Lexus Owner Sues for Shattered Sunroof
November 8th, 2016. By LucyC
Own a Lexus? How’s the sunroof? Still there—intact? Maybe not for much longer…The luxury car maker got hit with a defective products lawsuit in October, over allegations its sunroofs spontaneously explode. That could certainly put a little excitement into your life. Several scenarios come to mind—none of them good.
According to Ginger Minoletti, who filed the Lexus sunroof lawsuit, she was traveling in her Lexus RX 350 on a California highway when the sunroof glass started making a loud noise. Minoletti says it sounded like the glass was cracking. Later on, she said she found pieces of glass inside the shade of the sunroof. Lucky that was all.
Apparently, there’s some defect that causes the glass to just shatter. You don’t even need to hit it with anything first—no prompting required. If you were a superstitious person, and even if you’re not, this could be quite disturbing.
According to the lawsuit, the sudden and obviously unexpected nature of these explosions leave drivers bewildered and trying to come up with an explanation for their no doubt shocked passengers, who may well be covered in glass shards.
The website carcomplaints.com, cites reports by Lexus owners, one made by an owner of a 2007 Lexus RX 350 in Austin, TX: “Travel back from New Orleans to Austin Texas on I-10 out in the middle of nowhere traveling 70mph and the sunroof on my Lexus RX-350 exploded into a shattering disaster. If shade had been opened it could have been detrimental bodily injury to myself or my passenger.”
And another by an owner of a 2013 Lexus GS 350 in Houston, TX: “2 month old car, was driving to work on a highway. Sunroof exploded and also got thousands of scratches from the shattered glass. I don’t understand why it’s not covered by manufacturer – anyway it’s not possible to prove anything to them.”
And another by an owner of a 2011 Lexus CT 200h in Washington, DC ….”I was driving back from Boston to DC. Just north of Newark Airport, while driving at highway speeds (60mph) there was a very loud explosive noise. Then I noticed a lot of wind noise in the car. I pulled off at the next rest stop and discovered that my sunroof was shattered. I had to make three trips to the dealership to find out what was going on. It took them 7 days to finally tell me that they would not cover the damage.”
Ah, there’s another problem. Who pays for the sunroof? Not Lexus, apparently. Minoletti claims that’s what happened to her. She got stuck paying for all the repairs to the sunroof because Lexus said the work wasn’t covered under warranty.
The kicker, according to the lawsuit, is that Lexus and its parent company Toyota have been aware of this issue since 2012, but, predictably, have done nothing to warn consumers.
Although the proposed class action lawsuit currently concerns California Lexus owners only, owners across the country have complained about having no warning the glass was getting ready to disintegrate.
The Lexus exploding sunroof lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles – Ginger Minoletti v. Toyota Motors Sales USA Inc.
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On January 7, 2017 I was driving my 2013 Lexus ES350 from Houston to Victoria when my Sunroof exploded which sounded like a shotgun in the car. That’s when I notice the wind sound inside my car and thank God my sunroof visor was closed or the glass pieces would’ve been scattered inside the car. This happened around 9:30pm at night and there was not one car around me. I was about 20 minutes outside of Victoria so I pulled over to Walmart grabbed duck-tape, cardboard and a box knife to repair it. After checking into the hotel thats when I Googled and notice this has to be a defected sunroof issue. Feel free to contact me for more info or photos of this incident.
Thank you
I just had the same issue happen.. any advice and what was your outcome?
Hi this just happened to me the sunroof exploded like a shot gun wondering what happened did you end up paying out of pocket for your sunroof? Or did Lexus fix yours? I have the Lexus IS 250
Hi Sheila, my back window glass exploded last week while my newphew was in the car with me. We did not get hurt thank God, but I was very distrubed by what happened. Any advice…?
