2004 Chrysler Sebring Convertible: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Dec 31, 2018 · Seats · 120,000 miles · ND · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 chrysler sebring convertible. When the contact turned on the vehicle to warm it up, she left and noticed smoke inside the vehicle upon her return. The contact stated that the passenger seat was smoking and contained a hole. The contact did not see any flames. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic for diagnostic testing or repairs. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 120,000.

Filed May 3, 2014 · Engine · 108,000 miles · ME

I smelled a burning smell the engine light came on so I brought it to my mechanic and he found a lot of stress cracks in the oil pan which is aluminum told me I was lucky the engine didn't seize or catch on fire the exhaust pie is under one of the cracks and as the car got hot that crack expanded. There are several more in the pan. This is a safety issue.

Filed Jul 12, 2013 · Electrical · 132,511 miles · NY · fire

As I was driving on the highway I noticed a burning smell. I looked to my right and I saw smoke. I pulled over to the side of the road. I then turned off my vehicle. The smoke stopped. I had my dogs bed on the passenger seat. When I moved it, I saw the burn whole in the seat and the dog bed. It was 85 degrees. I did not have the heated seats on. If I did not have the top down the car would have filled with smoke causing major visibility problems. If it weren't for the dog bed that smothered the fire, there would have been flames. My dog and I might not be here to report this fire. After chrysler inspected the vehicle they determined there was no defect. Chrysler will not tell me what caused it other than it was not a defect and therefore not their problem. The dealer I brought the vehicle to said there was a short in the relay. There is nothing I could have done to prevent this.this should not have happened. It is a very dangerous situation. It could happen to others.

Filed Jan 6, 2010 · Seats · 86,000 miles · MN · fire · 1 injury

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 chrysler sebring convertible. While driving at speeds of less than 65 MPH utilizing the heated seats, he noticed that the seat became hotter than usual. He then noticed there was smoke coming from the seat and a small fire immediately ignited. He was still driving as the incident occurred at 65 MPH. He attempted to extinguish the fire without crashing into another vehicle and swerved in and out of traffic as his right pant leg was ablaze. He was able to extinguish the fire with a jug of water that was inside of the vehicle. He suffered moderate burns to his right leg. The dealer was contacted and stated that there was a malfunction in the vehicle. The manufacturer also stated that there were no recalls on his vehicle and his warranty was not valid for the heated seats there was nothing that they could do to assist him. The failure mileage was 86,000 and the current was 90,000.

Filed Jul 9, 2008 · Seats · 57,000 miles · CA · fire

In may of 2008, my wife was driving the vehicle with her purse on the passenger seat. She smelled something burning and looked over to discover that her purse was burning along with the passenger seat. She pulled off the freeway and was able to extinguish the fire. The bottom of her purse was charred and the passenger seat had a burn whole about the size of a quarter. The fire was due to the defective seat warmer. The seat warmer has a range of 1-5 with 1 being the lowest. The warmer was on 3. I had brought the car to the dealership several times when it was under warranty with the complaint of the seat warmers overheating. I had felt a burning on the drivers side and was convinced that there was an issue with the seat warmer. Additionally my wife had mentioned that she felt similar overheating on the passenger side. Each time I brought it in to chrysler, I was told that there was no problem. I had asked them to search for recalls as well as tsb's. I was told there were none. There was in fact a tsb issued for this exact problem before I had brought my car in to be examined. It seems that this was either ignored or overlooked on at least 2 occasions. We kept the control at 3 or below and this seemed to help for a bit, however it still got too hot on many occasions and we had to turn them off. I have discovered recently that the chrysler jeep for 2004 was recalled for exactly the problem that I had. Now the mercedes (damlierchrysler) is under investigation for the same problem as well. I brought the car back to the dealership on 7/2/2008 hoping that they would help resolve this. I was told that a manager was putting a call into chrysler to see what could be done. I called latter in the day for status and was told that the manager was at the dentist. When I picked up the car, I was told that he never returned form the dentist. I am now (7/9/08) being told that the chrysler factory rep is on vacation and will not be back until 7/14/08.

Filed Apr 14, 2008 · Seats · 25,706 miles · RI · fire · 1 injury

2004 sebring convertible touring edition with 25,700 miles. Leather interior with heated seats. While sitting in the parking lot of my son's school, my son felt something hot on his back. The heated seats were on 1, the heating element burnt through the cushion and leather seat back and also burnt a hole into his coat. The cushion or the polyester fill in his coat was in a black molten form and burnt the tip of his finger and he jumped out of the car. The hole in the seat was the size of a quarter and needed to be extinguished with a water bottle to stop it from burning,the seat was on fire! Chrysler dealership wouldn't cover repairs, not a warranty problem. Separate warranty that was purchased didn't want to cover damages, upholstery is not covered, but I argued this is not normal wear, seats don't catch on fire. The final outcome, warranty company sent a used seat to my home. Car dealership charged 65.00 to call warranty company with a list of parts totaling $ 3,200.00 for seat back. When an agreement between warranty company and myself to install a used seat, dealer wanted an additional $ 85.00 to install seat. Thus the reason the seat was sent to my house. Had this occurred while driving on the highway an accident would've been certain.