Door caught on fire

[Cara]

Anyone else experience this? Any recalls that will cover us, for this?

My husband's car was parked, but running.

He'd started it up, but then got out to retrieve something.

The guys he was with turned and looked and the car was on fire.

Appears that the power window motor (2005 Vibe base) lit up, and the fuse didn't knock it down. The entire inside of the door is melted, damage is preventing either front window from working -- even the carpet burned a bit. He's lucky they caught it -- he's lucky he wasn't driving when it happened.

We're looking for a replacement door, as we have a high deductible on our auto insurance, if anyone has a lead on one close to North Georgia.

[Chiadog]

Sorry to hear of your electrical problem. Yeah, it sure could have been worse! Try this parts locator, it works for me:
http://www.partshotlines.com/

[vibolista]

Anything electrical can go up in smoke. Glad everyone was out of the car! Check out the car part recyclers or junkyards for a used door. There are plenty of Vibe doors available... probably even find one in the color you need.

[vibenvy]

Ouch! That sucks, but as others said, at least your husband wasn't in the vehicle at the time of the fire. Do you have any pictures of the damage you can post?

Check out car-part.com to search for doors in junkyards near you.

[kostby]

Glad that everyone is OK! Wow.

If you haven't already done so, that sounds like a serious event that should be reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA.gov).
Reporting it won't fix your damaged car or bring you money, but it might lead to an investigation, and eventually a recall, if there are widespread occurrences.

You'll need the car's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and provide a few details to file a report:
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleCo ... ndex.xhtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jake75]

Could this be related to the recent recall of some electrical part inside the door? Maybe all of it would be covered by GM.

[tpollauf]

Hmmmm ...... Was it the actual motor inside the door OR the window switch in the door panel? The reason I ask is because this is exactly the reason that our 2009-10 Vibe's have a recall on the master power window switch (drivers door) as apparently a few of them have shorted & caught fire. Similar problem ??? More specific details if/when you can thoroughly investigate exactly what happened. Thanks

[chuckasaurus]

a few years old, but you may want to check out this link. Not sure how accurate the article is though since in the text they say some vehicles produced between 05-10, but the bulleted list has nothing before 2007. Might warrant some further research though

http://www.usatoday.com/story/driveon/2 ... l/1624003/

[Cara]

Hey, all -- sorry I haven't visited again until now. Husband found a replacement door via junkyard searches, but got the wrong wiring harness so he's waiting to replace that.

Kostby: we did report to NHTSA. I kind of expected some follow-up -- have heard nothing!

Jake75, tpollauf, chuckasaurus : we would love to find out that the work should be covered by a prior recall. We kind of thought reporting to the NHTSA would trigger a search that would connect our fire to that recall, and someone would contact us. Nothing. I'm not sure how we can determine ourselves where the fire started (whether in the switch or the motor) -- is there a department at GM that we should contact to let them know about our fire, and ASK if it could be recall-related?

Any ideas?

[Nasmfell]

Hey, all -- sorry I haven't visited again until now. Husband found a replacement door via junkyard searches, but got the wrong wiring harness so he's waiting to replace that.

Kostby: we did report to NHTSA. I kind of expected some follow-up -- have heard nothing!

Jake75, tpollauf, chuckasaurus : we would love to find out that the work should be covered by a prior recall. We kind of thought reporting to the NHTSA would trigger a search that would connect our fire to that recall, and someone would contact us. Nothing. I'm not sure how we can determine ourselves where the fire started (whether in the switch or the motor) -- is there a department at GM that we should contact to let them know about our fire, and ASK if it could be recall-related?

Any ideas?

Good luck in that regard. Pontiac and the Vibe are gone, Unless GM is assured you're going to buy another GM product, they'll be much less inclined to get involved. Heck, they're trying to be exempt for being sued with the Cobalt et al ignition switch issue.

[kostby]

Clicking on the 'Contact Us' link at GM.com I found this link to contact (still active!) pontiac.com, as well as the ability to live-chat with someone from GM.
https://www.pontiac.com/toolbar/contact_us.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

May not be helpful either, but can't hurt.

And if your local TV stations have investigative reporters who are looking for a good story, this IS the beginning of the May 'ratings sweeps' (when stations are competing hard for newscast ratings that determine how much they charge their advertisers, based on # of viewers).

Large city newspapers used to have consumer advocates or ombudsmen who addressed consumer complaints, but few newspapers still do. Most of those positions were eliminated years ago.

NHTSA is a government agency and they move slooooooooooooowly. Still, it is important to report serious safety issues.

[Salsa Guy]

I can understand the how that can happen. There isn't any limit switches, that I can tell, on these motor that say when the window is already up or down. So if that rocker switch fails it's at the mercy of the fuse which is normally pretty big for these motors.