“On September 19th, 2019 4:30pm, great dry weather, low 80’s smooth 60 mph road. My wife was driving, I was the passenger and then POW, sound of a shotgun going off in the front seat of our car, a 2017 ES 350. We were able to exit and stop and this is when we found the sunroof window had exploded upward forming a bubbled up effect and cracked all around the outside edge. Scary time. My wife was shaken for hours after.. We took it directly to the LEXUS dealer. We left it with them and they called back this morning and told us they will NOT warranty this incident, instead quoted us repair price around $2000.00. Not right with the history with this happening all over the country.”
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the same thing just happened to me. Driving on freeway in clear conditions. I hear what sounded like a gunshot and think I’ve blown a tire. I pull over to the side of the road and all my tires are fine. I then notice that my glass roof on my 2019 Rx350 is folded upon the middle with cracks everywhere. I drive home while hearing wind whistling into the car and glass shards landing on the inner liner. When I get home I take a look and the roof looks like it exploded outwards with large cracks around the edges not just from the “hole” where it appears to have exploded outwards. Taking it to the Lexus dealership on Friday but based on the comments here I’m guessing they won’t cover it.
My 2015 Lexus RC350 sunroof exploded January 11 2017 Wednesday evening 1710pm. I driving about 60mph on Hwy 146 in Baytown Tx. I hear aloud sound as though a gun had just been fired…then felt glass falling on my right shoulder with passenger seat covered with glass…Now Sterling McCall Lexus wont warranty the damage saying. It must have been a rock hit it, with pressure built up inside in easily burst…your insurance will have to cover damage..
This just happened to my 2015 IS250 and the guy at dealer said “ this happened two or three times in the whole time I’ve been here and it must’ve been something that fell on to car and flew off” Because I said nothing was in the car and I was going 75 and not near anything that would’ve lent itself to something falling.
My 2016 Lexus IS300 sunroof exploded this week on the Pennsylvania turnpike.
Same thing just happened on I-15 outside of Riverside, Ca. Judging from the sound, I thought a tire had blown. Tires were O.K. but inspection showed a softball sized hole in the sunroof glass…sound familiar. We see the dealer Monday. We’ll see what happens. Could/should be interesting.
Yep! Happened this weekend on the way from Mobile, AL to Atlanta, Ga…I-65. The most incredibly loud boom ever in my car! Scared me crazy. It was about 7:00 pm, and my travels were just beginning. Thankfully, I was not alone! Sunroof visor closed, we could tell a bit of air was entering the car. After pulling over, we discovered the complete sunroof had blown out. No little hole! Shards and broken glass…unbelievable! …and then the rain came! Ugh! Thankfully, a kind gentleman directed us to a Walmart to come up with some kind of solution! I will never leave home again without duct tape! No kidding! This just happened, so I cannot tell you the end of this story. We are on our way home beginning with Lexus. It can certainly happen.
2014 CT200h Lexus. Sitting in stop and I traffic on freeway and boom, like a small bomb. No rock chips or anything wrong with roof. Luckily my sun screen was closed. Called Lexus assuming this was a warranty issue and they said I need to turn in to insurance. Surprised Lexus isn’t standing behind this.
I bought my Lexus RX 350 4/16. The windshield cracked with no warning 6 months ago and the sunroof shattered 2 days ago while driving leaving a large hole with the edges folded out. Nothing hit it as there was no one else on the road at the time. When I got to the dealership there was a sedan with the sunroof blown out worse than mine. They insist it it was a rock but I’m not buying it. This car was sold to me with a bad battery which I had to replace almost immediately. Doesn’t say much for the brand.
March 26, 2018
I was driving my 2015 ES 300 in the city. Suddenly I heard very loud noise.
Stopped the car, looked around. It seemed that nothing was wrong. So I proceed to drive to my house. Never thought to look on the top of my car.
Next day I took the car on the road. Then I could hear a wind. All windows were closed. I opened sunroof and saw that glass on sunroof was shattered …..thousand of pieces.
Very upsetting experience.
Will call Lexus dealer.
On April 30, 2018 while driving on the Interstate by wife’s 2013 RX 350 sunroof exploded. Shards of glass shot into the car. Now I understand this has been a issue noted by Lexus since 2012. How could any reasonable company not warn consumers of this danger. I guess they are waiting for a consumer to be blinded by these incidents before the make corrections in their product.
This just happened to me this morning in my 2017 Lexus NX 200T. Driving to work at 5:15am going about 60 on the freeway. I heard a loud noise and then wind. The sunroof shattered right in the middle and now has a big hole. Very scary and thankful my cover was shut or it would had been much worst. Not happy at all. Looking to join the California sunroof lawsuit. Barely a year old.
May 24th, 2018 approximately 10:20pm on my way to work cruising 80mph talking to my lady on the phone via bluetooth I hear a pop. Glass on my face, arms, and back. No bueno. There go $400 because my deductible is $1000.
My 2013 Lexus ES 350 just had the same thing this week. Driving down the freeway at 65 mph and heard loud explosion noise. Very scary. Had no idea what happened until saw glass falling down the rear windshield. $1300 to repair.
Same thing here, 2015 Lexus RX 350, owned since new. Loud bang sound on I-24 returning to Chattanooga from Nashville. Happened on 8/5/2018. No traffic immediately in front of me at the time. Sliding panel was shut. Glass fully spider-webbed, did not start falling down until next morning. Will take photos and contact dealer. Not expecting much until a national lawsuit is opened. No doubt this is a defective glass or design issue.
Driving my 2017 ES 350 , on Hwy 101 about 3:30 pm Saturday , August 25,2018, we heard what sounds like a champagne or soda that burst. We look around but didn’t see anything in our cooler. As soon as we arrived 30 minutes to our destination , I noticed the sunroof was ajar . We were lucky that the sunroof was closed when it happened. Wish I can post some pictures. Went to Lexus of Las Vegas , they said they never heard about this.
This happened to m 2015 IS 250 this past week. Driving on the highway – nowhere near an area of falling anything. I heard an explosion as some of the glass fell into the car. Left a gaping hole in the sunroof, chips of paint where the glass hit the outside of the car. Luckily no-one was hurt. It seemed there should be much more glass in the car …I dropped the vehicle off at the dealer and the young man shared “this has only happened a couple times since I’ve been here – something must’ve hit it.”
I would anticipate Lexus (Toyota’s business principles) would look into this and honor their customers requests for accommodating damages and error proofing future designs.
This just happened to me in my year old NX300h on my way to work this morning. On the highway doing around 65 and a sudden loud bang….I had no clue what had happened until I heard the wind coming in. Luckily the slide bit was closed so I did not get glass falling on me.
I called Lexus and they INSISTED that it had to have been a stone that hit it. The more I stressed that it was NOT hit by anything the more they argued. The problem is that the exact same thing happened with my previous Lexus with the same argument by the Lexus dealer.
Safe to say that I will NOT be purchasing another Lexus when I am done with this one. Apparently safety for the owners is not top of their customer service list
My sunroof in my Lexus GS350 also exploded. Sterling McCall Lexus in Houston said they couldn’t do anything for me and Corporate said it was because of a road hazard! There was nothing on the road. It was clear as day. I thought I was in the middle of a drive by shooting!
Mine has not exploded, but started rattling like crazy last year driving me insane. It was only 3 years old at the time and bought it brand new so I took it into Stevinson Lexus in Golden, Colorado where I purchased it. They charged me $300 just to look at it only to tell me that the sunroof tray had disattached from the car due to a broken weld and they could NOT repair it, nor was it covered in the warranty. In my opinion this is faulty welding and should be covered by the warranty as I had no accidents or anything else that would cause a factory weld to fracture/degrade. Also this could be a factor in causing the glass to explode if the tray is NOT centered and uneven pressure being placed on the glass that not properly supported.
Omg my 08 Lexus es350 just exploded on my daughter and I this morning in MS. We were on interstate heading to drop my daughter off at school. No explanation what so ever!! This is ridiculous!! I’m stuck w repairs and I didn’t do anything to cause it. Any suggestions???
