Ford refusing to warranty stress crack in panoramic roof

[generaltso]

I have never heard of 0 glass deductible so I am not sure we have it in Texas. Wish we did as I paid around $1400 to replace my windshield

It‘s available in a lot of states. Some states even require it. I think Florida might.

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[Mach1E]

I wasn't driving the car in an extreme situation, certainly not like hitting a pothole, and the car has 4,000 miles on it - it's a non-starter IMHO.

It’s not necessarily how you were driving, but just the fact that it broke while you were driving on the rough road. They could easily argue that it’s your fault, call your insurance company.

The mileage doesn’t really matter, it’s the age (if the coverage is 1 yr like the windshield).

I’m no authority, just trying to come up with theories for the decline.

That said, I wouldn’t give up. Private message Ford here (click on their name, start conversation) and they may be able to help.

 

[Fixbear]

Why not just have the recall done? They tend to always bring in a replacement glass anyway because they break them taking it out.

 

[generaltso]

Why not just have the recall done? They tend to always bring in a replacement glass anyway because they break them taking it out.

The roof glass doesn’t get removed for the recall.

 

[Fixbear]

The roof glass doesn’t get removed for the recall.

Right, I forgot about that.

 

[sukhoi_584th]

I write this as someone who about five years ago attended a week long fractography training session on Corning Gorilla Glass hosted by the Corning Gorilla Glass fractography engineers. I don't know what the MME roof glass is, but the basics should be similar. Glass frequently cracks long after the nucleation point was damaged. Crack propagation speeds can initially be on the order of weeks, and then speed up once additional stress is applied. Hence how you can be like "I wasn't doing anything!" and then it cracks.

Inspect the entire crack length and see if there are any imperfections that match on both sides of the crack. If there are, likely that was the nucleation point. You generally need to look at the side of the crack to get any better information and be sure of the nucleation point. If there are no imperfections then photo document the entire length of the crack and present it to Ford with your warranty claim. I believe I recall that generally over-stress induced fracture begins at an edge and remains clean along the entire length, but I am less sure about that.

The crack either initiated at an edge or somewhere in the middle. If you can prove the edge, or have proof of an existing as-delivered damage to the middle (unlikely anyone has actually done that), then you have a good claim. Otherwise it was likely damage you incurred while driving. Failure modes for over-ion-exchanged glass (Gorilla Glass gone too far, i.e. a somewhat rare manufacturing defect) are a spiderweb of cracks all over the glass, not a single crack. Edge damage is a common manufacturing defect due to suppliers using dull cutting blades.

 

[nuMach]

had an 88 chev pickup, reg cab, 8' box.
twice i had a load and pulled away turning left from a stop sign.

both occasions the passenger door was half-closed ... ie latched but sticking out a bit.

windshield popped and cracked at the lower right side.
Identical in both situations,

first time i ate the fix.

second time took to a dealer since it was an obvious flaw and they blew it off.

without the door fully closed and latched the cab could flex enough due to weighted load in a turn.

So body flex is a thing.

hope you had glass coverage.

 

[dsafian]

I write this as someone who about five years ago attended a week long fractography training session on Corning Gorilla Glass hosted by the Corning Gorilla Glass fractography engineers. I don't know what the MME roof glass is, but the basics should be similar. Glass frequently cracks long after the nucleation point was damaged. Crack propagation speeds can initially be on the order of weeks, and then speed up once additional stress is applied. Hence how you can be like "I wasn't doing anything!" and then it cracks.

Inspect the entire crack length and see if there are any imperfections that match on both sides of the crack. If there are, likely that was the nucleation point. You generally need to look at the side of the crack to get any better information and be sure of the nucleation point. If there are no imperfections then photo document the entire length of the crack and present it to Ford with your warranty claim. I believe I recall that generally over-stress induced fracture begins at an edge and remains clean along the entire length, but I am less sure about that.

The crack either initiated at an edge or somewhere in the middle. If you can prove the edge, or have proof of an existing as-delivered damage to the middle (unlikely anyone has actually done that), then you have a good claim. Otherwise it was likely damage you incurred while driving. Failure modes for over-ion-exchanged glass (Gorilla Glass gone too far, i.e. a somewhat rare manufacturing defect) are a spiderweb of cracks all over the glass, not a single crack. Edge damage is a common manufacturing defect due to suppliers using dull cutting blades.

[Hence how you can be like "I wasn't doing anything!" and then it cracks.]

Perhaps you can re-read the post, I never said "I wasn't doing anything", what I did say was that I heard the sound of a pop while turning around, and found the glass had cracked. It ran from one edge, to the center edge - it has grown since. Which lines up with your information, so thank you.

 

[RickMachE]

I have never heard of 0 glass deductible so I am not sure we have it in Texas. Wish we did as I paid around $1400 to replace my windshield

It's not like the insurance companies advertise it. You have to ask. I knew of it, asked, and got it added years ago. Two windshields in the past 10 years or so.

 

[Ddsmom]

About a month and half ago I was turning around in an area next to highway, the road was slightly off-camber. I've heard creaks before when going out of driveways etc in the roof, but this time I heard a noticeable pop. When I arrived at my destination, I inspected the panoramic roof and noticed a curved crack that ran from the passenger side to the center of the glass. I couldn't get my service advisor to call me back and ended up going into the dealership a week and half later. The crack had grown and splintered since the initial crack. The service mgr took some photos and sent them to someone at Ford who said there was an impact - there was 100% no impact. I spoke with a John Lazo at Ford on the BEV team that arranged for me to bring it to another dealership. He explained that it was a dealership decision to warranty the damage, and that perhaps another dealership would honor it. This was confusing to me as - the second dealership sent their photos to what I understood to be a Field service rep as well - and they said the same thing - that the damage was due to impact.

Has anyone had a stress crack that was covered under warranty, and do you have photos of the damage - I'm finding it really hard that some field tech can make the call without seeing the damage - no impact point - and Ford can refuse to honor the warranty repair.

*Especially since there is a current recall on this roof for poor
manufacturing / installation.

Well, I get they CAN say this, but I do know there was no impact. Any beta would be much appreciated. (tia)

UPDATED: PICS POSTED!

I've posted 2 pix of the cracked roof, this initially happened on July 14th, the cracks have continued to expand, and grow since. These pics were taken today August 24th.

I've also uploaded pix from when I first got the car in April '21 detailing issues with the roof misalignment.

Where is this recall I need a copy. Mine is cracked and they want 3300 to install and get a new one with no eta

 

[generaltso]

Where is this recall I need a copy. Mine is cracked and they want 3300 to install and get a new one with no eta

The recall won't help you. It only applied to early 2021 cars, and wasn't related to cracked glass.

 

[jpiazza67]

Did they see an impact point in the photos? Can you see an impact point? If they can’t definitely prove an impact point from the photos or in person at the dealer then they must honor the warranty. And because there are many factors related to the manufacturering and installation process of the glass that would have contributed to the cracking.

 

[Mrn]

In the very first photo of the OPs first post, a few inches above the reflection of the phone, there is something resembling impact damage. If it is impact damage, I'm wondering if it could have started the crack despite not being part of the crack?

 

[jpiazza67]

In the very first photo of the OPs first post, a few inches above the reflection of the phone, there is something resembling impact damage. If it is impact damage, I'm wondering if it could have started the crack despite not being part of the crack?

Is the to the right of the crack? If it’s not part of the crack that seems like evidence that it was another isssue that was the cause, imo.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Where is this recall I need a copy. Mine is cracked and they want 3300 to install and get a new one with no eta

It applies to early job 1 builds only and is related to the adhesive protocols.

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