2001 Chevrolet Suburban: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Apr 28, 2017 · Electrical · 180,000 miles · CA · fire

On march 16, 2017, I was travelling on a mountain highway in northern california in my 2001 suburban with the driver's seat heater on. I was sitting on a thin seat cushion. Twenty minutes into the 40 minute trip, I turned my seat heater off. Ten or so minutes later, I smelled a horrible rubber/plastic burning smell. When I reached my destination, I lifted my cushion and saw that the seat had a burned hole through the leather and into my seat cushion. It was warm, but I did not see a flame. When I got home in the bay area, I contacted gm, and they opened a case number and told me to take my vehicle to a dealer, and they would investigate. I received a call yesterday from the customer service rep., and she told me that they would not be covering this as my car was out of warranty, in so many words. I asked what the dealer had found, and she couldn't tell me. I reiterated to her that this is a safety concern for me. My passenger side seat heater is now getting very hot, and I am concerned now about that. Please note, the driver's seat heater is still working if you accidentally hit the button on the door. Today, I found out from the dealer that they were not instructed by gm to look into the seat to see what caused this, only to take pictures, etc. Nobody knows why it happened. How can they deny anything without determining the cause is my thought. Aren't they concerned their seats overheat? Should they be warning the public? My seats are in very good condition, even though it is an older vehicle. Interesting to note when we picked the car up from the dealership that the service writer said I shouldn't worry since it is not working now because a wired probably broke (everything is probably or maybe). I corrected him and showed him that it does. He was very surprised to see that it still did. So, the question is why did it overheat. Please advise.

Filed Oct 17, 2016 · Engine, Wheels · 204,654 miles · NC · fire

Tl* the contact owned a 2001 chevrolet suburban. While driving at an unknown speed, smoke emitted from the engine compartment of the vehicle. The contact pulled over and discovered that the front end and front wheels were on fire. The fire department extinguished the fire. Fire and police reports were filed. There were no injuries. The vehicle was towed to a salvage yard and deemed destroyed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 204,654.

Filed Oct 17, 2016 · Engine · 200,000 miles · KS · fire

Tl* the contact owned a 2001 chevrolet suburban. While driving the vehicle, smoke emitted under the hood of the vehicle. The contact coasted the vehicle to the side of the road and exited the vehicle. The vehicle caught on fire, which was extinguished by the fire department. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed and destroyed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Sep 14, 2011 · Electrical · 190,000 miles · OH · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2001 chevrolet suburban. The contact stated that he noticed smoke emitting from under the hood and after opening the driver side door, he realized that the driver heated seat had caught on fire. The fire department was contacted who filed a report. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offered any assistance and file a report. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 190,000.

Filed Dec 3, 2005 · Electrical, Visibility · 142,500 miles · KY

We noticed that the driver's side mirror of my wife's 2001 tahoe appeared to have a melted place on the bottom of the plastic housing. There was a green/yellow circle in the center of the mirror where it appeared to have gotten to hot. I removed the mirror which was connected by four wires. Two wires went to the heating element and the other two controlled the automatic dimming feature. On the inside of the dimming feature wires there appeared to be black residue. You could clearly see that the molded plastic on the back of the mirror had melted along the outside edge (digital pictures available if needed). I called the dealer and ordered a mirror that only had the heated feature without the dimming effect. I installed this on the logic that I could leave the defective wires disabled. So far everything seems to be working just fine. The price of the replacement was $35.00 (heater only) and if I had ordered the dimming feature with it ($267.00) "which I think is ridiculous". Even though I was out the expense and time spent fixing the mirror my hope is that you can research this and possibly keep someone else's vehicle from the potential of burning up or worse yet burning up in there garage and catching there house on fire.

Filed Feb 27, 2004 · CA · fire · 6 injuries

My vehicle spontaneously caught on fire. The smoke started coming out of the cd/radio. Within minutes the smoke was so thick that our eyes were burning and it was difficult to see and breathe. By the time I got the car over and evacuated 5 kids and a dog, fire was actually visible. The flame was coming out of the cd player.