55WRX

I'm always especially careful to check the bonnet is closed properly as the bonnet once opened when I was driving an old mini van 20 odd years ago.

Has anybody experienced the bonnet opening while driving along in a blobeye impreza? Subaru say they've never heard of one open while driving.......

This happened to me this afternoon and has caused a lot of damage. It opened without warning and the safety catch mechanism didn't work so the bonnet smashed into the windscreen and folded itself on the roof of the car.

The car is now in the body shop where they will have a good look at it tomorrow and give me the bad news.....

The car is well maintained and the bonnet catch has always seemed to work properly during the 4 years or so I've had the car.

Lucky for me I was driving on a straight bit of road at the time and didn't hit anything.

Blaster_1

iTrader: (1)

Had a little problem with my blobeye bonnet catch about 4 months ago properly similar problem but lucky for my I was stationary,
Opened bonnet to do the normal fluid water check only to find bonnet wouldn’t shut after had to strip the whole bonnet catch out, full of dirt and grit.
That made the bonnet catch and the safety part of the catch stick open. Full strip down and regressed all was fine with mine has any one else had some thing like this then on the blobeye or any other Subaru??

dunx

iTrader: (3)

I had trouble closing mine once, but a clean and regrease sorted that.

dunx

55WRX

Mine was clean and greased and working fine.
Yet, the bonnet still opened without any warning at all..... not even the slightest flutter.

Does anyone know if bonnet pins are road legal? Once my car is fixed I think this might be a good option. It's going to cost about £2500 to fix my car which is something I could do without at the moment.

timthebat

iTrader: (14)

Same happened to me after having the bonnet up to fit my FMIC, thought that the new pipework or air filter was to high in the engine bay, so altered pipes etc to sit lower to no avail. After a lot of head scratching I cleaned up the catch and voila!

KAS35RSTI

iTrader: (73)

Gutted man sounds horrible.

Mr Windscreen

iTrader: (6)

Just changed a windscreen this afternoon on a vivaro van, bonnet catch failed. Windscreen smashed to bits, very bent bonnet.

jura11

iTrader: (7)

Hi matey,really gutted for this,hope you are get sorted...
I will recommend you buy catch pins,i've mine and worked flawlessly several months without one issue...
Sparco,Aerocatch worth extra money,please if you are go for catch pins,don't go for cheap eBay stuff.


Jura

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Bonnet catches are rarely ever cleaned or maintained. They may get a squirt of oil or white grease, but that just serves to attract more gunk to clog the mechanaism. No lube at all just allows them to rust (salty roads).

Think about it....how dirty does the car get if never cleaned.....the bonnet catch is right behind the grill, so what does it get covered in? Does it ever get cleaned, degreased and re-lubricated?

Chances are: Probably not. And its a good sign of a car thats not had much attention to detail paid to it when being serviced. Hence *Pop* *BANG* *SMASH* when it flies open at speed.

Clean it, it lube it, test it (pull up on and shake the bonnet after closing it).

The same applies if the car has a minor parking ding in the car park - it may have bent the slam panel.

55WRX

That's what had been done to mine. I'm always checking the bonnet is closed properly after a similar incident 20 odd years ago with a mini van. Apart from the cost of the repairs, which is going to be very expensive, it's potentially really dangerous. I'm glad it happened on a straight bit of road.

The reason I asked on this forum is that I remember seeing something on the news about the same thing happening on citroen's a few years back, and the problem was found to be a design fault with the bonnet catch.

MDS_WRX

iTrader: (1)

It could be due to the cold. I had a kind of similar problem last month but thankfully all that involved was the bonnet not shutting properly due to a partly frozen cable. A bit of cleaning and WD40 freed it up a bit although it did happen again a couple of days ago so I'll have to keep on top of it.

Gutted for you though, sounds really unlucky

MMT WRX

My daughters Punto bonnet opened whilst she was doing about 70 on a dual carriageway last year. It wrote the car off. Smashed the windscreen, dented the roof etc made a real mess. She had her 6 week old baby in with her at the time, asleep in the back, he didn't even wake up.

TurboAndy

iTrader: (1)

gutted for you mate, I had an Alfa 156 which did the same I was amazed at the damage it did to the roof.

Now when ever I close the bonnet on car I always tug at the bonnet to make sure it doesnt open.

55WRX

Sounds like they both had a very lucky escape.

