07 Corolla Caught on fire - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

George350 · 01-31-2010, 10:18 PM

Its an 07 Corolla with 14200 on it, and today it met its demise..

Yesterday my sister coming from work said the car stalled on her. She had to restart it to make it home. Today when she took the car in the morning same story. So after she came back I decided to see what was wrong and I drove it, and it stalls on me. The car is in D and it just came to a stop. Since the car stopped I turned on the emergency, well it didnt turn on either. I got it into Park and tried to restart it, it wouldn’t. So I stepped out and called AAA.. I did get back in to see if it starts up again and it didn’t. So I’m standing outside waiting for AAA and then I hear the door locked beep sound and the emergency lights came on. I now know the battery has power and I got in started up and drove home, which was 1 block away. I parked it went inside.

Some 20 or so mins pass I heard the fire trucks at where I’m parked.. I had a thought it cant be the car on fire, wouldn’t make sense .. 5 minutes pass and a firemen is ringing the doorbell saying your car is on fire.. I get out there and the whole engine is burned out. I didn’t know what to think… The guy told me you, guys should call the insurance company it’s a junk.. The insurance company towed it to a body shop and gotta get an adjuster looked at it and all the fun stuff that comes with it..

I still cant fathom why it was loosing power, but let alone why it would catch fire like this. I was already planning on bringing it to the dealership tomorrow. That is not to be…

alpha_1976 · 02-01-2010, 10:26 AM

Sorry to hear that. It should still be under warranty, right?

NMGeorge · 02-01-2010, 10:28 AM

wow... was your car all stock under the hood? I sure hope it works out for you. Good thing it happened in a parking lot and not the freeway...

mikered30 · 02-01-2010, 11:06 AM

Any mods to the car? After market lights or alarm? It is under warranty, not sure if you will get a brand new car.

George350 · 02-01-2010, 11:49 AM

Everything is Stock. Only mod is Sylvania headlight bulb and rainx wiper..
It is under warranty.. Oil change etc, and any issues we noticed, always took it into the dealership. Only work done to the car was to the body from an accident but it didn’t require any mechanical parts being replaced.

mikered30 · 02-01-2010, 04:14 PM

Can you rule out arson?

George350 · 02-01-2010, 04:29 PM

Yea, It was parked on well traveled street around 1:30 in the afternoon. To be arson I would think FD would have stayed around and written up a report but they left immediately.

***PhatRoyale*** · 02-01-2010, 04:31 PM

Ouch, sorry to hear that happened.

The car is still under warranty right?

Let us know how insurance or Toyota handles the situation.

George350 · 02-01-2010, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhatRoyale

Ouch, sorry to hear that happened.

The car is still under warranty right?

Let us know how insurance or Toyota handles the situation.

The car is months away from the 3 year mark, so anyway you look at it, its under warranty.. I been on the phone since 1:30pm waiting for someone from Toyota NA to pick up. I have a feeling they have no humans working today...

***PhatRoyale*** · 02-01-2010, 04:45 PM

That's unfortunate really. Be persistant and have your specific ready.

Talk about bad customer service.

olbus · 02-01-2010, 06:38 PM

Fuel leak? No codes came on? I'm guessing it will be hard to get ahold of Toyota with the gas pedal fiasco. They are probably way overwhelmed with people that are scared to drive their cars.

olbus · 02-01-2010, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olbus

Fuel leak? No codes came on? I'm guessing it will be hard to get ahold of Toyota with the gas pedal fiasco. They are probably way overwhelmed with people that are scared to drive their cars. You are lucky to have the insurance.

gold94corolla · 02-01-2010, 06:51 PM

Wow, thank goodness you don't park it in a garage!

George350 · 02-01-2010, 08:19 PM

No codes nothing what so ever. Even before the car lost power there was no lights saying check engine or any number of lights on the cluster. After the 20-25mins without power, when it regained power I didn’t see any warning lights.
Now its 9 and Toyota is closed.. Some 6hours I have yet to get hold of them. Apparently Toyota NA is experiencing an unusual call volume..

The insurance company came and towed the car away so the adjuster can look at it and i guess we'll go from there.. I'm thinking of reporting it to the NHTSA..

George350 · 02-02-2010, 10:32 AM

Since I couldn't get Toyota, I called the NHTSA and got someone in less than a minute. I filed a complaint and in our general chit chat, the lady on the phone says she never had many complaints of Toyotas on fire, but Ford on the other hand is a different story, she proceeded to laugh.. I thought that was pretty telling.. Also talked about not getting someone from Toyota and her response was she doesnt think they have anyone working..