While driving to Nevada in the Yukon with my wife and nephew, we noticed a burning smell. We immediately thought it was an outdoor fire. The smell was very strong, and it consumed the entire interior of the vehicle. We opened the windows to see if the smell was worse outside, but it seemed the same.
About 5 minutes later, the smell became much worse but we still thought that it was coming from outside. After approximately 10 more minutes we saw smoke inside the car and immediately pulled over. My nephew had been asleep on the 2nd row bench seat and he said this pillow is burning. Smoke was coming out from under his pillow.
After stopping on the side of the freeway, I pulled the pillow off of the seat to find that there was smoke coming from both the pillow and the seat. There was an extremely strong smell coming from the burning foam cushion of the seat. We had been inhaling this smell for over 20 minutes. I threw the pillow out of the car and there was still smoke coming from the seat. There was a hole that was burned out from the smoldering fire in the seat. I had to cut out the entire burned portion of the seat to get the horrible fumes out of the vehicle. The fumes smelled like they were toxic and all three of us could feel discomfort in our lungs for the entire rest of the day. I could still feel the discomfort in my lungs the next day as well.
We initially thought that the smell was coming from outside because in my 25+ years of driving experience I had never experienced a car fire. So, naturally, this is not one of the first things that I would suspect. Usually when I smell something burning, it is from an outside fire. Ever since this fire, we have had this hole in our rear seat, and all of the seat heaters stopped working that day as well.
We have experienced electrical issues with the A/C after this incident as well. Although our yukon has high miles, I have had it for several years and it had been very reliable prior to this. Prior to this yukon, I had another yukon that I also had minimal issues with. GMC should step up and cover the cost of repair for my Yukon. Mechanically, our yukon is still reliable, and still has value. But I estimate that it would cost $1,000-$2000 to repair the A/C, seat heaters and replace or repair the seat. The seat should never catch on fire due to a seat heater, even if someone was sleeping on top of it.
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While driving to Nevada in the Yukon with my wife and nephew, we noticed a burning smell. We immediately thought it was an outdoor fire. The smell was very strong, and it consumed the entire interior of the vehicle. We opened the windows to see if the smell was worse outside, but it seemed the same.
About 5 minutes later, the smell became much worse but we still thought that it was coming from outside. After approximately 10 more minutes we saw smoke inside the car and immediately pulled over. My nephew had been asleep on the 2nd row bench seat and he said this pillow is burning. Smoke was coming out from under his pillow.
After stopping on the side of the freeway, I pulled the pillow off of the seat to find that there was smoke coming from both the pillow and the seat. There was an extremely strong smell coming from the burning foam cushion of the seat. We had been inhaling this smell for over 20 minutes. I threw the pillow out of the car and there was still smoke coming from the seat. There was a hole that was burned out from the smoldering fire in the seat. I had to cut out the entire burned portion of the seat to get the horrible fumes out of the vehicle. The fumes smelled like they were toxic and all three of us could feel discomfort in our lungs for the entire rest of the day. I could still feel the discomfort in my lungs the next day as well.
We initially thought that the smell was coming from outside because in my 25+ years of driving experience I had never experienced a car fire. So, naturally, this is not one of the first things that I would suspect. Usually when I smell something burning, it is from an outside fire. Ever since this fire, we have had this hole in our rear seat, and all of the seat heaters stopped working that day as well.
We have experienced electrical issues with the A/C after this incident as well. Although our yukon has high miles, I have had it for several years and it had been very reliable prior to this. Prior to this yukon, I had another yukon that I also had minimal issues with. GMC should step up and cover the cost of repair for my Yukon. Mechanically, our yukon is still reliable, and still has value. But I estimate that it would cost $1,000-$2000 to repair the A/C, seat heaters and replace or repair the seat. The seat should never catch on fire due to a seat heater, even if someone was sleeping on top of it.
- Steve N., San Ramon, CA, US