Sunroof disaster

[surs73]

I wanted to share with everyone the experience I had over the weekend and also to find out if it's happened to anyone else.

I was driving my 528i on vacation over the weekend when the sunroof, for lack of a better term, exploded and shot glass everywhere. I was going about 75mph, all the windows were up, the sunshade was pushed back to let light into the car when the sunroof glass just gave way. It sounded like a bomb went off inside the car. The hole was the size of a large dinner plate and the glass was mushroomed outward as if someone had kicked the glass out from the inside. No cars were around me and I can assure you no object struck the car. I pulled over and called roadside assistance who directed me to the nearest BMW dealer about 45 minutes away. I have spoken with both the dealer I bought the car from as well as the BMW center that repaired the car and they both said they've seen this happen a handfull of times over the past 5 or 6 years but only in 3 series cars. They said this was the first 5 series they have every seen this happen to. The car only has 17,000 miles on it and they are replacing the sunroof under warranty.

Has anyone heard of a similar incident happening to them?

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

:yikes:

Man... And I thought good reasons not to order the sunroof ended at headroom, weight, creaks and rattles. :eek:

[Jon S.]

Originally posted by surs73

Has anyone heard of a similar incident happening to them?


I've been hanging around the BMW Service drive for the past
8 years, and I've never seen anything like that...

Did anyone get injured or cut from the glass?

Btw, didn't the first E39's (MY 1997) have steel sunroofs?

[jzdinan540i]

I have heard of it, but never saw it. Did you happen to have one of the roadfly guys sitting ***** LOL, you know what pressurized hot air can do hehehehe.

It goes up there with the cheese a mechanic I know found under the dash of a 5er late last year.

[surs73]

I was the only person in the car and I was not injured. The glass shattered mostly into thousands of tiny cubes with the exception of a 4inch by 4 inch section that landed near the shift lever.

The car is a MY2000. Prior to this incident, the glass had no visible stress cracks, nicks etc. The sunroof never squeeked or rattled and never gave any indication that it would fail in the manner it did.

[Ågent99]

Wow...did you soil yourself? :rofl:

I am sure I would have. Definate new one on me. At least now you know why they mandate tempered glass in cars! :D

I wonder if it was an air pressure thing or just a manufacturing flaw in the tempered glass and it couldn't handle the normal pressures. :dunno:

[BimmerJustin]

I've been hanging around the BMW Service drive for the past
8 years, and I've never seen anything like that...

Did anyone get injured or cut from the glass?

Btw, didn't the first E39's (MY 1997) have steel sunroofs?

HERE YOU GO...2003 MINI COOPER......

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v663/MAHUNIK/03-25-05_1819.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v663/MAHUNIK/03-25-05_1812.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v663/MAHUNIK/03-25-05_1811.jpg

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[chivas]

hearing this i think i'm going to have the tint shop put a clear film over the sunroof (on the inside) so if it does shatter the film would hold it in place.

never knew this could happen. odd.

[tsbrown]

I wanted to share with everyone the experience I had over the weekend and also to find out if it's happened to anyone else.

I was driving my 528i on vacation over the weekend when the sunroof, for lack of a better term, exploded and shot glass everywhere. I was going about 75mph, all the windows were up, the sunshade was pushed back to let light into the car when the sunroof glass just gave way. It sounded like a bomb went off inside the car.

...

Has anyone heard of a similar incident happening to them?

Not with a sunroof, but with the driver's side rear door window in my wife's X5 with my 2YO daughter next to the window.

Happened two summers ago when we were on the way to the beach in SC. Just leaving a small town about an hour from the beach, the window exploded behind me as we got up to ~55mph. Scared the crap outta me, but scared my daughter more. Fortunately, the manual side sunshade had been up so she didn't get any glass hitting her. There were little BB-sized bits of glass everywhere. Never figured out how it happened - no one around on an empty 2 lane road and no rocks or projectiles to be found amongst the broken glass. Needless to say, from now on we always travel with the rear sunshades up.

[MatWiz]

Wow this is scary sh!t!

Did you happen to have the sound system volume cranked up to the max, with the bass all the way up too??? :p

[tsbrown]

Wow this is scary sh!t!

