March 17th 2006, a day i will never forget. Took my 4 month old son with me to the store, went out to the car, started it up while it was warming up strapped my son in. Got to the drivers seat, went to back up noticed it smoking so i turned off the car, proceded to the back to get my son. Suddenly i heard a click click noise. Quickly retrieved my son from the seat, walked to the other side of the car( towards the store) and all of a sudden underneath the hood a heard a woosh and all i see is flames.Very scary indeed, just extremely happy I was able to get myself and ESPECIALLY my little guy out of there very safely. Since the car was not fixable not sure if the problem was the engine or electrical.

As i parked car, smoke tendrils curled up under hood near windscreen, then circle of bubbling paint middle of hood. Then vehicle engine burst into flames, and car incinerated. Prior to this, car was running well, no smell of gasoline, no apparent problems. Car had been recently serviced, mechanic had said it would last 250,000 miles, and recently passed its tough NYC annual inspection. By the time fire department arrived, car was a total write off, and they couldn't tell me what happened. Wish someone could.