No verified crashes tied to sunroof failures, NHTSA says
Complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration describe jarring incidents in which sunroofs and moonroofs have spontaneously shattered, often while drivers were on the road. The reports, logged in a federal database, include a Kia minivan’s sunroof exploding on a Wisconsin highway, a GMC SUV’s moonroof falling onto seats where children ride, and a Mercedes-Benz owner hearing a “gunshot” sound before their glass ruptured. Such failures occur roughly once a day, according to the Wall Street Journal’s analysis of the data.
The analysis of complaints over the past three years found that roughly one-in-five reports involved 2025 or 2026 model-year vehicles. Since 2021, NHTSA has received nearly 2,800 complaints of sunroofs unexpectedly exploding, of which more than 500 involve newer vehicles.
Amber Nguyen, 26, who lives in Louisiana, was driving her 2025 Lexus SUV on a highway to a work meeting when she heard a loud bang. “I’m not even joking, it sounded like a gunshot,” she said. “The sound is totally different than if a rock just hits your car.” The next thing she heard was a wind noise coming from above; the sunroof in Nguyen’s Lexus shattered. Had the sunshade not been closed, she might have been covered in glass. “If there was an option to get my car without a sunroof, I would’ve done it,” she said. “I do love my car overall, everything about it, besides that.”
NHTSA, in a statement, said it has not identified verified crashes or serious injuries tied to breaking sunroofs. “A breaking sunroof can be startling and costly, and NHTSA has investigated and is monitoring this issue,” an agency spokesperson said.
The agency has investigated similar reports before. In 2013, NHTSA opened a probe into Kia Sorento SUVs that eventually spanned seven years and roped in more than a dozen other automakers, identifying over 4,000 reports of sunroof fractures. NHTSA concluded in 2021 that it did not find sufficient evidence of a safety-related defect, pointing instead to factors such as small rocks kicked up by other vehicles causing “imperceptible” damage that can eventually result in breakage.
Federal regulations allow sunroofs to be made with tempered glass, which must break into gravel-like pieces, or laminated glass, where pieces stay stuck to a plastic interlayer instead of scattering. Manufacturers generally choose tempered glass, NHTSA has said. The agency added that major suppliers appeared to be moving toward laminated glass and other improved materials, changes it said should reduce breakage incidents in the future.
Among the vehicles most commonly cited in recent years are Toyota’s RAV4, the Hyundai Palisade SUV, the Kia Telluride SUV and the Honda CR-V. Hyundai said it continues to monitor the issue and will take action if a product defect is identified. The automaker said it has commissioned multiple studies to analyze sunroof breakage but has not found an inherent defect as a cause, only issues related to foreign objects impacting the glass.
Honda said it takes all consumer complaints seriously but contends it has not seen a significant trend in complaints about CR-V glass damage attributable to safety defects. The company noted that a large number of CR-Vs sold have been equipped with a moonroof, including 95% this year as standard equipment, so raw complaint numbers may not reflect actual breakage rates. Kia and Toyota declined to comment.
David Smith, a former design manager at General Motors and now a professor at the College for Creative Studies transportation design program, said sunroofs present a structural challenge because automakers cut a hole out of a vehicle’s roof while trying to maintain its stability and integrity. “They know how to build them pretty good now,” Smith said of current carmakers. David Bennett, the automotive director for the roadside-assistance organization AAA, said sunroof glass has grown larger in recent years, making the panels more vulnerable to road debris.
Jake Fisher, senior director at Consumer Reports’ automotive test center, said automakers can do more to prevent sunroofs from abruptly shattering. Laminated glass prevents windshields from breaking spontaneously, Fisher noted, and sunroofs should be able to withstand similar pressure. “Ultimately there should be a more robust solution for it,” he said.
Modern, motor-driven sunroofs rose in popularity in the 1980s, initially as a luxury feature. They are now equipped on more than half of vehicles produced for the U.S. market, up from about 35% a decade prior, according to data from industry-research firm Omdia.