Consumer Complaint Detail

CHRYSLER / SEBRING / 2004

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
Yes Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 004006100 Incident Date: Sep, 25 2004
Consumer's City: SALINE Consumer's State: MI
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: Chrysler (FCA US, LLC)
Model Name: SEBRING Model Year: 2004
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Seats:front assembly:seat heater/cooler
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: Yes Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 1C3EL66R14N Date added to File: May, 23 2021
Date Complaint Received: Feb, 04 2005 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Apr, 10 2004
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 6 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: Heated seat fire on 2004 chrysler sebring limited. on a trip with our family - the passenger heated seat was turned on at some point getting in our out of the car. a standard insulated cooler was sitting on the seat so nobody knew it was on. we continued to smell a foul burning smell (similar to diesel fumes) and began to move lanes, roll the windows down, etc. a short time later, the smell became severe and the car began filling with smoke (while traveling down the highway). i pulled over, made sure everyone was out of the car and started to look around the interior. found a portion of the cooler melted to the seat bottom. several sandwich bags had melted to seat also. i turned the switch off, and let it cool, then continued down the road. within 5-7 minutes, the car was filling with smoke again - i had to pull off the highway immediately and remove the relay from the pdb to cut the power supply to the seat. we called poison control that night since our newborn infant was in the car with us and inhaled the burning by products. i scheduled an appt at the dealership shortly there after to have this addressed - it took months to get this repaired - and when delivered back to me - was supposedly checked by technician. the relay was not even installed in the pdb! i have more information and pictures - the website limited information in this box. *jb