NHTSA Complaint #10496558 — 2001 BUICK REGAL

AFTER RETURNING HOME FROM SHOPPING, ROUGHLY 20 MILE DRIVE, I PARKED THE CAR IN OUR ATTACHED 3 CAR GARAGE. I WENT INSIDE, VISITED BRIEFLY WITH MY HUSBAND, FIXED A SALAD AND WAS EATING WHEN I HEARD A NOISE. AS I OPENED THE DOOR FROM THE KITCHEN TO THE GARAGE, I FOUND THE GARAGE WAS FULL OF SMOKE AND CALLED 911. I ESTIMATE THE TIME FROM SHUTTING OFF THE CAR UNTIL WE CALLED 911 TO BE 10 TO 15 MINUTES. AS FAR AS I KNOW, THE VEHICLE IS NOT UNDER RECALL BASED ON THE GM WEB SITE LISTING RECALLS BY VIN; HOWEVER, OUR EXPERIENCE SURE SOUNDS VERY SIMILAR TO THE INVESTIGATIONS THAT RESULTED IN SIGNIFICANT RECALLS OF SIMILAR MAKE, MODEL AND YEAR VEHICLES. THIS VEHICLE DID HAVE A SERVICE NOTICE THAT PAID FOR REPLACEMENT OF THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER ROUGHLY 2 YRS AGO. THE CAR WAS RUNNING ROUGH 6 MOS PRIOR TO THE FIRE. REPAIRS WERE MADE AT THE GM DEALERSHIP WHERE WE PURCHASED THE CAR. REPAIRS SEEMED TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM. THE FIRE DESTROYED THE BUICK AND THE CAR PARKED NEXT TO IT. THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO THE 3RD CAR. ALL GARAGE CONTENTS WERE LOST. WE ARE OUT OF OUR HOUSE AND WILL BE LIVING IN AN APT FOR 6 MONTHS. THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO OUR HOME, $100K PLUS. OUR INSURANCE COMPANY SENT A FIRE INVESTIGATOR. GM SENT A FIRE INVESTIGATOR. WE HAVE NOT SEEN EITHER REPORT. *TR