10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 52
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 1 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 104,282 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.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
On 12/23/2012 at 7:15pm we just arrived home & parked our 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix in our garage. About 3 minutes later my daughter went into the garage & came to get me telling me our garage was filled with smoke. Our car was on fire. I tried to release the hood but it did not release. I tried to start the car to drive it out of the garage it turned over but didn't start. I tried to put it in neutral. The gear shift moved in neutral position but the car would not release. The doors automatically locked. My brother in law and family just happened to come in the middle of these events. He hooked a chain to the car and drug it out of our garage with his 4X4 truck. The drivers window was broken to regain access to the car and try the hood release again. The hood would still not release. A pry bar was used to force the hood open. Buckets of water were continually thrown on the car during this entire event. Once the hood was open the fire was put out. The car is a total loss.
- Huntington, IN, USA
Parked car and turned it off in drive way. Smelled smoke and got out. Car fully engulfed in minutes. Called 911 and local vfd put out fire. Total loss.
- Wheeling, WV, USA
When parking car, discovered smoke coming from under hood. Opened hood to discover small fire on top of engine, moved away from vehicle and called 911 and watched as entire engine started on fire and burned entire engine compartment.
- Sergeant Bluff, IA, USA
My car was parked at a walmart for approximately 15 minutes when I was notified over the intercom to report to the service desk. They informed me my car was on fire and they had notified 911. When I got to my vehicle the engine compartment was engulfed in flames.
- Atchison, KS, USA
As I pulled into my garage, I noticed there was a lot of smoke coming from the engine compartment. When I opened the hood, I found the engine cover was on fire, the foam on the under side of the cover was melting and dripping onto the hot engine. I took the cover off and put the fire out without damage to the electrical or spark plug wires. I did follow through on the recall several years ago when it was reported that the oil could catch fire on the reflector guard on the front of the engine, that is gone, but this seems to be made out of plastic on the top of the engine, sliding into a hole at the rear and held in place by the oil cap. Is it safe to run this without the cover" will the engine catch the insulation under the hood on fire" I have owned this since new and have taken very good care of it, still in very good condition with the exception of this issue.
- Independence, KY, USA
- Durand, MI, USA