Skyline Aurora Pop-Top opening on motorway?

[DXX]

DVSA might ‘should’ be interested.

 

[Bav]

DVSA might ‘should’ be interested.

Good point.

 

[The Flying Scotsman]

Far far too many “one off occurrences” happening with this roof.

 

[Ads_Essex]

Fifteen direct accounts, not counting the couple where members have spotted other vans driving along with poptops lifting away

Hi All. @Creamytash - I have had a Skyline Aroura fitted to my LWB T6 & recently on the motorway, the roof opened at high speed! When I pulled over, the locking cams were locked properly. I closed the roof & triple checked that the cams had pulled the roof down, but a mile later, the same thing happened.

Moments later the next vehicle to pass me jestured wildly at my roof and I pulled off the road onto a slip road that I was just adjacent to. The roof was up!

Well - I have just googled this subject, because I thought I was going mad with my Skyline Aurora! One latch keeps popping open ( I thought it was human error to start with) until it just repeatedly opened on a road trip to the point that I had to lock it down with a ratchet strap wrapped around the vehicle. My roof was fitted August 2021, after a delay because it did not meet production standards.

I have converted a 2016 T6 into a totally awsome van, but have had quite the journey courtesy of my aurora popping up when I was doing about 60 on a dual carriageway.

Just had t6 converted and same is happening to mine, taking it back to installer

I am afraid that I must join the My Aurora popped up on the motorway club. In fact I am also a member for a dual carriageway as well. Each time was approaching 70 mph and luckily on the motorway it was just as I approached an off slip and on the dual carriageway it was just before a large lay-by.

Jumping in to say our Skyline Aurora opened on the autobahn at 80ish yesterday! Installer is going to fix but now both cams are bent don’t tighten top properly.

It subsequently happened to me on the way up the M6 , I am absolutely certain that the roof was properly closed. The drivers side catch failed, I can't work out why. The additional strain on the cam/latch on the passenger side bent it, and also partially pulled out the small bolt holding the latch into the fitting.

Our roof lifted on the N61 motorway near Narbonne in France this Sept. The Mistral is a notorious wind on this road and it was only medium at the time . There was a gunshot bang and the roof flew up, although of course with a bed fitted we could only guess what it was and luckily managed to get from the middle lane to the hard shoulder without incident..

I have the Aurora lwb. It has failed 3-4 times now, but after the first 2 times I secure with a strap as well as latches.The latches aren’t strong enough, maybe if they were cast instead of stamped they would be better. It’s in high wind and when passing lorries it fails, the pressure pulls the roof up and bends the latches..

..Today it went up fully on the motorway, had to get onto the hard shoulder and sort out. My dog had an absolute melt down, it's a very loud noise when it goes.

When I spoke with Skyline last year, they suggested to me that this was unheard of so this thread makes for some very interesting and unsettling reading.

I am now in the same situation my roof popped up today on the way to work. I have a ratchet strap now that I will be putting on to get home..

I have a Skyline roof on my LWB T6 and the roof has now opened TWICE on the motorway, much to my wife and kid's terror. In fact she'll no longer drive the van.
Both times there's been a very loud bang, as the cam at the front detaches from the locking bar..

Ours has gone up again this weekend doing about 60 on an A Road no hard shoulder. Haven't contacted Skyline yet, not sure what to do but it's the 2nd time it's happened so ruling out user error now as we triple check it all after the first time!

This has just happened to us. Roof completely opened on the motorway yesterday while doing about 65mph. Very scary. We're waiting for a response from skyline and hopefully we can go in tomorrow morning to get the now bent catches, replaced..

 

[Bav]

Fifteen direct accounts, not counting the couple where members have spotted other vans driving along with poptops lifting away

Loving your industry Adam, rather than the fact there's 15 poor sods on this thread that this has happened to!

 

[KShezza]

Hi all, update from our post. Took ours to the converter company yesterday, who fitted the pop top for the previous owner. They've replaced the cams and the locking bars in the roof to the "new ones" which seem much sturdier! Hubby drove it home and said it was a lot quieter inside too. They also did a couple of other checks for us. Very happy with the service. Got home safely but to be honest never went above 60 as we're still nervous! But going away in it soon and will report back. It definitely feels a lot tighter/stronger when locking it down.

 

[signtoo]

Hey folks, is this happening with a specific mechanism and/or a specific roof?

Perhaps my question is: is there a Skyline roof and lock that does *not* have the issue?

 

[KShezza]

This was happening to our LWB Skyline Aurora, fitted around 2021.

Last week the converters replaced the cams and the bars and the roof feels a LOT tighter when securing it.

Hope that helps.

 

[Salty Spuds]

This was happening to our LWB Skyline Aurora, fitted around 2021.

Last week the converters replaced the cams and the bars and the roof feels a LOT tighter when securing it.

Hope that helps.

View attachment 244244View attachment 244245

Those look like the catches we used to fit to machine covers/guards. They were for light duty in a static application. I would say they aren’t fit for purpose on a heavy roof subject to aerodynamic forces & vibration.

 

[KShezza]

It's better than what was on and they also put a better shark fin across the front. I hear what you're saying and if we started again from scratch we wouldn't go for this type of roof method, but it's what we have so will just have to go with it. We also have straps inside we can use but it really does feel a lot more secure with these replacements.

 

[Salty Spuds]

It's better than what was on and they also put a better shark fin across the front. I hear what you're saying and if we started again from scratch we wouldn't go for this type of roof method, but it's what we have so will just have to go with it. We also have straps inside we can use but it really does feel a lot more secure with these replacements.

The Reimo roof has a safety strap on the inside, which is basically a seat belt buckle fastened to the van & the seat belt tab fastened to the roof, so even if the catches let go, the roof can’t pop up. It wouldn’t be difficult to replicate this for any type of poptop.

 

[Bargy62]

I don't care what anyone says that bit of the latch is the weakness all day long and even putting the large washer on top of it will never sort the problem it is a shit design

 

[Salty Spuds]

I don't care what anyone says that bit of the latch is the weakness all day long and even putting the large washer on top of it will never sort the problem it is a shit designView attachment 244248

I concur, wrong application.

 

[roadtripper]

If you were the owner of one of these roofs with a corner lifting on the A38 last Saturday evening the frantically gesturing family in the Caravelle you overtook was us

Glad you pulled into the petrol station, hope it was sorted and you got home OK.

 

[DXX]

Somebody was asking a few days ago about why there is such a price range with pop tops.

 

[RunDSG]

Somebody was asking a few days ago about why there is such a price range with pop tops.

I’ve seen some shocking pop-tops… one dealer in particular I visited, the tops had clearly been up for extended periods and/or the quality of materials was poor. The roofs were all sagging in the middle between the struts and hinges.

 

[DXX]

It might be worth stencilling the van reg’ number and mobile phone in case the roof is found on a motorway verge.

 

[Salty Spuds]

It might be worth stencilling the van reg’ number and mobile phone in case the roof is found on a motorway verge.

Or if you’re being chased by the police

 

[Neilson]

Is the issue purely that the bent strip is just opening out? I mean is that the only issue people are getting? Also, i assume Skyline are fitting the same catches to all their roofs? I've just had a Skylow fitted but haven't opened it yet (Will do at the weekend) so although its not an Aurora I'm guessing i might get the same issue.

The strip of metal does look weak, especially at the folds. I might have a look at making a solid stainless replacement. Does anyone have a link to the catch?

 

[Burner]

I have this type of catch on my skyline roof?