Roof / Crossbar weight limitations ???
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The images below are from the installation booklet. While the rails themselves seem to support 600 lbs., the crossbars are limited to 165 lbs. That doesn't surprise me. It doesn’t differentiate between static and dynamic limits. What I do find concerning is the fact that the moon roof will collide with anything mounted on the crossbars. That fact is called out in the installation warnings and I just confirmed it with a large, empty, cardboard box. Opening the moon roof lifted it 1/4” off the rails even without any lashings or clamps. It will definitely hit my Thule clamps square and hard and I think there’s an excellent chance it will damage the moon roof.
Does anyone know of a way to lock out the moonroof to prevent it from accidentally being opened while the rack is loaded? The moon roof doesn’t seem to be damped or spring-loaded in any way and I’m not willing to test it to see if it has auto-reverse like a garage door does. But if it doesn’t, this is a serious problem. I’ll definitely be calling the dealer about it. Also, as I said in another comment, the wind noise is terrible at highway speeds. I’ve never had cross-bars throw noise like that before…
Thanks for the info on weights, seems pretty standard. I can't find any way to stop the height opening on the moon roof, just the forward and back movement can be stopped.
Having spent some time on the Bronco Sport forum (gave up my order for the CX-50), I know the same thing happens on that vehicle also. I guess certain manufacturers don't want to infringe on head space by making the moon roofs drop down and go inside the headliner. My wife's 2017 Subaru Forester has a huge pano moon roof that opens the whole way by dropping down and going inside the headliner. Who knows what their thought process is for not doing that on the CX-50.
It's weird that Mazda is going to be selling the Merdian edition coming this fall with crossbars and a rack from the factory. Are they going to tell those buyers, "Sorry, if you want to open your moonroof, you will have to remove the rack or just never open it?
I can see your frustration if you are wanting to keep a rack or rooftop tent on more permanently. For my use case, I will only be putting on a Thule pod for longer duration trips in the winter so not having a functional moon roof then will not bother me.
In the crossbar instruction booklet, does it provide mounting point suggestions in terms of inches from the front and back of the rails? I know on the CX-5 it has bolt holes so you can't really mess it up. On the CX-50, no holes. Lastly, with just the bars on, the moon roof does open without hitting the front bar, correct? That would be a deal breaker
Yes, the positions of the crossbars are specified clearly (in mm from the leading edge of the roof rails) in the install manual. Installation was straightforward and they even give you a little mini torque wrench with the kit. You also get permanent decals to mark the four locations for future reference. As long as nothing is on top of the roof rails the moon roof operates correctly. There is just a point between the two rails where the top edge of the moon roof “breaks the plane”. And the moon roof passes close enough to the bottom of the front rail that it would strike the front rail clamps on the Thule. I’ll need to look again to see if I can cheat the front rail forward enough to avoid a strike. I haven’t actually put the Thule on it yet but if it rides a half-inch above the cross bars and I can cheat the front bar forward enough to avoid hitting it, it might be ok. I’ll comment again when I play around a little more. (And when I hear back from the dealer.)
I’ll only be using it for my Thule pod as well. Which is to say, a couple of times a year. My concern is that a passenger, or me in a moment of absent-mindedness, could do damage the moon roof. If push comes to shove, though, I can probably pop the fuse on that circuit. Or fashion some sort of switch protector. But it would be better if there was a disable option in the software. It also looks like the MyMazda app doesn’t note or alert on the status of the moon roof (open or closed) though it does on the doors, hood, and lift gate. I wish it reported on windows and the moon roof too.
This is all I can find in the manual about an obstruction during the opening of the moon roof. I for one would not want to test this out to see what it would do when contacting a rail clamp or pod for fear of breaking the glass or a motor component. Having a moon roof disable setting in the Mazda Connect software seems simple enough. Perhaps when they do the first software upgrade after getting enough user feedback, this option will come with it.
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So I went ahead and carefully mounted the Thule on the roof rack crossbars. The attached images show:
- No contact or issues with the moonroof closed.
- No contact or issues when the moonroof switch is depressed once to put the moonroof in the ventilation position.
- No contact (but so, so, close; maybe an 1/4” of clearance or so on the far side?) when the moonroof switch is pulled back to fully elevate the panel and then immediately paused before it begins traveling backwards.
- Slight contact does occur between the weather stripping at the center back edge of the moon roof and the bottom of the Thule beginning at about half-way through the backward travel distance. This seems to happen because the moonroof tracks follow the curve of the roofline from front to back. So the high edge of the moonroof reaches its highest point midway between the crossbars.
During these tests, the Thule was empty. If it were fully loaded I expect the floor of the pod would ride a little lower and contact would be more aggressive. Everything is so close that I definitely wouldn’t be comfortable operating the moonroof with the Thule mounted, loaded, and bouncing down the road.
It might be fine if I cheat the front bar forward by an inch or so and add 1/4” sheet rubber spacers or something under each of the Thule crossbar rests. But I’m def not playing those games while the vehicle is under warranty. If I need the Thule before there’s a better/official solution available I’ll just put painter’s tape over the moonroof switch. But it annoys me that I should even have to consider doing that.
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Good pics and explanation. I would be comfortable with the ventilation position, but nothing else. Even if you could open it all the way, I bet the wind noise would be crazy loud with the pod up there. In all the years we've owned my wife's Forester and my recent trade-in CR-V, I don't think I ever thought of opening the moon roofs because the pod noise was already so loud.
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Hi there-
Do you think you may be able to post pictures of the instruction booklet, please? My CX50 came with the crossbars pre-installed by the dealer but they did not include the instructions with it. I want to remove mine but am having a hard time with it.
I’d appreciate it if you could! Thank you.
Sorry, @KartyParty, I’m just seeing your request. I’m happy to share but I’m not sure if this site permits pdf attachments or not. If not, I’ll add a Dropbox link or something. … Looks like no worries. This is what came in the box with the crossbars. Let me know if you can’t open it. 🙂
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Thank you so much, this is great!
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