NHTSA Complaint #11629682 — 2015 KIA SORENTO

Problem: exploding panoramic sunroof in KIA Sorento 2015 I was driving on a smooth, paved two-lane road in a rural area. No cars were nearby (thankfully). car Internal temp: 64. outside external temp: 64 (I specifically made note of this because I thought a temperature differential could explain the explosion, but my car has a digital readout of both temperatures, and they matched exactly.) Sunroof was closed at the time, and I was not trying to open/close it. When the sunroof exploded, I heard a deafening, "exploding" sound. Initially, I thought my car had been shot by a bullet, based on the sound. The loud noise caused me to swerve and quickly brake. Fortunately, there were no vehicles nearby with which I could collide due to my erratic reaction. I pulled to the side of the road and got out to look. Initially, I did not see any damage, but eventually, I climbed onto my seat and saw my sunroof had exploded up and outwards (indicating nothing had entered the car from the outside). Photo available. I was on a road which bisects two agricultural fields (no nearby objects could have fallen or been thrown on my sunroof to cause damage.) The cause remains unknown, but I can rule out foreign objects hitting my car and temperature differential. I drove the car to the KIA dealer and left it there for a week to have it repaired by KIA representatives. Repair invoice available. No other representatives inspected the car. There was no warning of anything - no lights, no message, no bell, just a sudden, incredibly loud noise. My canvas sun shield was closed at the time, and this prevented glass from making contact with my body, but there was a great deal of glass on the top of the sun shield.