This is why I avoid these Pano-Roofs, they are subject to torsional stresses that they aren't designed to withstand well. I'm surprised that there aren't more cases.

 

Car forums like these tend to exacerbate the situation creating the belief the issue is far more common than reality.

If you google sun roof problems, spontaneous shattering of glass (windshield, side windows, sun roof, etc.) you will find the phenomena randomly occurring across all car brands, yet very rarely. If the pano roof was a significant issue, Lexus would simply not offer it.

It is unfortunate that some will have issues with big ticket items, such as sun roofs, convertible tops, transmissions, etc. in rare cases someone will be unlucky.

I love my pano roof. I have never had any issues with any sun roof, moon roof, convertible top, pano roof over the last 40 years with any car brand I have owned (Acura, Toyota, Lexus, BMW). I am perplexed as to how some manage to clog the drain holes, but that is another story.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckNX

Car forums like these tend to exacerbate the situation creating the belief the issue is far more common than reality.

If you google sun roof problems, spontaneous shattering of glass (windshield, side windows, sun roof, etc.) you will find the phenomena randomly occurring across all car brands, yet very rarely. If the pano roof was a significant issue, Lexus would simply not offer it.

It is unfortunate that some will have issues with big ticket items, such as sun roofs, convertible tops, transmissions, etc. in rare cases someone will be unlucky.

I love my pano roof. I have never had any issues with any sun roof, moon roof, convertible top, pano roof over the last 40 years with any car brand I have owned (Acura, Toyota, Lexus, BMW). I am perplexed as to how some manage to clog the drain holes, but that is another story.

I've had (2) cars in my ownership in 30+yrs with sunroofs neither were Pano like yours. They were VW & a Ford both motors died while fully opened and wasn't covered under warranty. Funny they would cover leaks but not the motor? The Ford Expedition didn't have a manual way to close it like the VW did. Never was a fan with a hole in the roof after that. I would rather have more HP in my car, but that's just me being unlucky I guess. Glad that you haven't experienced any of these unfortunate issues with sunroofs. My concern is really more of the warranty coverage since most car packages these days include the roof hole.

 

I'm one of those who sees the sun/moon roof as an obsolete thing, it became so with the advent of A/C.
I was there when the 1st opening roof (MB) came out, ventilation in the 50s was not what it is today.

 

It would be nice if you could get a Lexus with the Sun/Moon Roof delete option.

 

Well even with extended warranty they say this is the 5% of things that are not covered…Anyone in their right mind would not spend $6000 on repairing this. I can pull shade manually and it won’t work with button. You can hear something buzzing but it doesn’t move it at all. If I open it by hand I can then open pano glass. That part works. I like my Lexus but all this leaves bitter taste in my mouth. With the amount of money they make and stand behind the brand they should have repaired it. Next time I buy suv, it will be Volvo. Lexus lost me with this experience

 

On your next vehicle make sure you buy the extended warranty. Before the original factory one expires. My current RX350 has had 3 repairs done to it since the original warranty expired. The repairs come to 8000 dollars. Which I only paid 1200 dollars for the two year of warranty.

You can go to a different manufacturer. But in my experience Lexus / Toyota is the best.

But that doesn’t make them bulletproof.

 

Is there a Lexus Tech on the forum with the knowledge to explain why these pano sunroof covers are failing? I read about them, but I have yet to read the cause of them failing. It would be nice to have photographs exhibiting parts that fail and showing where they failed. BTW, you can request to keep the old parts that were replaced—you own them. I have done so on past vehicles and received said parts. The exception is where the part is needed for an exchange (i.e. transmission), but you can request to see the old part(s).

My wife’s 2017 has been nothing but headache with failures, recalls, TSB’s and I haven’t yet told her about this potential failure. We purchased the vehicle new and with the Platinum warranty, but should have pursued the lemon law when the ABS had to be replaced three times making the current ABS components the fourth when you include the original. Her RX has very little miles on it and it has not been up until now that we actually felt it was reliable, so it has languished in a garage bay. Why haven’t we sold it? I do not believe in losing money so we assigned and demoted it to our next “run it until the wheels fall off” vehicle replacing our previous one in that category; a category where we are not worried if we have to park it in a less than preferential park spot or area, valets and the like. It is not the vehicle we choose first to drive among our other vehicles. We both like what Lucid has to offer and remain intrigued with Lucid’s yet to be released, but seen, SUV.

 

agreed. And we must not forget that people with issues generally come to these sites which causes a bias of perception that things are worse than reality.

 

my Lexus has extended warranty until Sep 1 2022. They said I quote “this is one of those 5% thing that are not covered”
lexus Canada repeated the same and put me on ignore

 

My Lexus has extended warranty until sep 1 2022, they said it’s one of thos 5% things not covered. Lexus Canada repeated the same and ignores me. That’s bullcrap

 

I’m gonna trade mine, my son drives bmw and always jokes when I go for service, recall or this or that, “again, didn’t you say Lexus is reliable”. His bmw is one year older than my Lexus and is only in a shop for oil changes and or breakes

 

perhaps you have had them but never used them. I used mine regularly

 

Everything mechanical will eventually break. How much and the way you use the equipment will determine how long it lasts. As well as the initial design of the equipment.

When you purchase a vehicle with options that cost 10K plus to repair. Its a good idea to always have the factory warranty available to you while you own the vehicle.

As far as perception. Lexus sells a couple hundred thousand vehicles a year. How many people have issues? And how many know of Club Lexus?

 

Alas Lexus is NOT the only brand with this problem, they all have it; BMW MB Audi etc, this why I'd NEVER own a Pano-roof. I do have a Moon-Roof though, not the same stresses.

It's the nature of the beast as that expanse of glass is subject to torsional stresses as the chassis bends and flexes and technology hasn't been able to completely eliminate them and when there are some flaws
in the making of the glass there goes the Pano-Roof. Car makers ought to be more transparent in describing the probability of failure and cover it under warranty.