NHTSA Complaint #11538083 — 2015 JEEP CHEROKEE

On August 11th, 2023, at approximately 12:50 pm, I drove my 2015 Jeep Cherokee into my houses’ garage and parked. I went inside my house to meet an air conditioning repairman. No sooner than a minute or two had passed that I immediately heard noises coming from my garage.The noises sounded like mechanical in nature. It almost sounded like a washing machine agitating. I opened my side door of the garage and saw a plum of grey smoke billowing from the engine’s hood. Then I saw what looked like sparks and very small flames coming from underneath the front engine. Within a split second, I got into my car and turned on the ignition. I saw no lights on the dashboard indicating that I had a problem. I proceeded to pull the car out of the driveway (the garage door was already up) and exited the car as quickly as I could. Within seconds the flame grew larger. I then called 911 while waiting on the front lawn. I had 2 dogs inside the that I considered were safe. The police came first and then two fire trucks. By that point, the Jeep was completed engulfed in flames including the tires.The fire started in the front of the vehicle and worked its way back. The firemen distinguished the fire which took about 30 minutes from beginning to end. The heat from the fire melted the siding over my two car garage (garage is attached to the house) as well as the siding to right hand side of the home. Glass and debris began to catch fire and pop and spit into the yard. Let me just say that I’m a breast cancer survivor still going through treatment and was at home alone at the time when this happened as my husband was out of town. I’m not in 100% back to my old shelf. I’m absolutely in shock and devastated over the loss of the car. And I’m in more shock to think what would have happened if I hadn’t had the foresight to pull the car out of the driveway. I’m simply devastated.