NHTSA complaint #11624532

Owner complaint summary

Problem component: exterior mirror on driver side It was raining, I was driving, I heard what sounded like a loud explosion by my driver side window. After the initial shock, I thought a tire had blown out, but car drove ok and no tire warning light came on. It was a rural road with no shoulder, only deep stormwater ditch along the roadside, so there was no place to safely pull over in traffic to assess what may have happened. I drove about 2-3 miles before I could pull over at a safe spot.There I saw that the back side of my driver side mirror had completely disappeared. Wires were exposed. It appeared to have exploded off for no apparent reason. The body of the car was completely fine, the white exterior paint of the car was perfect, the actual housing of the mirror showed no marks, there are no dings or cracks in windows. No sign of any debris hitting the car. I reported it to Subaru general headquarters, and gave them all the info. I have an appt with local Subaru dealer this week. The mirror and housing are still on the car, minus the back, which is gone. My husband returned to the scene a few minutes later and searched for the piece that had propelled off the mirror or for any debris that could have caused the mirror to explode. There was nothing on the road, so wherever the back of the mirror went, it must have propelled far off the road. Safety issue: because an explosion like that nearly caused me to lose control of the car. And the piece that propelled off the mirror could have hit another car. Additional info. at the time of mirror exploding: my windshield wipers were on, it was a warm day so my air-conditioning was on, good chance my front dehumidifier was on. Car is equipped with heated mirrors, but heat was off.