Rubicon on fire

S

SEMAKS

New member
Hi everyone, I thought this should be shared as it seems to be a quite common problem in the last decade.
In short I was going quietly slow and suddenly flames came out from the air conducts.. couldn't do anything but leave the vehicle as soon as I could to get safe.
Matter of minutes and there was no Rubicon anymore. It has been a shock, fortunately I wasn't in the middle of the traffic nor in a forest.
My car has been always checked with periodical and programmed inspections by authorized Jeep centers. The last one was at 200.000 km, and now, at 205.000 km the fire destroyed that car. It was a Jeep Wrangler JK Rubicon 2.8 CRD 2009 model.
I read the lately lots of cases arose about the same problem, and that Chrysler recalled 87000 vehicles due to some defects that can cause this problem. I wonder why mine hasn't been recalled. I'll check about it. Now enjoy the images I remained with..

for video ; https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-PZBg0clPvsPWVLkCkSAUvc7UqhwEKJz
 

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Thank you everyone

It's consolatory to receive all your messages. Thank you.
Unfortunately it's not clear yet what's the cause of the problem, at least it is not to me. I read something about it but is better not to refer to here as someone suggested. In my case the car went on fire while driving and I've never had any sign of the problem before, so there was nothing I could do about to prevent it.
I was thinking to buy a new one.. but now I'm not so sure anymore.
It happened so quickly that you have just the time to get off the car, and 5 minutes later there's nothing but crap. If I were in the city traffic, so jammed here that sometimes you cannot get off the car while waiting at the traffic light, due to the other cars beside you that prevents you from opening the doors.. well, I wouldn't be here telling you. I'm still shocked.
 
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Good looking rig and I am sorry for your loss...although all that really matters is that everyone is safe.

With respect to the fire, I'd love to hear more about the cause and the so-called issues that you claim to be happening with some frequency. I think I have heard of less than a dozen JK fires ever. Considering there are a few million of them out there, it hardly seems like a widespread issue.

Edit: and to clarify, I have seen no evidence that the above-mentioned fires were the result of the same cause.
 
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Man, that's a tough one. Sorry for your misfortune.

Is the fire issue more common to the diesels or gasoline engines? I also have heard only of a couple.
 
Glad you made it out safe. Probably had a issue converting miles to Kilometers.
Welcome.
I’m with Sharkey. I’ve only heard of 2 now 3 JK’s going up in smoke.
 
I have questions. Seems like a big leap to declare a design flaw in a vehicle of which more than 2 million have been made and most of us never having heard of more than a handful catching on fire. I'd like to hear more about that.
 
That's hot!

Glad you are safe. Sorry for the loss. I too would like to hear more about the frequency of the issue.
 
Well, I understand your curiosity.. and also the point you made about being a product sold to millions. I'm just still shocked and in a bad excitement.
It's the first time I heard of it too. So I am with you, with everyone wrote me they heard few cases. The difference is that IT HAPPENED to me, and not to you.. and that's relevant to the point of view.
I search now and find information about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li1Ai8Z1O58
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-expand-investigation-of-jeep-wrangler-fires/
http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/chrysler-recalls-87-000-jeep-wranglers-fire-risk-article-1.1082069
http://www.13abc.com/content/news/Monday-Jeep-fire-is-not-the-first-one-this-month-483259681.html

but there's lots of staff.. just google it and you'll find.. I wander if I had checked all this before buying that beautiful car.
I actually was hoping to meet here people who it also happened to.
If all this risk is real my questions arise: why my car hasn't been recalled? maybe the risk wasn't only on those 87000 recalled cars.. maybe the problem is also in other cars, not recalled as mine, just waiting to burn.
 
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SEMAKS said:
Well, I understand your curiosity.. and also the point you made about being a product sold to millions. I'm just still shocked and in a bad excitement.
It's the first time I heard of it too. So I am with you, with everyone wrote me they heard few cases. The difference is that IT HAPPENED to me, and not to you.. and that's relevant to the point of view.
I search now and find information about it. Here they pubblicly speak about 200 cases since 2008, and the video is from 2015...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li1Ai8Z1O58

Here instead there are references about Feds investigations:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-expand-investigation-of-jeep-wrangler-fires/

Here references to Chrysler recalling 87000 vehicles due to a Risk of fire
http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/chrysler-recalls-87-000-jeep-wranglers-fire-risk-article-1.1082069

and this is from yesterday, and they claim it's not the first THIS MONTH
http://www.13abc.com/content/news/Monday-Jeep-fire-is-not-the-first-one-this-month-483259681.html

but there's lots of staff.. just google it and you'll find.. I wander if I had checked all this before buying that beautiful car.
I actually was hoping to meet here people who it also happened to.
If all this risk is real my questions arise: why my car hasn't been recalled? maybe the risk wasn't only on those 87000 recalled cars.. maybe the problem is also in other cars, not recalled as mine, just waiting to burn.
Click to expand...


From the last link - "Monday’s fire happened at an auto storage lot on Counter Street near the state prison. About 18-20 cars burned according to a Toledo fire spokesman. It's not clear how or why this fire started. The lot stores brand new Jeeps that just rolled off the line at the Toledo North Assembly Complex."

That doesn't seem to be related to what you're describing, that sounds like arson. The other articles are six years old and seem to refer specifically to the 2010 model (for which a recall was issued). It sucks what happened to your Jeep, and definitely curious to learn the cause that's determined. I just think you're trying to paint the brand with a broad brush here and suggest that FCA is deliberately covering up a deadly issue.
 
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