Part of My Roof Shattered / Cracked

[SnBGC]

Just got my car out of the shop. It was in for a week while the windshield was replaced. Dealer said they have one more MME with a broken windshield which is fairly common in AZ.

Workmanship looks good. They had to recalibrate the cameras for the Co-Pilot features. Seems to drive same as before. ?

 

[generaltso]

Just got my car out of the shop. It was in for a week while the windshield was replaced.

Does the replacement windshield have the Ford logo at the top?

 

[SoriceConsulting]

There are several threads about the glass roof regarding alignment, noise, whether it should be flush with windshield, etc. I think this photo (provided on the thread Panoramic roof - Windshield misaligned! | Ford Mustang Mach-E Forum - MachEforum.com ) clearly shows that the roof alignment is an issue. I think it should be flush and a raised one is a defect. Why would Ford design a glass roof to stick up above the windshield and invite air flow, noise, rock hit, etc. problems)?
(Note: I inserted the Callout). Just my opinion...

 

[agoldman]

Hopefully my roof replacement will be in this coming week. I can only imagine that if the Ford factory can't get it flush, the body shop has little to no chance. I'm expecting a mini disaster quite frankly.

 

[agoldman]

Now that I have my car.. I feel that the glass roof sticking up slightly mat be an intentional fit, with varying tolerances.
Mine sticks up slightly, but there's a rubber guard/gasket surrounding the entire edge of it, most notably, protecting the leading edge.
It would take quite an impact to cause some damage there. I can't see this happening easily.

Well mine was shattered from the edge back, and I didn't hear any impact at all. So your theory doesn't quite work. These panos are very fragile apparently. Just look at my original picture. The v fans right from the front edge of the pano glass.

 

[JellyBelly]

Hopefully my roof replacement will be in this coming week. I can only imagine that if the Ford factory can't get it flush, the body shop has little to no chance. I'm expecting a mini disaster quite frankly.

Lets pray it wont be a disaster - but agree its a challenging shape/ design to put together perfectly.

 

[OttawaGuy]

Test drove one today and took some pics of the roof and gasket

 

[LagerHead]

Sorry that this happened... hope this is due something like a strong hit and not an internal crack that just opened up. It just sucks as the wait for replacement part is probably long.

That doesn't look like any impact fracture I've ever seen.

I'm thinking the glass was defective (depending upon how it's cooled it can develop latent internal stresses). Then all it took was a little chassis flex to cause failure. I'm sure Ford will cover it under warranty because I don't see the tell-tail signs of impact.

 

[sockmeister]

Well mine was shattered from the edge back, and I didn't hear any impact at all. So your theory doesn't quite work. These panos are very fragile apparently. Just look at my original picture. The v fans right from the front edge of the pano glass.

You would have definitely heard an impact to cause a crack like what you showed. That's what I'm getting at -- I think it's actually a fault in the glass roof, now. And as such should be covered under warranty.

 

[LagerHead]

Man, I really don't like how that shattered and more importantly, cracked, yikes. Worse part is as an early adopter (so to speak) no one knows, yet, if this is a real problem or not. They might recall them but it won't be for awhile.

Personally, i hate glass on the roof. In most cars, a moon / sun roof cuts head room which is a problem for me and my long torso. Usually, you lose an inch with them, which in some brands like Toyota, is fatal for a car purchase. With the Ford and Teslas I worry about the summer.

The glass roof increases occupant safety by transfering crash impact loads more effectively than a metal roof. This is well documented. A metal roof just crumples and once that happens it can't offer much resistance. A glass roof might crack but it can transfer the crash energy to the entire roof helping prevent intrusions into the sides of the passenger compartment.

A glass roof also can help increase headroom and/or reduce frontal area which lowers aerodynamic drag and increases range on the highway.

I hate sunroofs because I'm quite tall and they reduce headroom, typically by a little more than an inch. But I love the glass roof on on our Model 3's. I've been through three summers including some desert travel with hot days and intense sun and it's not a problem. At all. I think a metal roof might radiate more heat on a hot day. At least with the coatings used on our Tesla's. Modern glass coatings are flippin' amazing!

EV's need to reduce the load on the A/C for range reasons so there is extra incentive to use good coatings.

 

[LagerHead]

Sure, I could see that. But then why would they invent a deductible?

Here's my informed speculation:

Ford figured when the insurance company saw the photo, they would say it's not an impact fracture and send it back to Ford. Ford figured they would be $100 ahead if they just fixed it and gouged the customer for $100.

As long as the customer doesn't catch on, everyone is happy!

I would tell Ford you don't want to pay the $100 "deductible" since it looks like a stress fracture, not impact.

 

[agoldman]

Here's my informed speculation:

Ford figured when the insurance company saw the photo, they would say it's not an impact fracture and send it back to Ford. Ford figured they would be $100 ahead if they just fixed it and gouged the customer for $100.

As long as the customer doesn't catch on, everyone is happy!

I would tell Ford you don't want to pay the $100 "deductible" since it looks like a stress fracture, not impact.

Ford didn't even bother to look at it. The deductible was $250 however. It's not worth it to me to pick this fight. I'm sure I would lose. I really didn't expect much from Ford when I purchased this car. And I still don't. But I was aware of what I would get. I've dealt with Ford before many times.

 

[generaltso]

Ford didn't even bother to look at it.

Did you make an appointment with the service dept? How could they refuse to look at it?

 

[LagerHead]

Did you make an appointment with the service dept? How could they refuse to look at it?

Exactly! I know it seems like a hassle that is not worth the $250 but sometimes it's important to stand up for principles. Otherwise they will do this to every Ford owner who ends up on the short end of the stick when it comes to a faulty piece of glass. Ford has a certain responsiblity to insure their suppliers are meeting minimum quality standards. Just because the glass looked normal when Ford installed it doesn't mean it wasn't defective. A certain percentage ARE defective, even from a quality glass supplier. Ultimately, this is Ford's responsibility.

I don't think this will be hard to achieve the proper resolution since I think anyone who knows about glass will likely say that is a stress fracture, not an impact fracture. They are two totally different modes of failure. One is covered under warranty law since it's a manufacturing defect, the other is not. None of this is new to the industry, Ford is just trying to save money by playing the odds and denying responsibility.

 

[JSW]

He’s getting his car fixed at a price he found reasonable. Avoiding a multi-company responsibility battle may well be worth that price to him. If it acts as an accelerant to getting his car fixed, better still.

Telling someone they have a duty to endure a fight between to large companies because you want him to defend your principle is not reasonable, and in my view, declaring it will not be “hard” to win a multi-corporate battle is naïve.

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