Upon driving down the road my escalade filled with thick smoke. My husband and I pulled over chocking and coughing, called 911, opened the hood and 3ft flames shot out. Due to white shorting out the horn began to blow and a lady in a nearby home heard them and looked out and saw the car engulfed in flames and came running to our aid with a fire extinguisher. The car would have been a total loss if she did not come to our aid. The police and fire dept. came to assist. My husband and I both suffered burning in our throat and lungs from smoke inhalation. At the time of this incident we were out of state picking up my Grandfathers personal belongings who just passed away. We had to have the car towed back to our state to a dealer for repairs. When talking with the dealer we were told there was a defect and that if there was a short a fuse should have popped and there should not have been a fire. The dealer was going to contact GM to see if they would take care of the repairs. GM refused to repair the car or give any discount or even acknowledge they were at fault. Had the lady not had the fire extinguisher or had we passed out due to the smoke this could have caused severe injury or death. GM does not back their product nor do they care for the publics safety. I did research online and there have been other Escalades with the same issue. You can youtube escalade fires and watch them go up in smoke. When will GM realize there is a problem....how many folks will have to burn or die? The cost of the repair was expensive and it could have been much more. This did not include medical expenses or towing fees.