I fear is my car will be written off now. The roof is dented to about 2ft back from the windscreen and it looks a mess.

Not the best start to the year for me; my misses rolled the other car through a hedge and into a field on Wednesday night and that's a definite write off. January could be very expensive.

Still, at least nobody got hurt.

55WRX

Me too. I'd done 120 miles since checking the oil, water etc before setting off this morning and gave the bonnet a good tug to make sure it was closed.

Should look on the bright side really.... I could be in the morgue now and not sitting here feeling sorry for myself.

Myles

iTrader: (40)

Mine popped up an inch onto the catch at the speed limit, no faster! Scary times! Not as bad as a mate of mine, his bonnet popped on his Celica, flipped right open and shattered his windscreen AND sunroof!

zayd

iTrader: (1)

This is a common fault, which Subaru will not admit to.

55WRX

Just had news from the body shop that it's going to cost about £4K to repair!!!!!

It looks like it may be written off as the damage is more than half the market value of the car.

zayd

iTrader: (1)

Really sorry to hear that buddy. I hope that you will have it sorted or get a replacement soon.

scooby2010

4k??? Did the car roll on its roof!!! Thats unreal...sorry to hear it,another scoobs gone

Suberman

Sorry to hear that mate. Glad your ok. Never thought about it until i read this thread. I'll double check the bonnet when i close it next time.

harvey

iTrader: (48)

I am sorry to hear about this and for it to happen I think you have been very unlucky.
Even when the bonnet pops open or is not properly shut or obstructed from a high air cleaner or similar the secondary catch usually prevents the bonnet opening.
I have only heard of one other Subaru where this happened so I think it is extremely unlikely it is a common fault and although I am about these cars regularly finding secondary catches that do not work is a rare occurance and needs attending to immediately.
The extent of the damage can be considerable when this happens because of the force with which the bonnet is thrown back resulting in structural damage.
Good luck in sorting it out easily with your insurers.

legb4rsk

I had a problem with my catch.Fortunately it was noticed when I couldn't close the bonnet! The mech had jammed closed.As was said all the road grime hits the catch .
Mine was full of large lumps of grit & gravel.

When shutting the bonnet I always give it a good tug upwards afterwards to make sure it is locked.

Sorry about your problem.

frayz

iTrader: (7)

The scoop on the Impreza bonnet does it no favours reagarding the possiblility of it coming open. At high speed my V7 bonnet tries to litterally rip itself off the car. I decided to fit a set of aerocatches to it just for peace of mind.

Sorry to hear of your problem fella, but at least youre okay. Could have been a whole heap worse.

55WRX

I'll be fitting aerocatches to my next car. This was the second time I've had a bonnet fly open in 20 odd years..... I might not be so lucky next time.

frayz

iTrader: (7)

Its a shame to feel like you have to cut holes in the bonnet for peace of mind. As id rather not have bonnet pins if i could help it. However, these ally bonnets are damn light and with the aerodynamics of the scoop making the problem worse.

To me it was the safest option. Best of luck chap.

Tidgy

my advice is similar to above, give the catch a damn good clean with degrease and just check for any wear on it, if all ok regrease and away you go. could very well be the catch isn't totaly caught due to a build up of crap in it.

mine wouldn't shut and i thought he ctach was nackered, turned out to be grease and dirty built up in the mechanism, been fine ever since and that was 5 yers ago

Wollo

Sorry to hear what happened but I'm glad your ok. I had the same happen to me in a jap import Forester St/b in the fast lane of the M62 near Manchester. I had only owned it 10 minutes before It was written off, £2600 of damage but I felt lucky to be alive. I Pulled real hard on the bonnet to check it tbefore I set off. Week Later I was test driving a Turbo 2000 Near Glasgow and the bonnet opened on that during the test drive. Luckily the safety catch on that worked. I actually bought that one. I really pay attention to that mechanism now.

harvey

iTrader: (48)

If the mechanism is cleaned and lubricated once a year there is no problem.
There are two devices to prevent this unfortunate occurrence. Do you really need a third?

55WRX

It certainly would have prevented it.

The catch was cleaned and lubricated in November and the bonnet has been opened regularly to check oil and water.

The catch was working properly when examined after the bonnet had opened. I'd driven 120 miles that morning, at times travelling faster than when it opened, yet it opened on a nice smooth bit of road, without any warning at all.

I'll have to wait to see what the engineers report says now, but I will be fitting bonnet catches to my next car..... just in case.