It’s happened at least 2,100 times in the last five years, with no end in sight. Drivers across the U.S. are finding out the hard way that the fancy glass roof above their heads might not be as sturdy as it looks.

Reports keep piling up of panoramic glass sunroofs suddenly shattering mid-drive. Not from impact, not from hail, but seemingly out of nowhere.

WSB-TV Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta has been digging into the problem for three years now.

The data isn’t comforting

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), more than 2,100 drivers have reported exploding or shattered roof glass since 2020.

The complaints span 18 different automakers and every kind of vehicle from small SUVs to luxury sedans:

• Chrysler
• BMW
• Hyundai
• GM
• Toyota
• Nissan
• Kia
• Mercedes-Benz
• VW
• Ford
• Mazda
• Honda
• Subaru
• Volvo
• Mitsubishi
• Land Rover
• Porsche
• Jaguar

One South Fulton, Georgia, driver said his 2024 Kia Sportage roof burst without warning

The sudden event showered him in glass. He thought he’d been shot.

Another driver said her Jeep Wagoneer’s glass roof exploded at 55 miles an hour, describing the sound as an “explosion.”

A third said her husband wound up in the emergency room after their sunroof blew apart.

The agency actually spent seven years studying the glass roof issue but quietly closed its investigation in 2021

Officials said they couldn’t find enough evidence of a defect and called the incidents “not uncommon,” but not dangerous enough to demand a recall.

That explanation hasn’t satisfied the drivers who’ve lived through it…or the many others now afraid it could happen to them.

Automakers usually classify shattered sunroofs as external damage, like a broken windshield, meaning it’s not covered under warranty

For owners, that’s an expensive distinction.

One Kia owner was told it would cost about $8,000 to replace his roof panel.

In the comments section of WSB-TV’s YouTube video on the problem, some say the large, frameless panoramic designs flex too much as the car twists slightly on rough roads.

Others believe thinner glass and design compromises for style are to blame. “They made these roofs to look sleek, not strong,” one viewer said, arguing that cross-bracing could prevent it.

Others think regulators dropped the ball. One comment noted the irony of calling exploding glass “not a safety issue.”

Several owners reported their sunroofs bursting on highways, one saying the entire panel flew off into traffic behind them.

Whether it’s a design flaw, a materials problem, or just bad luck, the pattern is clear

Modern panoramic glass roofs might be here to stay, but I sense a redesign as these complaints keep marching in.