Consumer SOS: Hyundai SUV glass roof explodes as 14-month-old girl rides in back seat

A Sudbury, Ont. woman is thankful her 14-month-old daughter wasn’t hurt after the panoramic glass roof of her SUV exploded without warning Monday.

“We’re really fortunate,” said Christina Truskoski in an interview with Global News.

She and her daughter, Allie, were driving in the family’s 2016 Hyundai Tucson on a highway near the city.

Truskoski says there were no cars nearby and the weather was clear.

“It sounded like a gunshot went off above my head so I ducked,” said Truskoski, describing a shower of glass that rained down on the woman and her daughter, who had been singing and clapping her hands in the backseat moments earlier.

“There was glass everywhere,” she added.

This is the latest in a string of incidents of shattered glass involving Hyundai models and other vehicles. Global News has reported on the issue extensively.

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Hyundai Canada told Global News in a statement that “nothing is more important to Hyundai than the safety of our customers.”

“Any incident involving breaking glass while driving can be an unnerving experience and we understand the customer’s concern,” a spokesperson wrote.

1:52 Driver speaks out after sunroof shatters

The company referred Global News to a decision by Transport Canada to end its investigation into complaints about panoramic glass breakage.

“Transport Canada documented 55 complaints of shattered sunroof in the subject vehicles. The majority reported that the sunroof shattered while the vehicle was in operation,” the agency wrote on its website.

“Three complaints involved minor scratches or cuts from contact with the glass particles, some of which occurred after the fact when removing glass particles from the vehicle. The department is not aware of any related collisions or injuries that required medical attention.”

Hyundai is facing class-action lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada over glass breakage.

Glass expert Mark Meshulam, based in Chicago, says glass typically breaks because of a defect.

“The cold shock on the glass in conjunction with some weakness already that evolves into that break,” said Meshulam.

Truskoski and her husband asked Hyundai Canada and the local dealer to replace the glass. But after paying the dealer a visit, she says the dealer declined.

Prior to contacting Global News about the incident, Truskoski said Hyundai was even less responsive.

“They didn’t even ask if I was okay, if my little girl was okay,” she said.

“I don’t want to drive a vehicle again that has a sunroof.”