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2008 BUICK LUCERNE — SEATS

fire1 injured · 1759889 · 2021-07-27

Vehicle

Make
BUICK
Model
LUCERNE
Year
2008
Manufacturer
General Motors, LLC
Component
SEATS

Severity

Deaths
0
Injured
1
Fire
Yes
Crash
No
Police report
No
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

-The electrical system failed, causing the fuel pump to not work properly due to design flaw in the backseat putting pressure on the fuse box which is located under the backseat. The spot where contact is made to the fuse box, is where the fuel pump relay is. Pressure from the seat bracket (with or without a passenger in the seat) causes the pump replay to not make proper contact with the terminal, therefore causing the power to arc and get so hot that the relay starts smoking, melting the relay, fuse box and surrounding fuses and leaving black scorch marks on the inside of the lid to fuse box and making the car smell like burnt plastic. In addition to now having to purchase multiple replacement relays it has also caused additional electrical issues which resulted in having to replace multiple fuses as well as purchase another battery due to theses issues putting added strain on my battery which caused it to drain and not hold a charge any more. Yes the car and parts are available for inspection. -My safety and the safety of others is at risk due to major risk of catching on fire which could happen while driving and therefore cause an accident, could cause one of my passengers, including my child or myself to be severely hurt/burnt. -Yes the issue has been reproduced by many other owners of the same year/make/model as per the hundreds of previous complaints found about the same issue. -No there were no warning lights, signals or messages before the failure. No warning at all

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
11426686
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown