Watchdog BBC Vauxhall Corsa’s Catching Fire 2/11/2016

As if Vauxhall had not lost enough of it’s reputation with heater problems on the Vauxhall Zafira, causing very serious fires, the situation has arisen again, this time with the Vauxhall Corsa D. This model of Corsa was manufactured between 2006 and 2014 and some of its owners have contacted the BBC’s Watchdog, complaining of more dangerous fires.

The first person mentioned on Watchdog dated the 2nd November 2016 was Steve Cachia. In the video you can clearly see his 2013 Vauxhall Corsa parked on his drive and up in flames. He felt lucky this had occurred at nighttime, but when they were “still up and about” where they has the opportunity to notice the flames and call the emergency services. The fire brigade told Steve that they felt the fire had started near the glove box and was probably and electrical fault.

The next person interviewed was Luana Scope. They were asleep at home and were woken by their neighbours. She commented on how high the flames rose, to the second floor and how worries she was about their cats being nearby. Because of the risk on an explosion, they were forced to leave their house via a window. Again the fire brigade suggested the fire stated near the glove box.

Then a brief mention of a Keith Fitzhenry, who had also contacted Watchdog when his Corsa alos caught fire. In at least 2 of these cases Vauxhall has stated they could not proceed to investigate, without information form the insurer.

At this point watchdog claimed they received information to suggest Vauxhall had known about this problem for over a year. Alison Tetley had been in touch regarding her Glove Box beginning to smoke and then melt, as long back as April 2015. She had sent her insurers assessment to Vauxhall. But they closed her case without any further inspection.

Watchdog then asked the question, were they doing enough, especially as there had also been a recognized brake issue with some of the Vauxhall Corsa D’s that may cause a fire. A small recall was issued to those owners. The final Vauxhall customer mentioned was Elisa Simmonds who took her Corsa to an approved garage to have the work on her recalled Cora carried out only for it to catch fire 3 days later on her drive. Watchdog questioned whether the recall had even sold the problem, to those small amount of owners it affected.

So another case of Vauxhall’s catching fire through electric faults and so the question being asked is if the manufacturer is doing enough to prevent them.

Vauxhall told the BBC that it take “fire reports very seriously and it is not always possible to arrange an inspection as it needs permission from the relevant insurance company, so not to invalidate any cover”.

Watchdog advise that if you are worried about your Corsa D, go to their BBC website for more details.

Full story BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/XZyKxX8xGgnt5X8NrcclDq/vauxhall-corsa-d-fires