10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
219,000 miles

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problem #1

Feb 142014

Park Avenue 6-cyl

  • 219,000 miles
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