NHTSA Complaint #11234782 — 2011 BUICK LACROSSE

JULY 23, 2019 -I WAS ON THE HWY FOR APPROX. FOUR HOURS WITH MY NIECE WHEN SUDDENLY MY CAR CREATED A LOUD SOUND AND I LOST POWER AND CONTROL OF MY CAR INCLUDING MY BRAKES. I WAS TRAVELING AT 70 MILE PER HOUR. LUCKILY, TWO CARS HAD JUST PASSED ME WHEN THIS OCCURRED OTHERWISE I COULD HAVE HAD A VERY SERIOUS ACCIDENT. I WAS ON THE LEFT LANE AND WAS ABLE TO COAST TO THE SHOULDER. THE HWY. WAS FLAT AND I WAS ABLE TO COAST TO A STOP. THE ENGINE WOULDN'T START, BUT AFTER APPROX. FIVE MINUTES IT STARTED BUT I WASN'T ABLE TO MOVE. THE CAR IDLED EXTREMELY ROUGH. THE ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL (ESC) LIGHT AND THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHTS WERE ON. I WAITED FOR A TOW TRUCK IN 96 DEGREE WEATHER FOR TWO HOURS BEFORE I WAS ABLE TO GET A TOW TO A GARAGE 40 MILES AWAY. THIS HAPPEND ON TUESDAY. I LEFT MY CAR AT THE BUICK DEALER AND LEFT THE KEY IN THE DROP BOX. I WAS TOLD WEDNESDAY MORNING THAT THEY WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO LOOK AT IT UNTIL TODAY (THURSDAY), SO I HAVE NO IDEA AS YET WHAT DAMAGE HAS OCCURRED TO THE ENGINE. I HAVE ONLY 53,000 MILES ON THE VEHICLE AND IT IS A 2011 MODEL. HOW COULD SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN?