I recently bought a 2020 Discovery Landmark. And a mystery has presented itself. It has the hands free hatch feature. One day while parked in my garage, I walked to the back of the SUV and the hatch started to open. (Quite surprising given I normally have to perform a short river dance to get the damn thing to open when I want it to. But that's another matter). Anyway, as it was opening, I heard a sound that sounded like sand running down the inside of the hatch. I closed the hatch and heard the same thing. Everything works properly, so I didn't give it much thought after a brief inspection to see if I could see any potential source, or if there had been any body work. A Carfax report showed no accidents and I didn't see any indication of repairs.

Yesterday I was installing a rear dash cam. Upon opening the plastic panel below the rear window, very small pieces of opaque black glass came streaming out. These were much darker than any window tint, were not transparent and did not look at all like pieces of vehicle window glass.

Since I made a point of not buying a vehicle that had been in an accident, I took it over to a local body shop and the guy who runs it took a look and said he saw no indication of body work or a rear window replacement.

So, the mystery is, where did this glass come from? How did it get inside the panel?

There is one potential, albeit unlikely, explanation: When I first inspected the SUV at the dealership, I found a black glass cabinet door on the middle row seat. The dealer said it was in there when he got the suv and left it since he didn't know what it was for. But it was not broken or chipped.

The only thing I can think of is that other parts of the cabinet from whence this panel came were being transported and a piece shattered. But I don't see how any of that glass could have got inside the hatch, especially without scratching or in any way damaging, even slightly, the plastic on the hatch. Plus, given the amount and fineness of the glass particles, plus the heaviness of the glass door, it would have had to been quite an impact. There is no evidence of that anywhere. Plus, the only potential entry point on the hatch is at least 2 feet off the cargo floor.

Any ideas?

 

My 2017 had to have its rear window replaced due to being backed into a wall by a parking attendant. The back door is a composite and can’t be opened up. They vacuumed as much glass as they could reach then poured a liquid inside which was supposed to capture all loose particles. Every time I open and close the door I hear all the glass still rolling around.
It was a very expensive repair for the garage.

 

Yeah. I can't think of anything else it could be other than the remnants of a broken rear window. No accidents were reported for the SUV and a repair shop detected no body repairs. So, it could have been a break-in or a situation like you had. Those wouldn't likely be reported as accidents. While the interior panel on the hatch is one piece, it apparently can be pulled away along the bottom of the window enough to snake the dash cam wire and let glass particles fall out when the hatch is in the open position.

Initially, I thought the particles looked too dark to be from the window. However, it just appeared that way when laying on the garage floor.