Anyone just see Watchdog? 02/12/03 @7pm

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Steve_Perry

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Seems that if you have a Smart with toughened glass roof that they are prone to shatter/self destruct without warning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog
WATCHDOG
2nd December 2003

Smart Car

As Pauline Hutchinson was driving along, the roof of her Smart City Coupe Passion seemed to 'explode' showering her in broken glass. Although she was unhurt, Pauline was very shocked by the experience.

Jodene Went has the same car. Her roof went off with a loud bang while it was standing empty in a car park.

The glass roof on the Smart City Coupe range is made of toughened glass and meets all legal requirements. If toughened glass breaks, it shatters safely into thousands of tiny, blunt, pieces. If laminated glass breaks, it will stay in one place because of a plastic sheet between the layers of glass. It won't fall in on you.

Toughened glass can shatter spontaneously. If a tiny stone hits the roof, it can cause a crack, invisible to the naked eye, which spreads through the glass so that it shatters at a later date due to other external factors (e.g. temperature).

Smart has added a plastic strip to the front of the roof to give additional protection against stone impact. For the last year it's been standard on the City Coupe range, but this won't help the thousands with an older Smart.

Smart say they are aware that in a small number of cases the glass roof of the City Coupe has broken, but this is almost always due to an external impact.

They say the roof is made from state of the art tempered safety glass and fulfils all statutory stipulations - and they emphasize that safety is an essential part of Smart's DNA.
DaimlerChrysler aren't too forthcoming at fixing the problem under warranty either :rolleyes:

Anyone remember the old issue of exploding rear windscreens because of the design of the rear demister wires?

S.
 
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No didn't see Watchdog.
But Wifey got covered in glass on Sunday evening when the
passenger door-window of her sister's VW Polo shattered.
Wifey's sister pressed the e/window switch, loud bang, glass everywhere. Our daughter and nephew were in the back seat.
Fortunately no cuts, just shaken.


Go back to original Smart sunroof topic, good job the owner was not driving at the time.
 
Its been a known design fault since launch. But DCUK hardly ever pay out on warranty claims for it since the glass meets safety regs. Even more annoyingly, if and when it does occur, most insurance co's don't class it as a normal glass claim (ie £50 excess), so basically you're f***ed :rolleyes:

The exploding rear glass/heater wire design fault was an official recall issue, probably because at the time there were so few smarts on the road anyway.
 
Originally posted by PJH

Go back to original Smart sunroof topic, good job the owner was not driving at the time.

One of the drivers was driving. The roof went all over the road behind the car.:eek:
 
I watched it and so did my wife. She was horrified and now is reluctant to drive her Smart (only purchaed two months ago).

My view is that three incidents are not a cause for panic. Chances are it will never happen to her...or so I keep telling myself.:confused:
 
If your wife's is only 2 months old it will be a Mk7 and should therefore have the protective plastic strip on the leading edge of the roof glass. Smart themselves have admitted it the failure has occured in 0.03% of cars sold, however this is a lot more than 3 incidents! (eg 150 based on 500,000 units). No point panicking, just keep your distance from heavy lorries when travelling down newly resurfaced roads :D
 
You are right. Just checked it out. Phew..

Many thanks
 
My Mercedes Coupe panoramic sunroof appears to have shattered spontaneously. I was not even driving it at the time. Has this happened to anyone else?
 
Happened to my Hyundai Lantra, whilst the car was just sitting outside.
 
The roofs are normally only toughened glass unlike windscreens which are laminated. [although the moveable sunroof part might be laminated ] You will also find they are not covered by most insurance glass policy so will involve a claim. Unless the car was very new I doubt Mercedes will admit any responsability.
 
Same thing has happened Kia's. Not covered under warranty.
 

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