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.
Chrysler Sebring Convertible fire or smoke problems
18 of the 733 owner complaints about the Chrysler Sebring Convertible describe fire, smoke or burning smell, most of them for the 2004 model year.
- owner complaints
- 18
- worst model year
- 2004
- typical mileage
- 90,000
By model year
- 20052
- 20046
- 20021
- 20002
- 19993
- 19981
- 19972
- 19961
Often reported together
Stalling 1Check engine light 1Grinding brakes 1Adaptive cruise 1
What owners say
Tl* the contact owns a 2000 chrysler sebring convertible. The contact stated that the wiring harness caught fire. The contact stated that the rain extinguished the fire. A fire report was not filed. A police report was filed. The vehicle was not occupied. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.
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.
I was starting the car - it started ran for 30 to 45 seconds then stalled. I turned the motor over again and the car burs into flames. The car burned to the ground before the fire department got there.
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.
Letter from senator isakson on behalf of re her 2000 chrysler sebring that burst into flames under the hood
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.
[ 2005 chrysler sebring] I smelled and saw smoke coming out of steering column, car towed to dealership. I was told they could not find a problem. Two weeks later same issue. The car went back to the dealership and I was told the wiring harness burnt up. About 3000 in damages.....
Tl*the contact owns a 1997 chrysler sebring convertible. While approaching a stop sign, a police officer informed the driver that the undercarriage of the vehicle was on fire. The driver exited the vehicle just as it became completely engulfed in flames. There were no injuries, but both a police and fire report were filed. The current and failure mileages were 91,000.
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.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Chrysler Sebring Convertible fire or smoke
Which Chrysler Sebring Convertible years have fire, smoke or burning smell problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2004 (6 complaints), 1999 (3 complaints) and 1997 (2 complaints).
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