NHTSA Complaint #11453647 — 2021 CHRYSLER PACIFICA

On February 10, 2022 at about 4:30 in the afternoon, my wife and I had just merged onto the 101 at Scottsdale Road in Scottsdale, Arizona. We had not gone far when we heard a loud explosion. It sounded like a ballon popping but at least 10 time louder. It sounded like it came from inside the car and there was no indication (wobble, hard steering, etc.) that it may have been a tire. My wife was driving so I began to see if I could spot any sign that would tell us what it was - nothing. Soon we felt air rushing into the cabin. I thought the sunroof may have popped open for some reason. It is a power operated sunroof so I pressed the control switch to pull back the ceiling cover and open the sunroof. When I did that shattered glass came pouring down on us. After getting it closed I called 911 and was put in contact with the Scottsdale police. They told me to call the State Police but because no one was injured it may take a long time for someone to contact us. We continued on to our house in Mesa. The next morning I contacted the Chrysler dealership in Mesa that I bought the car from. I was told to bring it in and it would be covered under warranty. I've had the car about 10 months and it has about 7,700 miles on it. Turns out Chrysler won't cover it under warranty. I have had it repaired at a cost of $842.45. I'm not sure at this time how much of the cost I will have to pay. An article by Consumer Reports identifies this as a widespread safety issue that the car manufactures want to ignore and that our government is doing little about. I can't imaging what our reaction would have been if the ceiling cover had been pulled back. Basically the explosion and the glass scattering all over us would have happened at the same time. I can easily relate to someone losing control of the car while traveling in heavy traffic at 65 MPH. Let's hope no one dies before this is resolved. And the cost of repairs must be paid by the car manufactures not the car owners.