10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 2
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 1 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 137,267 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
The afternoon of February 14 my wife and I were driving from Indiana on I-70 East towards dayton, Ohio. As we were driving we noticed how the snow storm we thought we were leaving behind in Indiana seemed to be ever with us. About 3 P.M. in the afternoon I, the driver, smelled a faint electrical odor. Having had that experience before with no consequence I thought I might just be mistaken or smelled the odor from another car. About the same time, I can't remember whether it was just before or just after this, the service engine soon light illuminated which it has done intermittently in the recent past with no consequence. Just a few minutes later, however, the radio ceased to operate. Since our am capability had vanished almost a year ago, we both took note of this obvious interruption. For the next few moments we were distracted by not having radio, but fiddled with the dial, and soon had a signal return for just a brief moment then it went silent again. At about that same moment I again detected a whiff of electrical odor. Earlier, since the rear window was free of snow, I had turned off the defroster. But, scanning the mirrors, I was surprised to discover a tiny flame in the rear window. On the driver's side of the car, and in the upper corner of the rear window, there was a cigarette lighter size flame. Obviously amazed and surprised, I told my wife what I saw and quickly began to decelerate so I could pull over. After stopping and opening the passenger door on the driver's side, I swatted instinctively at the flame with my left hand, hoping that such a motion would douse the flame. That only succeeded in injuring my hand in what later turned out to be a 2nd degree burn. The car was eventually consumed by fire except the front fenders & tires - totalled Buick did not attend to my case because I no longer owned the car when I called them {case # 711288559106].
- Noblesville, IN, USA
Had the rear window defogger on while driving home at 45 mph which is just a 15 minute ride and when I pulled in my driveway, smoke was filing the cabin of the car. I popped the hood and looked for damage and did not find any. Closed the hood and notice the rear (driver side) passenger seat on fire. I ran in the house and got the fire extinguisher and put out the fire. Unfortunately the insurer deemed the car a total loss due to extensive fire damage.
- Kissimmee, FL, USA
- Bloomfiel;D Hills., MI, USA