Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevesmini
Hi everyone, first time poster here.
My wife was driving our 04 AWD territory last week when smoke started to fill the cabin, she pulled over as quickly as possible and a following truck driver extinguished the fire . The fire was located underneath the drivers seat. Short story…. the car was declared an uneconomical write off by insurance, paid out agreed value, I’ve purchased the car back for $500 and once I get it returned I’ll look into the cause and hopefully fix the wiring, maybe install a new seat depending on the analysis. Wife appeared ok at the time but shaken, after about half an hour she started coughing, headache, slightly vague and the truck driver insisted on calling an ambulance and thanks to his advice she was admitted to hospital for 3 days to undertake many hyperbaric chamber treatments. Apparently carbon monoxide can be cleared quite easily from the lungs but what most people (including us) weren’t aware of is that the toxic molecules can attach to the lining of the brain and cause brain damage, without prompt treatment it can cause irreversible issues down the track and by the time you become aware of symptoms it’s too late to treat. So a big thank you to the truck driver, the ambulance and hospital staff. Not having yet looked into the fires cause but having quickly looked underneath on the day it appears an electrical fault within the wiring loom has set the seat base alight. It’s a NON heated, height adjustable seat (2004 AWD SX model). There was nothing under the seat to cause any physical damage to the loom. There was a seat cover previously installed prior to our purchase 12 months ago so possibly this may have been inadvertently tied around the loom but I’m only guessing about this. I adjust the seat back and the wife forward each time we swap driving but this happens with all cars. Any thoughts on a possible cause? I’m aware of the 2 motors and the seat belt pretensioner wiring so until I get to it I’m trying to research possible causes and whether another seat and some wiring repair will suffice. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions on wiring repair and things that might cause issues it would be greatly appreciated. Here’s a pic showing the damage and what is deemed an insurance repairable write off.
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Check the fuses. If like the SZ series, there is a 30A fuse for the seating. It should have blown before the wires melted. Check for a larger (non standard) fuse being fitted. This will not explain why the fault occurred but may explain why basic protection obviously did not function.