Good luck with it. I hate to hear that is how they are treating loyal customers.

IndyD
(post #100 hwee!)

 

Well, we're new to this - our beautiful 2004 Limited committed seppaku in the parking lot of the AmericInn in Hayward, WI on Saturday. It's never good to get a call from the front desk saying "You need to come downstairs, your truck is on fire...". So not only is your vehicle trashed, but your stuff stinks and is covered with dry chem and icky PVC soot and you need to find your way home with the nearest car rental open on Sunday being 100 miles away, pretty much all the way home. It's good to have good friends and neighbors...

I'm assuming it's a total loss, the fire burned a hole in the windshield, vaporized most of the driver side dash and all of the instrument cluster, set off the driver side airbag, and melted the dash and headliner back to about the rear seat backs. The DVD player is hanging from the roof in molton chunks like gobs of taffy. I honestly hope it's totaled even though that will hurt a bit financially - we dont' want it back, it would never get cleaned up to get the smell out - plus the powder of two dry chem exinguishers and the driver's side airbag (which got set off by the heat, something else that isn't supposed to happen). We _did_ love the truck, sigh.

The only thing worse than having a car fire is having a car fire in a small town late on a quiet night. We got both city squads, a deputy, what I think constitutes a full assignment up there from fire (a rescue, and engine an a ladder) and apparently an ambulance for good measure that got cancelled as they pulled up. All that when the fire itself was put 90% out with the officer's dry chem (working as a medic and having watched my share of car fires this actualy surprised me, but the fire iself was really seated just in the instrument cluster and top dash area, rest of the damage was pure heat convection/conduction). FD finished with wetting down with a pressurized water extinguisher, maybe 2 gallons of water.

Somewhat surprisingly it's taken USAA 5 days to get it towed down to St. Paul to be adjusted (it's due there tomorrow, so an actual adjuster will finally get to look at it).

I found out about the recall in a single Google and called DCX for recall information on Monday. I did manage to find out that the vehicle supposedly wasn't covered by the C43 recall, and then got the immediate transfer to a "senior" represenative as soon as they heard the fire was actual not theoretical. Of course they dropped the call and I got to call back, wade through the voice menus, and give the whole story all over again. Also figured out the first call was handled by somebody in Warrenty claims even though I hit the key for recall info and the guy seemed like he was recall dude on the phone, they never did figure out where I was being transferred to the first time.

Second time I did talk to a "senior" rep who took almost 20 minutes to get on the phone and I got a feeling was the special "transfer all calls that might result in us getting sued" guy. He took all the information and I was somewhat suprised to get a call from the "independent investigator" early the next day, USAA didn't get back to me until today, and then only to say they hadn't gotten the vehicle back yet. Given it's only 2 1/2 drive from Hayward to the Cities I figure they're sending it back "best way" and it's being towed back by a mule ;-). I also got a call at the end of the day from somebody in "USAA Special Investigations" but haven't connected with him. The DCX investigator said he needed the insurance companies permission not mine to access the vehicle and I reminded him that until USAA cuts me a check I'm happy with it's still _mine_ not theirs, but it is certainly in their custody right now.

So we're early in the process but the only way to finish it is to start it.

I did file my own NHTSA complaint right away and we've emailed the story and the full set of pictures to a ton of people to make as much of it public knowledge as possible before we get encumbered by any NDA as part of any settlement negotiations.

One tip for others that run into these - make sure any NDA includes an exemption for general public knowledge and sworn testimony and any other statement required by law, regulation or court order. Otherwise you can get between a rock and a hard place between the NDA and a subpoena and face the Hobbs choice of violating the NDA or facing a contempt finding or be found in violation for the pictures you shared before you signed the NDA. It's a simple reality that any settlement will be in exchange for you promising not to otherwise sue and shut up. Some states may have specific prohibitions against these sorts of requirements in the case of a warranty.

Final tip - go read your Dodge Warrenty - they specifically exclude any payment for a vehicle declared a total loss by an insurance company. It doesn't mean you don't have a right to damages - it just means it falls as a common tort and not a warrenty claim.

Anyway, that's our story...

 

My '04 Durango is sitting in the shop right now with this same problem. Luckily for me, it didn't actually go up in flames. We smelled something burning and then lost all of the instrument controls. Gages were all in the upright position even with the car off, no blinkers, no lights in the instrument panel, etc. We immediately took it to the dealership, thinking surely this would be a warranty covered repair. Unfortunately it wasn't and so now I will have to pay $750 to fix it. We found out there was a recall on this part, so we called Daimler Chrysler who is refusing to pay for the repair because our VIN wasn't included in the recall. Our car has been sitting in the shop for almost 2 weeks now and I just got a call from them saying they are not expecting the part to come in until the end of next week (which means it will have been sitting there for 3-4 weeks!) because they can't find the part! You'd think they would at least give me a loaner car until they can fix it! I can't believe how common this problem is, and DC refuses to take responsibility.

 

my 04 durango burned yesterday same deal gauges went hay wire then smoke the fire. called dodge no recall missed on my truck. insurance appraiser to come look at monday. pretty sure its total loss sounds like identical damage as markfrom mn. dodge customer service said someone will get back with me about this within 3 days. wife and 3 year old daughter were driving at the time of fire and the woman on the phone didnt even ask if anyone was hurt just kept putting me on hold and beating around the bush. i just found it odd that a newer car caught fire and search net and found this post. ill direct my insurance company here too. p.s. also filed with nhtsa. will post pics later. think ill look at the 07 tahoes if dodge doesn't call me real soon and kiss my ***. glad i found the site. thanks