While driving the car on the evening of Feb 11, 2005, we (wife and I) smelled a burning smell, we thought it was coming from outside the vehicle, so we started closing the sunroof and windows when I noticed smoke coming from the steering column. I looked in the hole where the stick for the headlights/turn signal was and saw flames. We quickly pulled into a convienence store and while I tried blowing it out (I had nothing else available to do and it was still small enough I thought it was possible), my wife ran in and got a fire extinguisher which put out the fire. We had the car towed home where I dismantled the steering column and dash. The headlight assembly had burned and melted. I've already cleaned out the extinguisher residue and replaced the part but the original part is still available if needed. Honda wanted me to bring them the car at my expense (it wasn't drivable) and wanted my insurance to pay for a rental/repairs, which I thought was really poor handling of the situation expecially since there were flames involved. This car was also completely unmodified and even has the original radio still installed.

- Leander, TX, USA