How could this happen? That's what a Hernando County man wants to know after his car burst into flames and nearly burned down the family home. We went to the manufacturer for answers.
The smell of smoke led Glenn Nunamacher into the garage. He found three foot flames coming from his Hyundai Elantra. They were shooting out from under the hood. Nunamacher fought the fire with a garden hose until firefighters arrived.
The garage suffered heavy damage and the car was a total loss.
The fire department report states the fire came from the 2007 Hyundai Elantra.
This owner says he bought the car new 8 years ago and has always maintained it. Now he just wants answers.
We arrived on the day Hyundai sent an investigator out to examine the car. Neither he nor Hyundai would answer our questions regarding the cause of the fire. In an email Hyundai explained.
“Investigation results are proprietary. There are zero fire investigations currently with any of our cars.”
We checked the National Highway Transportation Safety Data base and found no other fire related complaints involving the Hyundai Elantra. But after our calls Hyundai offered Nunamacher $6,800 for his car, a $1,000 more than what his insurance was willing to pay.
Still this consumer is sharing his story with the hope of warning other owners a defect may have been to blame.
We did some digging and could find no pattern of complaints involving Hyundai Elantra's catching fire. If this has happened to you or someone you know you can file a complaint with the government. Just go to safercars.gov.
