Saturday feb 8, 2020 at approx 1:30pm i was driving in my 2017 bmw x5 m on hwy 101 from pismo beach,ca where we live to santa barbara,ca to shop for a dress for my 12 year old daughters upcoming valentines dance she is having. about 40 min into the drive going 65 mi per hour, it was a beautiful clear, sunny day with temps approx 65 degrees.i was enjoying my drive and could not see a car infront or behind my for miles-out of nowhere, i heard what sounded like a loud shotgun explosion inside the car.as shattered glass rained down and slivers of glass blew all around in the car, my heart was pounding and my hands began to shake, my mind swirled as to what in the world just happened! my first thought is we had been shot at from someone in the hills we were traveling thru? wind blew through the huge hole in my moonroof that just moments ago was closed and solid. shards and pieces of glass continued to fall on myself and my 12 year old daughter. she called out to me "what happened mom!? are we being shot at?" i told myself to stay calm and focus on getting ourselves to safety. i found the next exit and pulled off the highway. i immediately called 911 and they sent two officers in two different patrol cars. my daughter and i got out of the car- pieces of glass in our hair and even down the back of our pants against our skin. we could not figure out how tiny pieces of glass could get into out very fitting jeans and i had a belt and heavy sweater over them. we did not touch anything and wanted to highway patrol to see the car exactly as it looked. when they arrived, they looked around the whole exterior of the car and then looked inside. after careful inspection, one officer said " this does not look right, the glass is blown out of the car, not inward as would happen if something was thrown or shot at the car. long story short officer found it was the defective moon roof.
While driving on highway traveling at 55 mph the vehicle lost power steering and brakes without warning. the dashboard it up simultaneously with the brake and steering problem. havining nowhere to pull over safely; i slowed down and continued on to a safe location. inintially, i could not turn ignition off. the vehicle is brand new, having only 385 miles on odometer. vehicle continued to loose all power, and by the time the tow truck arrived vehicle rear door would not open and could not get car into neutral. i was terrified while this was happening and continue to try to understand how this could happen without warning while driving. there were absolutely no warning indicators prior to incident. vehicle is at bww dealer being checked. at this time i have no idea what caused the loss of power. however, i driven for 45 years and have never had car loose power controls while driving. what if it had happed at night? during a winter storm? again, i was terrified.