It's time I vented (no pun intended) about this problem I have with my MCS.

The sunroof front shade in my car has this more than annoying tendency where it fails to roll up when released (opened). It's very unpredictable, but when it happens, it's mostly when I am driving, and as such, has a dangerous side effect.

When the sunshade it released, the windowshade-style roller mechanism rolls it into it's storage space (above the interior light). The problem I have is occasionally the roller mechanism sticks. This allows the fabric to go slack and the leading edge arm with the latch to sometimes fall out of the track. The arm/latch/fabric will then drop out of the opening and into the interior, and onto me and the front passenger. On a couple occasions now with the shade in this manner the roller mechanism freed itself and forcefully recoiled the shade along with the sharp edged arm and latch, striking me in the face as it whipped around the cabin and up into the roof once again. Needless to say this is not the kind of thing one expects while driving. This problem is intermittent enough that when I had the car in for it's 10k service check it could not be repeated. In fact, trying to repeat it seems to clear it up (opening and closing the shade repeatedly keeps the roller from sticking). As such, it's not considered a 'problem' that needs fixing.

My question for those in NAM Land is if anyone else has had this problem? If so, did you dealer take care of it even though it may be working fine at the time?

Mine will not act up under conditions of 'inspection', i.e. opening and closing it and expecting it to freeze up. The edges of the fabric on mine are now ragged and drooping where the roller mechanism has yanked the loose shade assembly into the cavity crooked and messed the unfinished edge up. I tend to leave the shade opened all the time nowadays as a result of all of this. The rear shade works fine.

Anyone? Beuller? Beuller?

 

I had this problem, shade would sometimes go slack, tension was not there. Other times it was fine. Dealer fixed it, warranty repair. They need to order parts and remove stuff. 3 hour job I think, was a while ago.

 

I haven't had this problem, nor have I heard of it before...but if I were you I'd sit in the car one slow Sunday afternoon and open/close the shade until it failed...and then I'd duct tape the flapping fabric to the headliner and take the whole mess to my dealer on Monday morning; and get them to replace the thing under warranty. No sense in waiting until it breaks for good at 50,001 miles and then you're stuck with a 3 hour repair bill ($250 labor to replace the sunshade?? I don't think so....).

 

Take it to the dealer!

Make sure they write up a repair order which correctly describes the problem. That way if they make an excuse for not repairing it, you will have a written record of the event which will help if you need to escalate the matter to BMW/MINI, NHTSA, small claims court, etc.

But my guess is that the dealer will take care of it for you without a fuss - especially after seeing the frayed edges.

 

My shade in the front had to much slack, Dealer order a new one and changed it no problems since.

Dave
MINI-Rolls

 

I had this problem as well. First time they just lubed the tracks. I guess they didn't notice the screen was hanging. I called back and they replaced without any problem. Like 911FAN said, make sure they write it up as needing replacement.

 

My shade has come out of the track and I can't figure out how to make it go back in...can someone illuminate me?

Mike.

 

If the shade came out of the track, pull it straight out as far as it will go, then hold one end of the arm stationary while moving the other end towards the rear of the car (this will make the arm diagonal in the opening). Place the end closest to the front of the car into the track slot, then insert the other end in and then slide it forward so the shade is now square and tight once again. Operate the shade a few times to get it to roll up properly.

For the record (I forgot about this posting) I had the shade replaced under warranty, among with some other issues with the car.