Mahindra Thar ROXX Sunroof Shatters During Illegal Drag Race [Video]
Sunroof today has become a feature that has a lot of demand. For this reason, almost every automaker is now offering a sunroof on even its smallest car to lure in more buyers. Of these, one vehicle is the Mahindra Thar ROXX, which offers a single-pane electric sunroof on lower-end variants. Meanwhile, the higher-end trims get a panoramic sunroof. Unfortunately, sometimes these sunroofs can shatter as well, and recently, a video showing how this happened in a Thar ROXX while driving has been shared online.
Mahindra Thar ROXX sunroof shatters
This video, showing the single-pane electric sunroof of a Mahindra Thar ROXX, has been shared on Instagram by Saatvik Sharma on their page. What happens in this short clip is that the driver of this Mahindra Thar ROXX was participating in a drag race against a Mahindra XUV700.
We can note that both SUVs launched off the line aggressively, but the XUV700 was able to take the lead. Soon after this, while the driver of the Mahindra Thar ROXX was shifting the gearbox aggressively, there was a shattering noise, and it was then noted that the sunroof had broken completely.
Thankfully, the entire glass did not fall inside the cabin. Only a few shards came inside the cabin on top of the driver and the passenger. We can observe that the driver got completely stunned after the sunroof shattered.
How did this sunroof shatter?
At the moment, the exact reason behind the shattering of the sunroof is currently unknown. However, the main speculation is that while the two SUVs were drag racing, the XUV700 could have kicked off stone debris from the ground as it was driving ahead. Now, generally, small objects cannot break the glass of a vehicle.
However, sunroofs are made of tempered glass, so when a small stone or any object hits tempered glass at its edge or at a specific angle, it can trigger a full shatter. Also, this reason makes more sense because the rear tyres of the XUV700 are very wide, and they can easily throw off a lot of rocks at high speed onto the car in the rear.
Apart from this, another reason for this shattering could be a defect in the sunroof from the factory. Some netizens have also speculated that at the time of the fitment of this sunroof in the factory, it could have had microfractures or impurities in the tempered glass.
So, when such defective sunroofs are fitted into the car, under stressful conditions, they can cause shattering. Lastly, if the sunroof glass was too tightly mounted or misaligned at the factory, body flex—especially during hard driving or gear shifts—could stress the glass and cause it to break.
Cost of replacement of a sunroof
The cost of replacing a shattered sunroof depends upon the type of the sunroof. In this case, the Thar ROXX was equipped with a single-pane electric sunroof, which is cheaper to replace. It will cost around Rs 20,000–30,000 from the company. However, had this been the panoramic sunroof which is offered in the higher trims of the Thar ROXX, it could have cost around Rs 70,000 to Rs 1 lakh.