Did you happen to have the sound system volume cranked up to the max, with the bass all the way up too??? :p

Yeah, cranked all the way up on the bass and I heard a very faint rumble typical of the stock non-DSP system :D

[BMW528i_Bilal]

Wow, any motive as to what had caused the sunroof to crack? This is actually very scary, lets say if the sunroof cracked and shattered all over you while driving, and you wouln't be able to control the car and got into a collsion. I would ask BMW to do extended investigation as other BMW models could be affected. I have the same car as you and now i am worried, and will tell my BMW dealer about this story. THIS IS SOME SCARY SH!T ! Im glad you wern't injured, this could have been could have been a very tragic story. :yikes: :eek:

[c1540]

here is something from the trial about escorts having exploding glass to shed some light on this phenomenon:

"When tempered safety glass fractures it disintegrates into hundreds of small
granular fragments which have rounded or blunt edges. Such small bluntly-edged pieces
generally cause less injury than regular glass fragments. The tempering process creates
a tough "skin" on the surface of the glass which is referred to as the "compressive
surface." If the compressive surface of the glass is penetrated for any reason the window
will spontaneously fracture and disintegrate into hundreds of small pieces. All failures of tempered safety glass originate from penetration of one of the compressive surfaces on the glass.
Ford has received reports of spontaneous breakage of side windows of
vehicles parked in driveways, vehicles traveling on the road, vehicles passing each other,vehicles hitting potholes, vehicle doors slamming, vehicle windows breaking in car
washes, and other situations.
Ford's expert testified that the typical scenario for such spontaneous glass
breakages is that a small scratch or chip is inflicted on one of the window surfaces from
rock chips on the road, grit or sand lodged between the window and window seal, or
sharp objects coming in contact with the glass surface. Typically such scratches or chips
are not visible to the naked eye and, over time, the scratch or chip enlarges to the point
that it penetrates the compressive surface, although it is still too small to be noticeable.
Spontaneous glass breakage of tempered glass occurs on all models of vehicles regardless of manufacture and vehicle line. Ford's expert testified that even today there is no technology available to avoid occasional breakages of this type.
Both Ford's expert and Wise's expert testified that Ford experienced higher than
expected breakages of side windows on Ford Escorts produced between 1981 and 1987.
In mid-1985, Ford engineers investigated the problem and concluded that on some Ford
Escorts, the glass surface of the window could come into contact with the edge of a metal
bracket in the door frame when the window was rolled up tightly (highly torqued)
creating a scratch on the compressive surface of the window."

[Jalli]

Interesting.

[mkosma]

Any advice on how to get warranty coverage for this sort of probelm? I had this happen - spontaneous outward glass explosion - to my E39 over the weekend, but the dealer is saying it's not going to be covered under the new car warranty.

[Ågent99]

Take it to BMWNA and see if they'll help you. What car do you have?

[mkosma]

Mine is a 2002 530i, purchased CPO a couple months ago but still under factory warranty. I have called BMWNA customer service, and they said they'd get back to me...

[surs73]

I drove the car straight to a dealer after the incident (BMW of New Orleans) and they fixed it on the spot. I explained what happened and they never questioned me on it.

[cagoguy]

Wow- old thread, but recurring problem. A friend of mine had this happen in his 2005 Nissan Titan pickup. Although he had an aftermarket sunroof. Thought I'd mention it because the root cause was that the sunroof was installed too "tight". So any flexure in the roof/car caused too much pressure on the pane of glass and eventually a bump, shift, turn, etc caused it to "explode".

I'd question whether MKOSMA or SURS73 had used the sunroof recently prior to the problem? You would think if there was a fit problem causing pressure on the glass that it wouldn't seat right when closing.

Just my $0.02.

-Cago

[mkosma]

interesting. Was yours an E39? My dealer is looking for any ammunitiion to use on my behalf with BMWNA. Any chance you'd be willing to email me your serial number and the approx date of service? Perhaps they can give it to BMWNA to demonstrate that this is not an isolated incident, as they have claimed. If so, you can send to mkosma at gmail dot com.

mk

[mkosma]

Indeed - I had used the sunroof Saturday morning, closed it when I parked in the driveway, and noticed the damage Sunday morning.

