The car was being driven between 40-50mph on a secondary road. The engine began making a whining noise and the oil light flickered on and off. The car stalled out in a driveway. Tried to restart the car and it would not start. Opened the hood and smoke came out. Tried to restart the car to move it. It burst into flames. The fire was extinguished with a fire extinguisher. The next morning the car was towed to westbury Toyota where they wrote it up as an electrical fire. A few days later the car was inspected by an inspector for the company and I was told that a rod went through the engine, cutting the fuel line causing the fire. They said it was caused by downshifting (on an automatic) and was driver error, invalidating the warrenty. At first they gave me an estimate of $13,000 to fix it. Then they offered to take the insurance check for $4,900 and split the difference with me. The last offer was to give them the insurance check $1,000 and they would give me a comperable car. This I thought was insurance fraud. I will be with out a car.

- Hicksville, NY, USA