Paul Tassin  |  October 7, 2016

Category: Consumer News

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lexus-rx-350A California Lexus owner is suing the car manufacturer and its parent company Toyota over an alleged defect that causes the vehicle’s sunroof to shatter.

Plaintiff Ginger Minoletti claims the sunroof of her Lexus RX 350 shattered last February, while she was driving on the highway.

The class action lawsuit says Minoletti noticed a loud cracking noise while the lower cover shade was closed but she didn’t immediately realize what had happened.

Later she discovered the splintered glass from the shattered sunroof, with the pieces of broken glass contained by the closed cover shade, the lawsuit states.

The plaintiff alleges that the defect puts drivers and passengers in great danger of being caught in a shower of broken glass while the vehicle is in motion.

Minoletti says the defendants refused to pay for the replacement of her sunroof because the vehicle’s warranty had apparently expired. She says she had to pay out of pocket for an expensive replacement sunroof.

The class action lawsuit alleges Toyota Motor Corp., Lexus’ parent company, has known about this defect since at least 2012 but still failed to notify customers about it.

She claims Lexus and Toyota are actively trying to block consumers from getting information about this problem.

The Lexus class action lawsuit alleges many consumers have filed complaints about this same defect with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The NHTSA is allegedly investigating similar shattering sunroof complaints lodged against several other car makers, including Audi, Ford and Volkswagen.

Likewise, owners and lessors of other vehicle makes have been bringing similar defective sunroof lawsuits.

In June 2016, a similar claim against Hyundai was allowed to proceed, but only on fraud-based claims. The judge in that case dismissed claims for unjust enrichment and violation of California consumer protection laws.

Plaintiffs in that case complain that the panoramic sunroofs in several models of Hyundai vehicles have a tendency to implode. Like Minoletti, the plaintiffs say the vehicle’s manufacturer refused to pay for the shattered sunroof.

Hyundai recalled almost 20,000 vehicles from model years 2012 and 2013 to remedy the supposed defect. Still, plaintiffs allege the company failed to adequately alert customers to the problem.

Kia Motors America was hit with its own shattering sunroof class action lawsuit in 2015. Plaintiffs there allege Kia has been knowingly selling vehicles with shatter-prone sunroofs for as long as 10 years.

The problem could have to do with the ceramic-tinted area that surrounds the outer zone of the sunroof, which the plaintiffs say weakens the tempered glass.

The plaintiff in that lawsuit said the sunroof on her Kia shattered after only two months of use. The claim implicates several different models of Kia vehicles from model years 2011 to 2015.

In her own Lexus class action lawsuit, Minoletti is proposing to represent a Class of all persons in California who owned or leased a Lexus vehicle with a sunroof.

She is represented by attorneys Brian Chase of Bisnar Chase and Brian Kabateck of Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP.

The Lexus Defective Sunroof Class Action Lawsuit is Minoletti v. Toyota Motors Sales USA, Case No. BC636269, in the California Superior Court for Los Angeles County.

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56 thoughts onLexus Class Action Claims Sunroof Spontaneously Shatters

  1. Holly Drury says:

    Today, my 2013 350RX sunroof just exploded on the freeway. I had just barely entered the freeway off of 1300 East and 2100 South in Salt Lake City. And then a loud boom, my sunroof cover started shaking so I pulled off the freeway into the emergency lane and opened the sunroof cover. The sunroof was gone minus the shards of glass around the edges where a sunroof should be. I am going to contact Lexus but from what I have read they do not care.

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