[cn90]

Indeed - I had used the sunroof Saturday morning, closed it when I parked in the driveway, and noticed the damage Sunday morning.

has seen people applying tinting film on large windows at home and if the tinting film value is high (above 80% heat reflection), sometimes, the heat is reflected and "stay" in the glass, causing shattering of glass.

In the BMW, I guess it may be lower quality glass used in the sunroof.

[mgianetto]

I wonder if having my car out in the sun during the day while at work will cause my car to explode. I don't keep my roof cracked open because the road, land surrounding the road in under distruction. And they are building around a 5 mile radius. VERY DUSTY :mad: OH when it rains.... MUD BATH :(

I don't want to have this happen.. any other options??

[motion]

I haven't had this happen to any of my vehicles, but after speaking with my bra / tint guy, this does happen from time to time and is a major safety issue with tempered glass. Right now, I have safety film applied to my windshield and the side windows of my Gallardo and will be getting it for my 6. You guys should check them out here - www.premiermobilegroup.com. I believe they'll be getting my black G up on their gallery with the windshield and other coverings onto their gallery soon! :)

[Lois822]

Slow down-bet you guys must have been popping the top with your head when you catch some air....just kidding.

I do remember years ago my friend bought a brand new chevy something and tried to pop up the sun roof at about 50 miles an hour and it took off. No one got hit but it sounded like a explosion also.

Makes you wonder though if they get weak from having them open part way or tilted up.

[Annie Alberti]

Just last night, I discovered my sunroof glass, shattered. (crackled) Last week, temperatures in our area reached 114° outside. Every summer that I've had this car, I would here a sharp crack or popping sound, sometimes sounding like a rock hitting the car. Now I'm thinking there was something originally wrong with this sunroof. Some kind of expansion problem. I don't think I'll hear that popping anymore. DARN!! Has anyone else experienced this?

[mkosma]

Sounds like what must have happened to mine. Time to call your insurance, this is not something inexpensive like window glass. State Farm ended up paying something around $2000 for my repair.

[1Red540]

I dont know if anybody had mentioned but imagine if that was the front window... Thats scary Sh!t I have all the windows in my car tinted but man still crazy scary.

[tempestv8]

I've been told never to apply tinting to the sunroof because it will result in a glass explosion. :dunno:

Can you tell us if your sunroof has been tinted? :yikes:

[nightkrawler]

a good friend of mine own the most prominent window tinting shop in the area and has been in business for 20yrs. i've gotten a lot of good info about tint from him. a lighter shade of tint will actually keep the interior cooler than a darker shade, especially 5%(limo). though all tint has the same amout of uv blocking, a car that is tinted with limo will actually be hotter because its almost like painting your windows black, the tint will actually absorb and hold the heat because it is so dark. and yes, never tint a sunroof!! i have 35% on mine all the way around and it works great, my friend has the same car with 5% and his is much hotter inside when the doors are opened after sitting in the sun all day.

[coolloon]

I would like to report a dangerous event that occured while travelling at highway speed, approximately 70 mph, in our 2000 Volkswagen Passat. Our car originally imported to the USA and we purchased it in Statesville North Carolina.

My family and I were on a road trip recently on a sunny afternoon when we heard an extremely loud BANG near the front of the car's roof! We were puzzled by this because we had not seen anything approaching the car (such as a rock) prior to the noise, but had been about sixty to eighty feet from a semi-trailer truck when it occurred.

Approximately 20 or 30 seconds later we were again shocked to experience a second loud explosion as the sunroof was sucked upwards (as evidenced by the angle of the glass that remained in the frame after the event) and then finally several large pieces of glass and many small fragments fell down into the car. The entire glass sunroof was shattered and crazed as is typical with tempered glass when it breaks.

My wife suffered a deep gash in her upper arm which sliced through the skin into the muscle tissue. The cut opened wide to expose the muscle tissue bulging out.

We now believe that there was in fact no rock or other object that hit the sunroof glass. The sunroof just shattered and then, due to the difference in pressure inside and outside the car, the glass was sucked upward until it exploded into tiny pieces and larger pieces composed of the tiny fragments still interlocked. The sunroof was closed at the time, but the sliding cover below was open. The day was very warm, approximately 80 to 85 degrees, and the airconditioning was set to 68 degrees.

Is this a common occurance with VW sunroofs? Is this a fault in the manufacture of the tempered glass?

