We were coming back to Calgary from Lethbridge. We turned to go north on highway 23 from westbound highway 3. It was very windy and the temperature was 12 degrees Celsius. We were initially driving into the wind and when we turned north the wind was hitting the vehicle from the side. We were about 1 kilometer up the road with no other cars around us when the sunroof suddenly exploded. Part of the sunroof was blown out onto the highway and my wife and I were showered with glass that had fallen inside the cabin. The noise was very loud, I would liken it to a gunshot. We were fortunate that we did not veer of the road or crash the vehicle as the it was so sudden.
I took the car into Honda and when one of the service persons looked at it he said "must have taken a rock". I explained what happened to him and he said that Honda does not usually cover glass under warranty. They did not look at it past that point. I was quoted $1800 Canadian to have it replaced. I couldn't believe the price so I phoned around to find someone else to repair it. I managed to find a glass shop that could do it for $1200 with a new OEM part from Honda. When I spoke with the service person at the dealership and the person at the glass shop they both indicated that the new part had to be sourced from Honda in Vancouver BC. Why there is such a price difference I will never know. But I felt that we were being ripped off by Honda both by not covering the window under warranty but also for price gouging when we were forced to replace the sun roof.
The customer care from the dealership called me to find out how my last service went. I let them know that I was extremely unsatisfied with the situation and asked that a manager contact me. That never happened - no call, no email, not attempt to contact. This is unfortunate because up this time the service from the dealership was amazing and always fair. This will be the last Honda that we buy (we have had 5 different models) based on how we were shrugged off when we were at the dealership.
I know there are other manufacturers with the same issue with exploding sun roofs. There have also been similar complaints in newer models of the Accord and Odyssey. These are typically down to imperfections in the tempered glass that they are using or manufacture defaults. I think that Honda really needs to look at this seriously going forward as this is a major safety risk when it explodes in a car at speed on a highway.
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We were coming back to Calgary from Lethbridge. We turned to go north on highway 23 from westbound highway 3. It was very windy and the temperature was 12 degrees Celsius. We were initially driving into the wind and when we turned north the wind was hitting the vehicle from the side. We were about 1 kilometer up the road with no other cars around us when the sunroof suddenly exploded. Part of the sunroof was blown out onto the highway and my wife and I were showered with glass that had fallen inside the cabin. The noise was very loud, I would liken it to a gunshot. We were fortunate that we did not veer of the road or crash the vehicle as the it was so sudden.
I took the car into Honda and when one of the service persons looked at it he said "must have taken a rock". I explained what happened to him and he said that Honda does not usually cover glass under warranty. They did not look at it past that point. I was quoted $1800 Canadian to have it replaced. I couldn't believe the price so I phoned around to find someone else to repair it. I managed to find a glass shop that could do it for $1200 with a new OEM part from Honda. When I spoke with the service person at the dealership and the person at the glass shop they both indicated that the new part had to be sourced from Honda in Vancouver BC. Why there is such a price difference I will never know. But I felt that we were being ripped off by Honda both by not covering the window under warranty but also for price gouging when we were forced to replace the sun roof.
The customer care from the dealership called me to find out how my last service went. I let them know that I was extremely unsatisfied with the situation and asked that a manager contact me. That never happened - no call, no email, not attempt to contact. This is unfortunate because up this time the service from the dealership was amazing and always fair. This will be the last Honda that we buy (we have had 5 different models) based on how we were shrugged off when we were at the dealership.
I know there are other manufacturers with the same issue with exploding sun roofs. There have also been similar complaints in newer models of the Accord and Odyssey. These are typically down to imperfections in the tempered glass that they are using or manufacture defaults. I think that Honda really needs to look at this seriously going forward as this is a major safety risk when it explodes in a car at speed on a highway.
- Geraint E., Calgary, AB, Canada