Driving down a straight road (thank goodness), no traffic close by, no overpass and going about 45mph. i heard what sounded like a shot gun in my car. i heard air and looked up and my sun roof was busted. no way anything hit it. i was on top of a bridge with no walkway and a river about 5 stories underneath. i was scared to death and my poor dog in the back is still traumatized. i pulled over and the sunroof was busted all around the edges and a big hole in the middle protruding out toward the sky (not inward like something hit it). you can see from the photos. had roadside service tow it 1hr 45 mins to the dealership. of course they are saying that it is an insurance thing and there is nothing they can do about it. they aren't even acknowledging the fact that this happens. they are saying that they have never heard of something like this happening. there is a alfa romeo forum and i saw 4 different instances in that one forum just today. the pictures all look like mine with the edges of the sunroof all broken and a big hole in the middle protruding out. if i hadn't of had the sunshade down, then glass would have rained down on me and i think i would have wrecked. right now our insurance isn't even wanting to give us a rental b/c they say it is a manufacturer defect and they need to pay for it. i saw that there is a class action lawsuit on hyundai due to the same issues. how can the us not have better regulations that this. if i weren't going slow on a perfectly straight road, as scared as that shotgun sound made me, i can totally see having an accident. this is a serious problem that needs addressing or a warning to the public that the sunroofs are not safe.
11/10/18 picked up new car from the dealer 11/12, 11/13,11/14, 11/15, 11/19 car started & had no issues. 11/20/18 car did not start, engine light indicator is on. had road side assistance boost battery. unsuccessful. car towed back to dealer 0n 11/21/18 11/23 car returned, drove car 11/26/18 without issues. 11/27/18 car did not start, engine light & oil light indicator on, car towed back to dealer. 12/4/18 car returned to me and working. drove car about 10-15 miles, while driving i noticed the engine light indicator was on while driving. called dealer while in car, and dealer instructed to return car same day. i did not stop or turn off the car until i arrived at the dealer ( same day) i drove up to service dealer parking lot and turned off the car. while waiting,at dealer the staff informed that the car did not start, and they had to push the car inside of the service area. as of this report, i do not have a working car.
I bought my 2018 stelvio in dec 2017. i thought it was odd the car needed a software update only about three days after having it - now after researching i've learned many people have brought their new alfa romeos in for "software updates" related to all the sensors and electrical systems. my car currently has about 5k miles on it and in those miles i have experienced on about 3 or 4 occasions a warning message on my display that reads "gear selector malfunction" or "automatic transmission failure". the message also tells me for both issues not to shift out of "drive". after about 10 seconds the error went away. i thought it was a fluke because during that moment i never felt any difference or experienced anything strange. however, i was in a collision with a stationary object (a metal barrier pole in a parking lot). i put the vehicle in reverse, the vehicle indicated it was in reverse and the rear camera displayed along with the overhead picture of the vehicle with the sensor layout. i proceeded to back up by pushing the throttle and the vehicle launched forward with a huge amount of force. i struck the pole. no one was injured. no property damage other than to my vehicle. initial assessment is metal bumper replacement, radiator and cooling. but airbags never deployed. however the sensors never indicated i was near an object either while i was clearly in reverse. after research i found there have been a slew of electrical issues as alfas are drive by wire and use sensors and software to run the vehicle and people are reporting bad batteries which are causing faults. i believe my fault has to do with a bad battery with low voltage and my sensors and software are not up to date which i should be notified about. i've filed an insurance claim however i would like escalate this incident to determine the cause for myself and others and to prevent future occurrences.