NHTSA Complaint #11487831 — 2011 MINI COOPER CLUBMAN

At about 6:40AM on September 23, 2022, the 2011 Mini Clubman car caught on fire. The car was parked in the driveway, locked with everything off, key removed and unoccupied. It was last driven the evening of September 22nd. About 6:40AM the interior behind the steering wheel and dashboard erupted into flames. The car filled with smoke and flames. The fire burned for about 5 -10 minutes and self extinguished. Just prior to the fire the headlights were reported to be on. After the fire, the windshield wipers were operating with no way to turn them off. At a reasonable time after the flames were no longer visible (10-15min), the driver's door was opened by the emergency key to vent the smoke. Upon inspection, the area around the left footwell near the driver's door was heavily charred with insulation burned off all wiring and co-located electrical devices. The hood release latch was melted. The air vent to the left of the steering wheel was missing and all the ductwork to that vent was missing. There was a large deformation and hole in the dashboard above and slightly to the right of the steering wheel and the windshield was cracked about 2-3 inches above the dashboard. It appears that electrical components and wiring inside the dashboard were also engulphed in flames but no detailed inspection of the damage occurred. Significant smoke damage occurred to the entire interior. The local fire department was called and they were able to open the hood and disconnect the battery which stopped the windshield wipers. The car was a stock car with no modifications. Reasonably maintained by professionals. The odometer reading before the fire was approximately 103,000 miles. No problems were noted prior to the incident. Insurance has considered the car a total loss and unrepairable. In general it is assumed by the writer that Mini's or any other car should not experience electrical fires when unoccupied, all devices are off, no key is present. Kindly investigate.