TL the contact owns a 1999 Buick Park Avenue. The contact stated that the vehicle suddenly accelerated while backing out of the driveway and failed to brake. When the vehicle was started, the contact heard a loud popping sound and noticed a lot of smoke coming from the tailpipe. As a result, the vehicle crashed into the neighbor's yard and a telephone guide wire. An independent mechanic was called to have the vehicle towed and diagnosed. There were no injuries and a police report was not filed. The dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The failure mileage was 152,000.

- Palm Bay, FL, USA

I was driving my car and it started to misfire. I put it on the machine and got a few different codes P1406 and P0300 got those fixed it worked fine. A week later the problem came back. It sat up for a few weeks and when I would drive it I smelled gas fumes. Now it won't turn and there's still a smell of fuel.

- Chicae, IL, USA

My 1999 Buick Park Avenue was parked under our pole barn in front of our home. My neighbor came over to borrow my car with my permission. It was cold that day. She turned the key. The car backfire & the hood jumped. The car made a loud noise & smoke started rolling out from under the hood of my car. She popped the hood & got out of the car. By the time she got in front of the car flames were shooting out of the front of the car. She called the peru fire department who came out & pulled my car out to the driveway saving our house from burning to the ground. The got the car put out eventually but it is destroyed. Entire engine compartment is burned out. Parts of the inside are melted. The car is a total loss. We contacted Buick. They offered us $1000. For a car we were offered $3000 for that summer. They then decided they did not owe us anything as the car itself was over 10 years of age. They will not answer calls nor will they pay for the damages. We cannot afford an attorney.

- Peru, KS, USA

Sudden engine failure. I own a 99 Buick Park Avenue ultra that has about 65,000 miles on it and is well maintained. The car is only utilized about 6 months out of the year since we are snow birds having returned from the East 2 months ago. Last evening as I drove North and up one of the long hills on the toll rd 73 in orange county, ca I experienced the sudden and total loss of engine power while traveling between 65 and 70 mph. All electrical systems, headlights, dash lights etc stayed on and appeared normal. Fortunately the traffic was such that I was able to pull over to the side of the road, stop and turn on my hazard warning lights. I sat for a moment and then tried to restart the engine. The cranking appeared normal and the engine immediately started and the engine parameters, temperature, volts, etc appeared normal. I was surprised to say least but we decided to start moving again and proceeded to drive pretty much at normal speeds without a hiccup the 20 miles left to get home staying in the rh lanes for the most part. Getting back into the fast moving stream of traffic was somewhat hazardous in and of itself. Prior to this sudden failure there was no warning or change in performance. The only caveat to that is that it seems lately there has been a minor but noticeable sag or hesitation when starting to accelerate while in drive and at highway speeds.

- Los Alamitos, CA, USA