Fires in TrailBlazer doors under investigation
More than 309,000 Chevrolet Trailblazers from 2006 and 2007 are under investigation for fires that began in the power-window switch or related electrical parts, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday. Credit: Wieck
Federal safety regulators are investigating fires in Chevy TrailBlazers' driver-side doors, the second such probe in a week.
The latest inquiry involves more than 309,000 TrailBlazer SUVs from the 2006 and 2007 model years. The fires began in the power-window switch or related electrical parts, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday.
The agency opened the first probe last week into similar problems with the 2007 Toyota Camry sedan and RAV4 small crossover SUV. The TrailBlazer investigation began Thursday.
All three of the vehicles under investigation are popular. None has been recalled.
The TrailBlazer, although phased out in the United States in 2009, was among General Motors Co.'s top sellers. On Long Island there are 1,025 registered 2006 TrailBlazers and 870 2007 TrailBlazers, according to R.L. Polk & Co.
The Camry was the best-selling car in the United States in 2007 and last year.
The agency has received 12 complaints of smoke or fires in TrailBlazers. No injuries have been reported, says GM, the SUV's maker. None of the vehicles that caught fire was destroyed, although some door parts melted and seats were singed, the automaker says.
Several of the TrailBlazer fires happened while the SUVs were moving. Others occurred when the engines were off and the vehicles were unattended.
In one complaint filed with NHTSA, from Oct. 29, 2008, a woman reported that the alarm sounded while her 2006 TrailBlazer was parked in her driveway. When she looked outside, she saw the SUV in flames. Firefighters put out the blaze and told her it started in the driver's door.
"The fire burned the entire driver's side of the vehicle, a portion of the front passenger seat and the roof," she wrote.
GM believes the condition is restricted to the 2006 and 2007 model years, because of a parts change made for the 2006 model year that lasted through the end of the 2007 model year, says spokesman Alan Adler.
Three other GM vehicles built on the same undercarriages as the TrailBlazer have the same power window switches, but no fires have been reported in the Buick Ranier, GMC Envoy or Saab 9-7X, Adler said. The other vehicles have different door configurations than the TrailBlazer, he said.
Any TrailBlazer owner who smells burning plastic or whose power windows stop working should contact his or her dealer, he said.
The TrailBlazer helped to make truck-based SUVs popular in the United States during the early 2000s. The SUV was replaced by the more efficient Chevrolet Traverse, which is built on a car frame. GM sold 309,423 TrailBlazers in 2006 and 2007.
