Panoramic Glass Roofs. Are they safe.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

the above is a nissan QQ, pick not mine, found over at nissan forums.

this was a motorway roll over from what i gather. cracked but no holes. infact i think it held the pillars and roof up pretty well compared to a thin sheet of tin would.

Gloomendoom

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

the above is a nissan QQ, pick not mine, found over at nissan forums.

this was a motorway roll over from what i gather. cracked but no holes. infact i think it held the pillars and roof up pretty well compared to a thin sheet of tin would.

It take back what I said. That definitely looks laminated.

kf1976

I have just come accross this thread whilst doing some research on panoramic roofs, i have an X5 and whilst on holiday in france a few weeks ago my roof exploded and shattered into hundreds of pieces all over us and our small children, i cannot believe how dangerous these roofs are and would advise anyone not to have one. I have asked BMW for help but they are not interested, so no i have about a thousand pound repair bill, and had a ruined holiday, however we are just lucky that no one was injured. Any advice would be appreciated.

skivenov

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

the above is a nissan QQ, pick not mine, found over at nissan forums.

this was a motorway roll over from what i gather. cracked but no holes. infact i think it held the pillars and roof up pretty well compared to a thin sheet of tin would.

Pretty much agrees with what I've seen. My mate works in a bodyshop and they've had cars in that have landed on their glass roof and it's cracked but still been in place. :eek:

interstellaflyer

I've got a Qashqai with Panoramic Glass Roof, I love it, and I've not felt that there are any safety issues, I am confident that should the car roll a laminated glass roof will be less prone to being punctured/penetrated than a thin steel roof and as has already been said, the strength is in the pillars.

OddballJamie

I have an Astra with the panoramic windscreen with no beam across the middle, glass is 50% thicker than normal with stronger side supports. Supposedly it can support the car on the windscreen, haven't tried it yet but have had some biggish stones hit the screen and no chips or cracks so far.

jaydeeuk1

I'd say a glass roof is safer than a vinyl one. Don't fancy the roof in my wife's MR2 doing anything for me if I was to go out in style.

Jamie_Carter

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

the above is a nissan QQ, pick not mine, found over at nissan forums.

this was a motorway roll over from what i gather. cracked but no holes. infact i think it held the pillars and roof up pretty well compared to a thin sheet of tin would.

And the glass is obviously laminated, and not toughened.

Jamie_Carter

kf1976 wrote: »

I have just come accross this thread whilst doing some research on panoramic roofs, i have an X5 and whilst on holiday in france a few weeks ago my roof exploded and shattered into hundreds of pieces all over us and our small children, i cannot believe how dangerous these roofs are and would advise anyone not to have one. I have asked BMW for help but they are not interested, so no i have about a thousand pound repair bill, and had a ruined holiday, however we are just lucky that no one was injured. Any advice would be appreciated.

Your roof would have been toughened. A laminated roof would not have shattered.

Jamie_Carter

skivenov wrote: »

Pretty much agrees with what I've seen. My mate works in a bodyshop and they've had cars in that have landed on their glass roof and it's cracked but still been in place. :eek:

That is because laminated glass is made up of two or more layers of glass with a layer of plastic sandwiched between the glass. This is why laminated glass stays more or less intact when broken.

The pillars on many modern cars (especially convertables and those with panoramic roofs) are made from extremely strong multiple layers of boron steel. This is where the strength of the structure of the vehicle is.