Of course we have been quoted approximately CAN$1,000.00 for the replacement part, glass only, by VW. THIS IS A RIPOFF!!

[Ågent99]

Sounds like grounds to involve a lawyer...unfortunately. I hope your wife is okay and healing up fine...didn't lose any work time, etc.

If you read this whole thread, I think you'll have your answer to your questions in general about sunroofs.

[528ITNut]

You guys dont have to worry about your windsheild exploding... Windsheilds are made of laminated glass. Two peaces of glass with plastic film in the center to hold the glass together it you hit it or something. Plus Winsheilds are way stronger than Tempered glass.
If this sunroof thing happens to me.. Im not payin a thing! These are Bmw's we drive,
Not Toyotas or Hondas! We pay for Quality not Economy!:thumbdwn:

[Premier]

Glass breakage during the toughening process (tempured glass) will at times have enough nickel inclusions. These inclusions, if higher levels not detected during the process, could result in glass failure through extensive heat exposure. Although tempured glass is 4 times stronger than standard annealed glass, it can still break, but will shatter into thousands of pieces. Having your windows filmed can help minimize injury if the film is installed properly.

Here is a customer of ours who had our ceramic line installed w/ the door's glass broken by having a projectile hit the glass - http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=124503&highlight=tint

[coolloon]

I am the original author of this ripoff report. Subsequent to filing this report I contacted Volkswagen Canada and in a very short period of time a Volkswagen customer agent called to enquire about my complaint. Within 2 business days a more senior Volkswagen agent called and offered to repair the sunroof at no cost to me. Thank you Volkswagen Canada!!

However, my original concern regarding the safety of the sunroof glass remains. I believe that Volkwagen (and other car manufacturers as well) should review the sunroof glass design. Should this glass be factory laminated to prevent shattered glass from spilling down on the vehicle occupants?

[Premier]

If concerned, you could locate a good window tinter to apply a clear safety film on the glass. We perform this type of installation for high-profile clients and it works great from a safety standpoint. please feel free to visit our site - www.premiermobilegroup.com

[icyzz]

I just have similar experience. I was driving down the freeway going about 65mph with a couple cars around me. Then all of a sudden, I heard a loud bang and hisses around the sunroof area. The sunroof exploded and half of them are gone. I did not see anything coming at me. However, it was early and it was still dark outside. When I did stop and look, not only half of the sunroof is gone, paint on my roof and truck is scratched up by the broken glasses. I never know if something did hit me or not.

The car is only 4 months old. I called my insurance and the comprehensive coverage will fix it. However, going thru this thread, sounds like there might be some structural problem with the sunroof design. Is this a well document problem? Does BMW on hook in fixing this or shall I work it out with my insurance?

All help is appreciated.

[blue_uhuru]

Some days, very rarely I might add, I'm glad I don't have a sunroof.

[stephanieislost]

My husband was driving home tonight and the sunroof did exactly what you described. His shade was back and it exploded outward, mushroomed as you described.
SCARY!

[darkstar]

here is something from the trial about escorts having exploding glass to shed some light on this phenomenon:

"When tempered safety glass fractures it disintegrates into hundreds of small
granular fragments which have rounded or blunt edges. Such small bluntly-edged pieces
generally cause less injury than regular glass fragments. The tempering process creates
a tough "skin" on the surface of the glass which is referred to as the "compressive
surface." If the compressive surface of the glass is penetrated for any reason the window
will spontaneously fracture and disintegrate into hundreds of small pieces. All failures of tempered safety glass originate from penetration of one of the compressive surfaces on the glass.
Ford has received reports of spontaneous breakage of side windows of
vehicles parked in driveways, vehicles traveling on the road, vehicles passing each other,vehicles hitting potholes, vehicle doors slamming, vehicle windows breaking in car
washes, and other situations.
Ford's expert testified that the typical scenario for such spontaneous glass
breakages is that a small scratch or chip is inflicted on one of the window surfaces from
rock chips on the road, grit or sand lodged between the window and window seal, or
sharp objects coming in contact with the glass surface. Typically such scratches or chips
are not visible to the naked eye and, over time, the scratch or chip enlarges to the point
that it penetrates the compressive surface, although it is still too small to be noticeable.
Spontaneous glass breakage of tempered glass occurs on all models of vehicles regardless of manufacture and vehicle line. Ford's expert testified that even today there is no technology available to avoid occasional breakages of this type.
Both Ford's expert and Wise's expert testified that Ford experienced higher than
expected breakages of side windows on Ford Escorts produced between 1981 and 1987.
In mid-1985, Ford engineers investigated the problem and concluded that on some Ford
Escorts, the glass surface of the window could come into contact with the edge of a metal
bracket in the door frame when the window was rolled up tightly (highly torqued)
creating a scratch on the compressive surface of the window."

