Sorry to hear that mate, get Rover to replace it, and the speakers as well. If it was a known problem, they should have sorted it at the time.

Steve

 

Cheers, I'm ok. I'm not actually a raging nutter most of the time. Thing is it was my mum driving my car and it really could have caused an accident.

I'll post up some photos in a minute.

liam

 

first pic.

 

and second.

 

hole s**t they just explode for no reason. what if u wad been wasing the back window at the time mg:

 

"Rover told me some models had the rear windscreen explode"?!

Now don't get me wrong, I want MGR to succeed, but this is just not good enough, is it? How is it that cars with rear windscreens that are known to explode are allowed to be sold for use on the road, or anywhere else for that matter?

As a potential car buyer I am more than put off by all the reports of exploding windscreens, door handles that fall off (ZR), rain coming through door mirrors (F/TF) and more that seem to be part and parcel of the MGR owning experience.

 

It's something to do with the rear heater so it's only when you're using that I think. I first took it back after the fuse for the heater kept blowing and they told me it was a known problem involving a bit of the window electrics touching the metal chassis and that they'd replace it.

So after 'fixing' it they then told me that it was now possible that the fuse may no longer blow at all and that as a result the window might go. And, well, it did.

You're right though, it should have been, "Your window might explode...and this is what we're going to do about it" but no. Don't get me wrong, I do love the car and would still recommend one if that's what you're after.

Cool, take care,

Liam

 

Ah this explains why Foxfield MGR of Wigan had two Rover 25 yesterday with shattered rear windows !

 

Fiat Uno's used to suffer with this. They really go with a very load bang.

As you say the shock from the noise could well cause an accident.

Stu

 

I recall (no pun intended) that MCC Smart had the same problem with some of their vehicles.

It turned out that the design of the heater elements in some of the earlier models caused a temperature gradient in the windows that shattered them.

It happened to some woman in the States, who thought that she had been shot at. She subsequently had an accident while taking evasive maneuvres.

No, it's not good enough, but let's hope that MG-R see you right by making good the damage, rather than taking MCC's tack of making the hapless owners pay for a new, uprated screen...

 

How strange, I've just logged on to tell my own tale of woe - My 25's rear screen exploded at 4:30 this afternoon. Not knowing about a design fault, I have had it replaced at a local Autoglas centre, at a total cost of £373 (I had to stump up the £50 excess)
The guy who fitted the screen reckoned it was because I had left the HRW on too long, as I had forgotten to switch off when the screen cleared and it was on for about 45 minutes. Why don't Rover fit a cut-off to automatically switch it off after 10 mins or so. Previous non-Rover cars I have had have mostly has these fitted.

 

My 200SLi automatically switches off the HRW after 15 minutes.

Either this is something left off the 25, or your MFU is faulty.

 

claim rover for the rear screen mate - they told me that they'd issued a recall although I didn't hear anything about it so I think you should be entitled to money back.

Liam

 

Can the cold weather a reason for the explosion?

PS: I was about to say something about the Smart before I read what Orion said....

 

In the case of the Smart, the way that the heater elements were arranged caused a sharp temperature gradient in the rear screen, particularly in low-power situations.

As for whether cold weather can cause the problem, the answer seems to be "Your mileage may vary". I know of people who can chuck a kettle of boiling water on their screen without bother, and others who have trouble with the integrated heater.

Float glass should be consistent but isn't, and laminate isn't perfect. The problem can be exacerbated by a badly designed element, and it is my opinion that such a thing should be dealt with by the manufacturer where there has not been demonstrable misuse by the end user.

 

Just dug out the brochure for my 25, it says it should have an automatic cut out for the HRW. Should the light in the HRW button go out on its own if it is working properly? As my light stays on all the time until the button is pressed, I assume that my cut-out is not working.

Also, reading the specs, mine should have two reversing lights, however mine has only ever had one!.

As the first service is due in 8 weeks, should I leave it till then to get these things sorted or should I go straight away? I can live with these 2 probs, but I don't want my dealer telling me that it is tough s**t because I did'nt tell them about it straight away.

 

There was a recent "Sevice Level" action for the HRW, on some 25/ZRs, the heating element can short out on the frame of the rear window - causing this. If you look at the boot lock on the tailgate, you'll see two bolts, if one of them has a yellow dab of paint, its been checked. If you don't have a dab of paint, I'd recommend you book into your dealer as soon as you can.

Its under a 30min job to check, so you shouldn't need to your car. Liamm - talk to Rover, they should (IMO) compensate you for that window, although not sure about the Speakers, you'll need to talk to the dealer about that.

