- #310 of 317
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Re: 97 gran prix fire [juliehaugland]
by bradleybones
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Sep 22, 2009 (1:54 pm)
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Replying to: juliehaugland (Jul 29, 2009 6:38 am)
Julie - I would appreciate knowing who you talked to who would even grant you your insurance deductible. My car caught fire on 9/1/09 while I was home from work for 5 minutes to let my dogs out and pick up my cell phone. Came back out to the car, (parked directly under my master bedroom windows in front of the garage and found smoke coming from the hood. I suspected a broken radiator hose, opened the hood and instead of steam, I got flames. I shut the hood, got a bucket of water from the garage quickly and opened the hood and put out the flames. A dealer tells me it's repairable. GM says they won't cover this becuase in Kanass where I live, the Breach of Warranty Statute of Limitations is 4 years from the date of original purchase. I argued that this is not a warranty issue, as it's a SAFETY RECALL issue. They say in Kansas that it doesn't matter. Anyone interested might like to look at the NHTSA's Office of Defect Investigations web site, http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/recalls/recallprocess.cfm and check out this document entitled "Motor Vehicle Defects and Safety Recalls: What Every Vehicle Owner Should Know" If you have any names of people you talked to at ESIS/GM Central Claims Unit, please share those. I have already contacted the Kansas Attorney General's office, NBC Action News' Call for Action team and will try whatever I can. In the meantime, unless GM covers this, I will do my part to see that no one I know will ever buy another GM car again. I will say that the dealer I went to was very nice and tried to assist, but GM simply doesn't give a damn about the people their product might kill.
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- #311 of 317
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Re: 97 gran prix fire [bradleybones]
by grngtp
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Sep 22, 2009 (2:55 pm)
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Replying to: bradleybones (Sep 22, 2009 1:54 pm)
What was the car model and year? If it was a GTP, was the recall work completed? Do you know where the fire started? Any pictures? Some additional information would be useful.
Thanks,
Jeff
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- #312 of 317
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Re: 97 gran prix fire [bradleybones]
by tommy231
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Sep 22, 2009 (5:08 pm)
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Replying to: bradleybones (Sep 22, 2009 1:54 pm)
I addition to everything Jeff asked about, could you tell from the flames you saw - where the fire was emanating from?
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- #313 of 317
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Re: 97 gran prix fire [grngtp]
by bradleybones
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Sep 28, 2009 (5:45 pm)
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Replying to: grngtp (Sep 22, 2009 2:55 pm)
Was a 2000 GT 4 door sedan. The fire started right in dead center of the front part of the engine, just below the oil filler opening. Only thing is, I had NO hard braking. Of all the things I have done while driving, I seldom have to brake hard. As of today, the insurance company, AAA totaled the thing and I'm getting a fairly good value from them for it, ($4200 and some change). They will attempt to get at least my deductible back from GM, which I doubt they'll accomplish. I do have an attorney looking into the claim by GM that there is no liability on their part for safety recalls after the 4 year warranty. Could be true. This is Kansas after all.
If I knew how to post an image with this comment I would do so.
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- #314 of 317
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Re: 97 gran prix fire [grngtp]
by bradleybones
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Sep 28, 2009 (5:57 pm)
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Replying to: grngtp (Sep 22, 2009 2:55 pm)
Just added a photo of the fire damage on my car space page. New to the site here, so took me a minute to find out where to do that.
I enjoyed the car up until 9/1, but I do have to say I had my share of problems with it. 3 of the 4 windows broke at one time or another requiring new regulators, at $400 a pop, which was several years ago. The third one I never fixed. The fourth one will probably survive now that it's being sent to the Grand Prix Grave yard. Had a transmission sensor of some sort right after I bought it, which GM fortunately did cover, since it was under certified pre-owned warranty. Lucked into that by a few days only. Had several other sensors & such go out, problems with the trip computer. It was a good handling car, though.
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- #315 of 317
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Re: 97 gran prix fire [bradleybones]
by tommy231
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Sep 28, 2009 (6:01 pm)
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Replying to: bradleybones (Sep 28, 2009 5:45 pm)
The recall only applied to the supercharged engines (GTPs). However, it does sound like it might have been an oil leak like was supposedly the case with the GTPs. It might also have been related to the starter wiring, as that area fits your description. There is a known issue with the starter solenoid feed (unfused) rubbing on the top of the starter solenoid. I am glad your insurance company paid-out on this one.
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- #316 of 317
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Re: 97 gran prix fire [bradleybones]
by jettech
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Sep 28, 2009 (9:22 pm)
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Replying to: bradleybones (Sep 28, 2009 5:45 pm)
Good luck with that deductible thing. We had the same thing and my insurance company (Allstate) was very confident at first that they would be able to get something out of them (GM). They told me that I would probably get at least a partial refund of my deductible. They even hired a special investigator to investigate the recall, and I've had several conversations with him about it all.
A year later (July of this year) I received a letter from Allstate stating that they had given up. Maybe it was due to the whole auto industry collapse and the gov. taking over. Who knows.
Good luck with yours.
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- #317 of 317
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Results of Contact with General Motors.
by bradleybones
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Nov 11, 2009 (3:42 pm)
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GM REFUSED to do anything to rectify the situation with my 2000 Grand Prix. I managed $4200 & some change out of the insurance company. GM tried to claim that there is a statute of limitations on warranty for 4 years in Kansas and when I reminded them this was a recall issue not a warranty they told me that the warranty statute was what governed it in KS. I can guarantee it'll be a cold day in hell when I ever consider another GM product again. GM apparently wants to do whatever they can to NOT STAND BEHIND their defective products. I've been warning anyone I see with a Grand Prix of the subject vintage to check out their car. I figure that's the least I can do to hopefully keep someone else from maybe losing their house to a fire. I wonder how many cars in my office lot would have been destroyed by the fire if my car had waited until I got back to work to catch fire. Hmmmm. Since I work in a building with no windows where the workareas are, and minimal traffic during the work day, I'd bet quite a few.
Such a shame our tax dollars went to bail out GM.
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