This is really funny (well not funny). My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, had a 1985 Ford Escort and the exact thing happened to us. We were in her car driving to a friends house and all of a sudden the front passenger window shattered. Scarred the crap out of both of us.

Rich

[ttgxc]

About 10 years ago, my family and I were on vacation down in Florida in our 1986 Mercedes 300SDL. We were driving across Tampa Bay Bridge with all the windows and steel sunroof closed. Then all of a sudden the sunroof started making a lot of noise and the liner underneath started moving. Then a loud noise and whoosing. The liner was still there, so we didn't know what happened. We got off the bridge and the sunroof is gone! It ripped right off the metal tracks, pulling screws with it. A cop went back on the bridge and actually saw next to the wall. It only had a small dent in the corner. Surprised it did not go over the bridge and luckily did not hit another car following us, that would have been really bad. Anyway we took the car to the local Mercedes dealer and they and the insurance adjuster never saw anything like it. They even considered putting in the old sunroof back in, fixing the corner of it, but did not want to risk it leaking. Pretty crazy and random.

[mbiela]

I just had a simular experience with my 2006 530xiT.
While driving on the highway (in CA) about 75mph my sunroof "exploded".
At least that's what if felt like.
I had a large roof box covering almost entire sunroof, so there was no way that anything hit the glass.
Anyway, the large piece (it is the panoramic roof) broke into many pieces and it looked like it mashroomed. Looked like it was pushed from inside the car.
I brought the car back to the BMW Dealer and they will replace the sunroof and any other part that got demaged under warranty.
I did not have to have any argument if this should be a warranty, they just took care of this.
The experience of this sunroof braking was terreble, but the experience at the BMW dealer was excellent.
Thank you BMW.

[chiefwej]

This is really funny (well not funny). My wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, had a 1985 Ford Escort and the exact thing happened to us. We were in her car driving to a friends house and all of a sudden the front passenger window shattered. Scarred the crap out of both of us.

Rich
I certainly hope that you meant to say, that it scared you not: "Scarred the crap out of both of us."

If not, how severe were your injuries?

[AusBmw]

WOW,here is was saying I wish I had a glass one,makes me glad i don't ,the only thing I've got to put up with is high speed vibration over rough road with my metal sun roof.

[cujodad]

Yesterday, driving 70 MPH down 1-45 in my 2006 BMW M5 (with 8000 miles), my rear, driver side window EXPLODED outward while my son slept with his head 6 inches from the window. Amazingly, even though he was left sitting in a pile of tiny shards, he was uninjured.

The majority of the glass was sucked out and "sprayed" all over the side and the back of the car. When I took it to the BMW dealer to have the glass repaired, I saw that there were over 100 paint chips all over the roof, back door, rear 1/4P, trunk, spoiler, etc. My car is now in the body shop getting about a 50% body repainting. Incredible! State Farm is handling it as a comprehensive claim. I might go back and bitch to BMW about the $250 deductible. Not sure.

While I was driving, I had a truck to my left, but know of no reason that it would blow. I heard lots of "ideas," but the one that keeps coming back is that the window regulator was set too high, it was forcing the glass to bulge slightly and one little imperfection or chip and - BAM - out she comes.

Very, very scary. Can't complain because my son is 100% healthy :thumbup:

[alma]

I wanted to share with everyone the experience I had over the weekend and also to find out if it's happened to anyone else.

