AGRR - March/April 2008 - AGRR Magazine

Off theLineoem news from detroitMustang Adds a Glass Roof OptionFORD MOTOR CO. HAS ANnouncedthat it will celebratethe 45 th anniversary year of itsMustang by adding a factory-installedglass roof to the vehicle.The new glass roof will be availableas an option on both the V-6Mustang and Mustang GT beginningthis summer.“As the automotive landscape becomesincreasingly competitive, featuressuch as a panoramic glass roofwill help differentiate our productsfrom the competition,” says DerrickKuzak, Ford’s group vice president,global product development.Mustang’s glass roof is madefrom tinted, laminated glass. Amanual roller blind is built intothe sunroof as well, allowing ownersto further control exposure asnecessary.The glass also features a layer ofvinyl to reduce noise, vibration andAfter 45 years, the Mustang has a new glass roof.harshness.Glass-roof Mustangs will be assembledat the Automotive AllianceInternational plant in Flat Rock,Mich. The glass will be installed atMercedes Recalls $500K 2008 SLRMcLaren Roadster for Faulty Windshield InstallsMercedes-Benz USA LLC has recalled the 2008 SLR McLaren Roadster, notingthat the windshields were not installed correctly and that either the primer or activatorwas missing at the time of installation, according to Mercedes spokespersonRob Moran. The company warns that in a crash, the windshield in thesevehicles may not be retained.The vehicle, which usually is priced at around $500,000, according to Moran,was manufactured in very limited numbers, and Moran says there are only two ofthese vehicles in the United States. He was uncertain how many were distributedthroughout the rest of the world, but notes that the McLaren Roadster is manufacturedat a plant in Woking, England.The issue was discovered during production of the vehicle.Moran says he is uncertain whether the error was one of human or mechanicalissue.“The car has a lot hand-finishing on it,” he told AGRR magazine/glass-BYTEs.com. “It’s mostly hand-built.”Moran says the owner of the vehicles were informed by mail.The NHTSA announcement says that the vehicles should be returned to thedealers, who will remove the windshields and will re-install properly.Ford’s adjacent vehicle personalizationfacility.Firefighters ReportDifficulty on BreakingGlass in MercedesA firefighter in Fairfax, Va., whospoke to AGRR magazine/glass-BYTEs.com on the condition ofanonymity, advised that his crew recentlyhad extreme difficulty in breakingthe windows on a Mercedes thathad been T-boned (hit by another caron the side of the vehicle). The vehicle,from which the crew was trying toextract a passenger trapped inside,appeared to have laminated sidelitesresistant to breakage as the crew triedto make its way into the vehicle.“Unfortunately, no one trained usbeforehand that this would be comingout,” he says of the sidelites, which arerelatively new in the market.While the firefighter notes that thevehicle actually was more secure forthe injured due to the laminatedsidelites, he advises that it took the18 AGRR March/April 2008 www.agrrmag.com