic around, her sunroof spontaneously exploded while driving. There were no warning signs or anything ahead fo the event. Luckily the headliner shade was closed so the didn't get hit by glass and were able to pull over safely.

Filed Apr 5, 2019 · 27,000 miles · AK

On march 24, 2019, my husband and I were driving north on interstate 5 in southern oregon, traveling from our winter home in nevada to our summer home in alaska. Suddenly, we heard a loud explosion on the roof of our car. The sunroof glass had spontaneously exploded and shattered!! There were no rocks or debris on the road. Since we were traveling, I was able to get the sunroof repaired at walkers renton subaru in renton, washington. Even though the vehicle was still under the full bumper to bumper 36,000 mile warranty (it had 27,000 miles on it), I was required to pay the $500 repair bill. The service advisor told me that the breakage had to have been due to a rock, and was not covered under warranty. I am convinced that there was no rock or anything else that caused the shattering of the sunroof glass. There are scattered reports of sunroofs spontaneously exploding, and I am convinced that that is what happened to me.

Filed Jul 14, 2018 · Body · 12,000 miles · WA

Sunroof exploded while vehicle was in motion at highway speeds. Not attributed to impact from foreign object debris. Conditions indicate that thermal shock has likely exposed defects in the manufacturing process and other vehicles may be susceptible to similar incidents. Vehicle was left in a parking lot for 1.75 hours. Outside air temperature was recorded at 92 degrees (f). Upon entering the vehicle, the air conditioning was engaged and the internal air temperature was set at 68 degrees (f). Approximately 15 minutes later, while driving at highway speeds, an explosive sound was heard. The sunroof cover was closed. Upon initial inspection, it was confirmed that the sunroof was shattered however largely intact. Upon further inspection, it is clearly discernible that the glass is now protruding outward beyond the roofline as a result of the explosive action.

Filed Apr 1, 2018 · Body · 27,927 miles · MI

Sunroof explosion. Driving straight at highway speeds we heard a loud pop as our sunroof spontaneously exploded into small glass fragments out of the top of the car.

Filed Dec 27, 2017 · Visibility · 4,500 miles · OR

Exploding sun roof: on 11/23/2017 our family was driving from hillsboro, or to coosbay, or for a family thanksgiving dinner. While we were on interstate I-5 south just near cottage grove, or we heard a loud shatter which scared all of us, we immediately pulled to the shoulder safely and noticed that the sunroof was shattered. We were going at 65-70mph with drizzle oregon rain and temps at 50's f

Filed Nov 20, 2017 · Body, Visibility · 12,200 miles · GA

Hello, see attached pics of our outback sunroof that exploded while traveling southbound on I-95 in ga crossing south newport river in townsend, ga 31331 around 10:55 a.m on 11/19/17. All occupants heard a loud pop and sound of glassing exiting the rear of the vehicle prior to pulling over. I cleared to the side of the interstate, documented the sunroof damage and then drove 40 MPH to next exit where I located a vacuum to clean up the mess so that we could drive 35 miles back home. There was a cold front passing through the area, so there were some gusty winds, but temps were only around 60 degrees. We had just refueled and were accelerating to 60 MPH to merge with traffic. We were using a sear's x-cargo carrier on top for personnel storage. I have an appt with the dealer tomorrow to assess warranty, etc. The vehicle is six months old.