 

Mother's 214 (1998) RWH has a cut-out after 10min or so.

I still think things like this (recalls, yellow dots on bolts, green upgraded inlet manifolds to prevent HGF, etc) should be reported in a seperate section of the website.

A lot of unnessary disappointments can be avoided that way!

Not saying this website isn't usefull as it is!
It is just that with a seperate section about know technical issues or recalls, much more people would be reached then there are reached now.

Doing in the end a lot of good for MGR and that's what we all want to archive.

 

Originally posted by JustinB
How is it that cars with rear windscreens that are known to explode are allowed to be sold for use on the road, or anywhere else for that matter?

I somehow think that the reason for the breakage is in fact: thermal shock. Frosted up screen (shown by pictures), turn on heated screen, which tries to expand with the heat...and bang!

It's the same as heating a rock in a fire, and then dumping it in some freezing water (don't try this at home....)

As a potential car buyer I am more than put off by all the reports of exploding windscreens, door handles that fall off (ZR), rain coming through door mirrors (F/TF) and more that seem to be part and parcel of the MGR owning experience.

I do and I don't agree with this, there are bits that fall off (as with any other car), but I do get annoyed when dealers give the "its an MG - its supposed to do that" excuse. Which can be intepreted either a dealer who doesn't care, or them admitting there's a probelm.

 

There was a recent "Sevice Level" action for the HRW, on some 25/ZRs, the heating element can short out on the frame of the rear window - causing this. If you look at the boot lock on the tailgate, you'll see two bolts, if one of them has a yellow dab of paint, its been checked. If you don't have a dab of paint, I'd recommend you book into your dealer as soon as you can.

Its under a 30min job to check, so you shouldn't need to your car. Liamm - talk to Rover, they should (IMO) compensate you for that window, although not sure about the Speakers, you'll need to talk to the dealer about that.

The 25 has the same rear screen as the Mk 200 doesn't it. Why have these problems only started on newer models. I have to admit MG Rover need to get these problems sorted as it does not give them a good name. If they changed the rear screen on the 25 WHY????

Steve

 

As a potential car buyer I am more than put off by all the reports of exploding windscreens, door handles that fall off (ZR), rain coming through door mirrors (F/TF) and more that seem to be part and parcel of the MGR owning experience.

Ok, firsly, I've haven't heard of door handles coming off ZRs. Secondly I think you'd struggle to find a convertible that didn't have a leak of some sort.

But understand this: Forums are not the place to look if you are looking at the reliabilty of a model or manufacturer. Forums by their nature tend to feature problems more than anything else - why? People tend to come to forums more when they have a problem, rather then if the car is running fine. Thus you will get a distorted image of the car's reliabilty by judging it on forum posts.

As I understand it, the HRW problem on R25/ZRs is limited to a realtive few, yes you may see a few cars in a dealer with the problem, but ask them how many experienced the problem as a percentage of the numbers they sold - it'd be very low.

MGR have problems from time to time, just like any other manufacturer - the new Mini for example has had 5 recalls already and that's from a supposidly premium brand in BMW.

 

Does this affect r200 owners aswell?!?!

 

The heating element can short out on the frame of the rear window - causing this.

Odd. If the element was shorting out then it (the element)wouldn't work at all becuase I reckon the route back to the battery is of lower resistance than the heater element (it would need to be otherwise it [the heater element] wouldn't work). Actually, thinking about it, the whole car's bodywork would warm up, if I am not mistaken if that were the case....

The only way a short would cause it to overheat is if the screen is 'live' all the time, and the switch is merely used to earth the element (to make it work). That strikes me (as an electronics engineer) as a bad idea.

When the dash switch is operated, the rear element is wired via an relay unit with a 10min. cut-out, and yes the light stays on regardless.

 

My 200SLi automatically switches off the HRW after 15 minutes.

Either this is something left off the 25, or your MFU is faulty.

Yep, so does mine... perhaps this was overlooked on the 25's? Anyone know of a 200 that's experienced this?

 

My car's still at the dealer's although they did phone and apologise today for what happened. I've been told that because they have no windscreens they'll 'pinch' one from the assembly line and use that to fix mine so I have no complaints that they aren't trying to resolve the situation.

As for problems with MG/Rover in general I think that this is just such a good site with a broad range of people on it that we hear a lot of horror stories. I'm sure that if there was a similar resource for other car manufacturers you'd find problems there as well.

Anyway, out of boredom I think I'll tell my story through smilies:

:cus: :***: :guns3: :beer: