AlexTheMan

This morning sunroof exploded while driving on the highway. I have a regular (not panorama) sunroof. This is a year old 2023 C300 with 8000 miles. I was lucky that the shade was closed. Planning on taking it to the dealer this afternoon. I saw a few messages with this happening on a few MB models. It will be a fight to get it covered under warranty but will see. Anyone has any input?

Zeldaah

Glad you are okay and not injured. That sounds terrifying that it happened on the highway.

I would report to dealer to see what they say. Do you have comp/collision coverage? I would personally probably report it to insurance incase dealer pushes back. If you do have to go insurance route there are a lot of rules about reporting an incident in a timely manner. Sometimes the insurance will do the chasing if it’s a defect.

190Efan

I'm also glad you're ok. What a terrifying experience. This actually seems to be an industry wide issue with sunroofs. I think you should report your experience to NHTSA. The more complaints NHTSA gets, the more likely they might do something about it.

ChrisJ214

Good luck. I had a 2023 C300W4 with the panoramic roof and it suddenly exploded. The dealer wouldn't talk about it being their responsibility, and I had already called insurance. So insurance put together their own quote, and so did the dealer. While the insurance wasn't real happy, the Mercedes dealer did the work. It was a little over $8,000USC to get it fixed. The insurance company was interested in the information I found on the web about they spontaneously exploding like mine did, but I don't think they went after Mercedes. I was driving down the interstate at around 75 when it happened. The shade was closed so only a small amount of glass ended up there, most of it flew over the car. As they got done with the repairs, we saw that a great deal of the glass must have struck the trunk lid, causing numerous chips and scratches in the paint. That was going to cost almost $3,000 to get repaired. Before we were able to do that, the car was stolen! Now I'm waiting for my new 2025.

AlexTheMan

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. Will take it to dealer tomorrow and see what will happen.

Snowgrrl

Hi -- this happened to us yesterday. If you google it, you will see a class action lawsuit, apparently it's a known defect for panoramic Mercedes sunroofs. Looks like that class action settled or closed; perhaps we should start a new one. I posted in a different thread about this, but basically, we were cruising along the highway visiting our friends in the mountains on a beautiful sunny day in Colorado. Suddenly, a terrifying boom and we looked up to see our sunroof shattered. 9 month old Mercedes EQS 580. Hopefully MB will stand behind the vehicle and replace the sunroof with something that doesn’t shatter. Sun shade was closed, thank G-d, otherwise we'd have been rained on with shards of glass.

Snowgrrl

Also want to add: please file a report with the National Highway Transportation Safety Association; if enough people do, MB will be forced to correct the defect so this doesn't happen to others.
Curious about whether your dealer covered the repair.
Ours is a 2023 EQS 580 SUV put into service less than 9 months ago.

AlexTheMan

Sorry to see what happened to you. Pretty similar to my experience. Dealer initially said that MB don’t cover any glass but I pushed them a bit and they got it covered under warranty. They filed the paperwork and was approved by MB same day. Good luck with the dealer and happy that no one was harmed. I know the shock factor but thanks God that all is okay.

chassis

Sorry to read about these examples.

wildta

You might be the only poster I've read where they were successful in getting it covered by warranty. Did you say anything special to convince them?

The NHTSA form takes less than 5min to fill out too.

AlexTheMan

Dealer asked me about my expectations when dropping the car off the and said that MB won’t cover it. I told them that car is only 13 months old and based on my research online it broke due to a manufacturing defect and MB covers these cases. I told them that as my dealer they should start the process to have a case with MB. The dealer obliged and MB approved it.

giovane

Unfortunately shattered sunroofs are not MB exclusive.
I remember BMW E92 series having the same issues, with sunroofs randomly exploding.
Car manufacturers should offer a sunroof delete option for those like me who never use it.

wildta

Yes. I also wonder why they aren't laminated like acoustic glass or the windshield? Maybe the weight?

ChrisJ214

It happened to my 2023 C300W4 that was only 6 months old. This was back in January 2024. My shade was closed so I did not get any glass inside. I was in the middle of traffic in a light rain on the interstate with trucks all around and thought something hit it. So I turned it into insurance before I read about all these instances. After studying the phenomenon, I learned that it has to do with the glass being tempered. There is something about the process, and I'm guessing that is also why the glass is not laminated because the tempering process involves high heat. Once my insurance learned about it, they were going to go back to Mercedes to get reimbursed. The repair was a little over $8,000. I was doing about 75 on the interstate and later after the sunroof was fixed, found multiple scratches on the trunk lid that required the trunk to be painted. We found some leftover bits of glass around where the back window meets the side quarter panels. Unfortunately, before I could get that fixed, the car was stolen. Never got that repaired since the car was never recovered. I only had it for 7 months. I have a 2025 on order that should be built in August, and I'm hoping for a delivery no later than October.
To the poster that mentioned the NHTSA form, I wish I had known about that when mine happened. I may try and go back and fill that out anyway. And the other poster, that mentioned the BMW, it seems it is rather common in Honda vehicles I was told.

Snowgrrl

.... and they are claiming "outside influence...' to the tune of $7200...

Patrck C

Per MB Official W206 Rescue Sheet they indicate the sunroof is laminated safety glass. I saw the panroof explosions on W205 and double considered ordering it on my 206 until I saw this sheet and though they "fixed"/addressed it by chaging to laminated glass, so I got panroof on mine.
Apparently not, they are also providing incorrect crtical safety information to rescue personel which could seriously mislead rescue process.
What a disappointment, there really needs to be a class action to force them to recall and swap all these roof to laminated glass. Tesla M3 are famous for random roof shatter but at least they are laminated, somehow MB end up being more of a safety hazard than tesla build quality.

wildta

I wonder if this picture is different for the acoustic package.

Patrck C

Nope its not, mine is optioned with acoustic, and my side glass are indeed laminated. The Rescue card scanned directly from the QR code on my car is the same as the generic one.
It's difficult to judge whether a sunroof is laminated or not(until it shatteres like many people in this thread), which is why I believe this picture. Pretty sure acoustic package only extend to front side windows and windshield and doesn't change the sunroof, that's what I can confirm in EPC, there is no acoustic option code(851) matrix relevant for sunroof.

wildta

Thanks for checking. The acoustic package does not include the pano glass but I wonder if the rear glass comes laminated.

Edit : Google says the rear glass is not laminated.

Patrck C

Per EPC, acoustic package does not extend to rear window either.
Assuming we still trust the rescue card, it is probably not laminated.