I was driving my 528i on vacation over the weekend when the sunroof, for lack of a better term, exploded and shot glass everywhere. I was going about 75mph, all the windows were up, the sunshade was pushed back to let light into the car when the sunroof glass just gave way. It sounded like a bomb went off inside the car. The hole was the size of a large dinner plate and the glass was mushroomed outward as if someone had kicked the glass out from the inside. No cars were around me and I can assure you no object struck the car. I pulled over and called roadside assistance who directed me to the nearest BMW dealer about 45 minutes away. I have spoken with both the dealer I bought the car from as well as the BMW center that repaired the car and they both said they've seen this happen a handfull of times over the past 5 or 6 years but only in 3 series cars. They said this was the first 5 series they have every seen this happen to. The car only has 17,000 miles on it and they are replacing the sunroof under warranty.

Has anyone heard of a similar incident happening to them?

That's exactly what happened to me with my X3. No cars around on the freeway, no overpass, and it just exploded, my nor my passenger heard anything hit the car. The guy behind me said he just saw the glass come out of my car. He didn't see anything hit it. My car has only 8k miles on it and is still new. The dealership does not want to fix it under warranty. They said something must have hit it since they have never seen this happen before. I don't really know what to do now since I feel like I should NOT be paying my deductible to fix their manufacturing problem. Any ideas?

[oxaros]

I have a 97 528i and it just happened to me 2 nights ago! I was driving on highway and there was nothing all of a sudden small explosion (at least it was sounded like it) and i knew my sunroof was broken. Thank god i had my sunroof shield on so i didn't get injured. My car is not under waranty and i am looking for cheap fix other than dealer. Any advices will be appreciated! I have no clue wat is caused it but it was humid and hot evening. So maybe hot air caused it.

[1Dreamer]

I have a 97 528i and it just happened to me 2 nights ago! I was driving on highway and there was nothing all of a sudden small explosion (at least it was sounded like it) and i knew my sunroof was broken. Thank god i had my sunroof shield on so i didn't get injured. My car is not under waranty and i am looking for cheap fix other than dealer. Any advices will be appreciated! I have no clue wat is caused it but it was humid and hot evening. So maybe hot air caused it. Same thing happened 2 months ago to a friend of mine with a brand new e92 328i coupe. He wasn't even on the road. He was driving about 5 mph in a parking structure when it exploded. Glass everywhere. He took it into Beverly Hills BMW to have the sunroof replaced and they didn't want to cover it under warranty at first, but I remembered reading this thread, dug it up for him, sent him the link and armed with this info, they covered it.

[sfmcoupe]

Huh, this is the closest I've found to my current situation. Earlier this evening I walked out to my 2000 M Coupe which is in a car port half exposed (sun roof is exposed) in San Francisco and the sunroof had shattered. It has that tempered glass that sticks together but fragments into hundreds of pieces. I have no idea what happened. Clearly nothing fell on it and I can pretty safely rule out foul play as only i am two other neighbors can make it into this locked area.

So, I can only assume it spontaneously combusted. :dunno:


It was bulging in the middle with what I believe was the primary crack occurring in the center along the width of the sunroof.

From what I can tell this story differs from the others in that my car was parked and not on.

[porksoda]

I think it probably has to do with the difference in temperature in cabin and outside.

I have seen this happen on 3 series a lot and its ALWAYS happened when the window was open.

i think you dont want to tint the window mainly possibly because the heat will get absorved and it will get extra hot...

I would be interested in if anyone's window exploded while it was closed.

[X5CLUB]

I have a 2005 X5 with the panoramic sunroof and I was driving on the interstate today at about 70mph. The internal temp was about 75 degrees and the external temp was about 73 degrees. All of a sudden I hear a loud BANG and the larger front sunroof was completely shattered. :mad: Pieces of glass fell into my car all over the place and on me. It scared the crap out of me. At the time of the "explosion", all of my windows including both sunroofs were closed. Some of the pieces also flew back and hit the car behind me.

This probably didnt have anything to do with it but earlier that morning I had driven through a carwash that has one of those very forceful blowers that is used to dry your car after the wash.

Exploding sunroofs are dangerous!!

[E36 Phantom]

Yep, scary stuff.

X5Club,
I'd recommend you NOT mention the carwash bit to the insurance or dealer, whichever you use to get it fixed. While it certainly didn't have anything to do with it, both entities always look for loopholes, and they may try to pin it on that.

Amazing thread. I never would have guessed that sunroofs and windows on these cars would just explode spontaneously. Wow.
Even knowing this, I'd *still* be scared as hell if this happened to me...and I've got a 500 mile drive tomorrow....:eeps: Lol.