I was driving in I-26 in South Carolina around 10am at 70 mph when I heard what sounded like a gunshot. At first I thought I had a flat tire, but the car was driving fine and the. Noticed there were no other cars around that could have made the noise. Almost immediately I then started hearing the sound of the glass shards blowing around in my sunroof. My passenger instinctively opened the cover of the sunroof a little and the shards were falling in the car, so she closed it back. We had to take it to a truck stop to have the glass vacuumed out. Luckily, there was no rain in the forecast so we continued driving home to Florida. We had to keep the cover open a bit due to air pressure and little shards of glass would continue to blow in as they broke off. Of course, when I contacted Lexus, they told me it wasn’t covered. My insurance also said they would only cover after market glass due to the age of my car, 4 years 5 months. And of course, there’s a deductible. I am surprised that there has not been a recall in this problem.
On Friday, June 7, 2019 I was driving my 2013 Lexus ES350 when I heard a very loud pop. I immediately looked at the wind shield and then all the windows to see if they had cracked. The windows were all okay. It was that evening after I got off work while driving when I discovered that the loud noise I heard that morning was the sunroof in my car had shattered. Half of the glass were missing, some of it was in the visor and some was probably lost on the interstate. Thank God that no glass came in on me when I open the visor as I was driving.
This happened to me today in my Lexus IS 250. I was driving on the freeway and heard a loud crash. The sunroof exploded. No rock or object in sight. I am paying my insurance deductible of $100 to have it fixed, but what a pain in the ass.
I had a similar experience to others with our 2010 RX350. Driving down the highway at normal speed, no other traffic and balmy weather when the sun roof just exploded. Fortunately the shade was closed or we’d have been hit by flying glass. We have never had a blow to the glass and never had anything on the roof. Lexus won’t stand behind it. Looking to see if anyone has a class action lawsuit in progress with Lexus.
Similar to above, I was driving on the highway just outside of Edmonton Alberta and there was a loud bang and my sunroof simply exploded outward into thousands of pieces. Fortunately it did explode outwards limiting the glass inside the car however it still is a frightening experience.
On October 29, 2019 I was driving my 2019 Lexus RX350 south on Hwy 97 in Central Oregon when my moon roof exploded. Like others, it spooked me. After hearing wind rush, I pulled over and to my amazement, the glass shattered and had a large hole. I called Lexus dealer and they will not cover under warranty. Very upsetting with a brand new car!
I live in Austin TX my 2007 RDX 350 sunroof exploded while just driving down the road, thought a bomb exploded in the car. Crazy stuff!
This just happened to me on the way to work this morning. No warning at all, just a very loud bang and then i heard the wind noise. Half of my sunroof glass is gone, the other half shattered. Very upset. Called the dealership (which I live almost 2 hours away from) and they said it would be $1979.70 to get fixed.
August 31, 2020
I was driving back from the dealership just driving the Lexus 350 I had just purchased two days ago on a highway and suddenly I heard what I thought was a explosion up above. The sunroof shade was open and Shattered glass came into my car. I pulled over and was very frightened. Lexus said they couldn’t do anything and to call my insurance.
This just happened to us this pass Saturday. We’re traveling on the interstate going about 75mph and we hears this loud noise like a shotgun go off. We pull over and and notice the sunroof shattered. This was a scary moment for us.
Just had the same thing happen. Was traveling onI285 in Atlanta. At 4:45 in the morning. No cars in front of me, when my sunroof exploded. What can I do now.
Hi my sunroof in RX 350., 2016 just exploded driving down highway. What is happening with the law suits and has Lexus had a recall
March 2021 – My Lexus RX 350 2020 panoramic sun roof exploded. There were no cars nearby. All I heard was a big Boom and at first didn’t know what happened. Then I looked up and the sun roof was completely shattered! Warranty doesn’t want to cover it… This is 100% a manufacturing defect.