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-   -   Sunroof cracks open on brand-new Mahindra XUV700 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/264572-sunroof-cracks-open-brand-new-mahindra-xuv700.html)

Hello BHPians,

I bought home my very first car XUV 700 on 23rd March( just 18 days ago). The joy filled my family and friends alike until the 7th of April Saturday. The sunroof of my car neatly parked in an enclosed basement had cracked all of a sudden(please refer to attached images)! The vertical cuts and cracked open from inside show that there was no external impact at all. However, the service head of the India garage service center concluded that it was due to an external impact, just by hardly looking at the sunroof for 2 mins and pointing to a dot which he presumes is the impacted place. But, I can show 10s of such minute marks on the shattered glass.

This was an absolute shocker for all of us because a brand new car from Mahindra with 5-star safety ratings had its sunroof cracked suddenly without any reason! The service head told me that he would send a mail to the Mahindra plant and wait for the response(Since it was a Saturday, he told that the response would only come on Monday or Tuesday). However, he refused to keep us in the loop or provide us with a copy of the rejection mail that he claims to have received on 11th April. This lack of transparency is concerning, and I am disappointed with the way this matter has been handled so far.

I understand that accidents can happen, and we are willing to get the sunroof fixed through insurance. However, I strongly believe that this is a manufacturing defect, and should not be held responsible for the cost of repair. Investing lakhs together only to find the sunroof getting cracked open all of a sudden is an ordeal no enthusiast should be facing.

I request suggestions and advice on how to proceed in this regard.

Inexplicable situation, sunroof is made of toughened glass and its not to easy to get a crack or shatter unless there is a proper visible impact, moreover definitely not a dot ! Please can you upload a more detailed picture of top and side angle ?

Also any pic of the supposed impact area ?

+1

Do share a few pictures clicked from the inside too

Sad to see the new car in this situation.

From what I could make up from the pics but it seems it popped up due to additional pressure build up inside the car other than normal.
Was there something stored in the car when this happened?

Also yes, some more pictures would help.

Thanks,
Aayush

Thermal stress or manufacturing defect - a BHPian's BMW X5 had almost identical damage.

Don't lose sleep over it. You've bought a 30-lakh car, so enjoy it. Don't let an incident like this cause you any more anguish. Push dealer for replacement or claim insurance and be done with it. Go for a long drive this coming weekend :)

Feel bad for you. But, it's just a glass and will be replaced. Do not get offended if the service head has not marked you on the emails. They have their own way of dealing with things. At the end of the day, I am sure it will all be sorted out. They cannot deny the defect but may ask you to go the insurance route. If you can share more close up pics (from inside the cabin too), then I guess experts in the forum will be able to comment better.

HIGHLY unlikely that they will accept this as a manufacturing defect and replace with no questions asked. Forget manufacturing defect, they will be adamant that this is user damage or any kind of external damage.

To be fair to them, that is exactly what most people will feel when you look at the damage.

I am attaching other pictures here. And the supposed impact pic is with the pen pointed towards it.
Thanks

Be calm. This is fairly common even in new cars. Happened to a brand-new Honda City we had as well. The rear glass just shattered for no good reason.

I would wager that this has nothing to do with the quality of the glass manufactured. This seems like a muck up at the time of fitting on the assembly line.

Please have it changed and enjoy the wonderful vehicle you have bought.

OT: Would sun film on the glass make any difference? Would it heat up less or something and prevent this from happening

Sorry to see this happened on a new car. I feel for you.

Consider taking a look to see if the ventilation vents inside the car are clogged. If that happens, when you shut the doors or air pressure cannot escape, it may find a weak spot to escape and that might just happen to be your sunroof. To know what specifically I am talking about, see the video from Chrisfix from 2:44 onwards

Replace Windsheilfd

Looking at the pictures it may be a possibility that something came crashing on the glass and broke it.

Regardless, get it fixed and see if you can negotiate at least partial coverage from the company to get this sorted out.

The pics are hard to decipher, but wouldn’t the point of impact shown in the pic have a crack originating from it? It looks isolated from all other cracks. How does that happen in glass?

Arent the sun roof glass shatter proof type? Is there any regulatory standard for the type of glass that can be used for Sunroof, windshields etc? The crack as seen in the pics looks as if happened due to an impact of an heavy object, has any break in been ruled out in this case? Is the Sunroof glass eligible under warranty claims?

As suggested the best way to go about is to claim insurance and get the glass replaced.

Can't believe the number of members here asking the OP to remain calm and claim insurance. I can't understand why so many members here today seem to support manufacturers and service centers (a lot of them happen to be new members too).

Not pointing fingers at people who are actually trying to be positive and asking the OP to put a bad experience behind him, but I can notice a marked shift in tone towards fellow members issues on the forum.

If an accident happens on the road, we need to claim insurance. But if an accident happens inside the Service center due to the negligence of service personnel, then in India you are again forced claim your own insurance. Now, we have to claim insurance for what could be a manufacturing defect on the basis of a 2 mins diagnosis.

Seems like people have found a way to escape any increase in their premiums from claims which I don't know about.

This is unlikely to be a manufacturing issue with the glass itself, but could have been damaged subsequently either due to incorrect fitment or more likely due to some small stone or other impact while you were driving the car.

It's highly likely that you may not have even noticed a small crack or similar form due to something like a stone bouncing off the car. Then due to thermal expansion - the glass has failed and broken outwards as it failed.

A similar thing happened on my Mercedes GLS about a year after I bought it.

Now my explanation above is a pure assumption and most likely you are never going to find a root cause. I would just claim the insurance and go on happily - these really isn't a point to dragging this out. Else you are going to have to find a way to make an argument that there was never any impact to the glass after delivery.