Fire 2004 Coupe 3.2l - Anyone Else?

[tugger]

My car caught on fire. Dealer says it was the connection between the drive shaft and the transmission that overheated. The clutch had already been fixed (based on recall notice). Has anyone else seen or heard of this? I am asking Audi to payoff the car or replace. I'm concerned this may be a design flaw.

[bhb399mm]

wow, thats terrible... ive never heard that before

the car was toasted... are you okay?

[Endoplasmic]

I'm subscribing to this.... I have a 2004 3.2 coupe as well.

Post pictures and fill this thread with updates please!!!

Sorry to hear about your car but glad you made it out.

Originally posted by tugger@Nov 4 2004, 04:21 PM
My car caught on fire. Dealer says it was the connection between the drive shaft and the transmission that overheated. The clutch had already been fixed (based on recall notice). Has anyone else seen or heard of this? I am asking Audi to payoff the car or replace. I'm concerned this may be a design flaw.

Quoted post

Heythere, hope you are OK.......pls give us all an update. I'm looking at buying a similar car and would appreciate hearing if you've had feedback that it is a design flaw? Thanks!

[BuddyDog]

Sorry to hear about your car fire problem.

A couple of questions for you. When did you take delivery of the car and when did you take the car in for the clutch replacement recall (miles on the car at repair)? Did you try the launch control feature on your car before you took it in and did it work?

If you go to the NHTSA website and search the recall on this clutch, you can view/print the repair instructions for this procedure. I seem to remember when I was reading it there was a caution to the mechanic to not force some part on as if they did, it would damage the driveshaft, necessitating REPLACEMENT of the drive shaft.

If your dealer's service dept made a boo boo and they didn't replace the drive shaft (if they damaged it), maybe that contributed to the fire.

I know from sore experience (27 days and twice in the shop for this procedure) that this was NOT an easy repair/replacement to perform outside the factory.

I am guessing your insurance company will be honoring your claim on the car, but if I were you, I would ask them to have an automotive engineer look into the cause of the fire (they will spend that $$ if they think they can get the $$ they will pay off on the car back).

I would strongly suggest you call AoA customer relations and complain, then follow it up with a certified letter once they give you a customer #. Expect it to take a few letters, and from my experience they will NOT put anything in writing.
Seems to me they owe you a new car.

Let me know how you are doing dealing with AoA. I am seriously thinking about legal intervention in my case.

Regards,

Buddy

[Kelvin]

For those non-American members (such as me), NHTSA that Buddy speaks of is the National Highway Traffic Safety Association. It is a handy site to visit, cataloging a wide variety of vehicle safety issues, including vehicle impact testing, insurance statistics & recall details amongst other things. It makes for worthwhile reading, alot of which is relevant to all of us and not just the USA.

Find it HERE

Thanks for the input Buddy.

[shorty]

Originally posted by tugger@Nov 4 2004, 02:21 PM
My car caught on fire. Dealer says it was the connection between the drive shaft and the transmission that overheated. The clutch had already been fixed (based on recall notice). Has anyone else seen or heard of this? I am asking Audi to payoff the car or replace. I'm concerned this may be a design flaw.

Quoted post

My car also caught on fire! I know what you're going through. But let me tell you that I had just picked up my car yesterday from the dealer who had it for 29 days because they were replacing the engine! THey replaced the engine because of damage to the shaft which was caused by an oil pressure problem which destroyed the top part of engine - so $8,000 in work done (which was covered under warranty) and I was so happy to have it back because I used to really LOVE the car(before all these problems) and the next day my car catches on fire! There was smoke coming out of everywhere - The whole dash is destroyed and melted - thank God the fire Dept. was there or I think it would have blown up completely! Keep me posted on your situation too.