My 2020 caught fire

[Kyle Paton]

17 days ago. While driving at highway speed, smoke began to appear from the centre stack/console area and then there were flames. I pulled over, got out, called 911 and watched my truck burn to the ground. 
 

2020 Silverado Duramax, dealer maintained, extended warranty with 103,000 kms on the clock. Truck is a total loss and completely destroyed, along with $10k+ of equipment in the bed. 
 

GM is silent. No direct contact from them whatsoever. Life turned upside down. No answers from dealer. At time of incident there were 30 stored codes in the ECU. I had an appointment at the dealer for the Friday of the week this happened. 

[Transient]

This really sucks!  I'd be pissed off.  I'm sure insurance will do its part to screw you over, too.  I considered buying the 3.0 Duramax over the 6.2.  This is me, in part, relieved that I didn't.  I'm sorry to see this happened to anybody.  Please keep us updated on what happens.

[CamGTP]

GM won't care, nothing they could have done in this situation. Not being able to get into the dealership straight away does suck but again nothing they could do about it either.

 

One would assume you had full coverage on a truck like this and they will give you what they do. On a bright side the truck market still has a lot of value so you won't be getting pennies for the truck.

[swathdiver]

What were the codes?

[Jus Cruisin]

Vehicles catch fire and burn to the ground daily. I-94 was closed this morning with one in Detroit. Out of warranty I wouldn't expect any manufacturer to do anything. Insurance gives you a check and you get a replacement and move on. 

[64BAwagon]

Its a machine, the only thing you can be certain of is that at some point it will fail. Car fires are common due to the complexity of modern vehicles and electronics. We had a Freightliner ambulance catch fire inside the station one day. 

Be thankful that you were smart enough to have insurance and that you are safe. New trucks get built every day and your dealer will gladly sell you a new one, you wont even have to ask them nicely. 

[diyer2]

Insurance claim for the truck, worth market value. Equipment, having receipts will help but it will be pro-rated for age. 

I had my tools stolen and I got 50% of cost.

[Silverado4x4]

Any aftermarket accessories installed or was it bone stock? Just curious why you had 10k worth of equipment in the bed. Not saying your at fault by any means. 

 

My other question is why does it say LTZ on the tailgate but it had standard rims and a 4x4 decal on the bed which is only installed on the custom and WT trims?

Edited March 30, 2023 by Silverado4x4

[eppieguy]

Agree, GM isn't going to care or do anything, make sure you don't just settle with what the insurance company offers, they usually low ball all customers, make sure you know the vehicles value and fight for it's true fair market value.

[richard wysong]

Also curious to what codes it had, I'm sure GM has them thanks to Onstar, Possibly overheated cat or do you think it may have been electrical/fuel issue?

[Kyle Paton]

11 hours ago, CamGTP said:

GM won't care, nothing they could have done in this situation. Not being able to get into the dealership straight away does suck but again nothing they could do about it either.

 

One would assume you had full coverage on a truck like this and they will give you what they do. On a bright side the truck market still has a lot of value so you won't be getting pennies for the truck.

 

I just meant that I had a dealer appointment to address the codes. The engine light had come on previously in the weeks leading up to this but had gone out. Then it came back on for a few days and went out again. They kept turning me away and said to come back only if the light was on. 

 

5 hours ago, swathdiver said:

What were the codes?

 

Electric pumps under the hood

Steering column comm error

HVAC system comm error

Radio comm error

Radio amp comm error

Instrument cluster comm error

Emissions equipment comm error

O2 sensor

A few others cant remember all of them 

 

2 hours ago, Jus Cruisin said:

Vehicles catch fire and burn to the ground daily. I-94 was closed this morning with one in Detroit. Out of warranty I wouldn't expect any manufacturer to do anything. Insurance gives you a check and you get a replacement and move on. 

 

The truck was still inside a full extended warranty to 160,000 kms. The truck was at 103,000 kms. Factory warranty it to 100,000 kms. So I paid $4000 for a warranty that was only 5% used at that mileage. As far as I'm concerned GM owes me 95% of $4000.

 

2 hours ago, 64BAwagon said:

Its a machine, the only thing you can be certain of is that at some point it will fail. Car fires are common due to the complexity of modern vehicles and electronics. We had a Freightliner ambulance catch fire inside the station one day. 

Be thankful that you were smart enough to have insurance and that you are safe. New trucks get built every day and your dealer will gladly sell you a new one, you wont even have to ask them nicely. 

 

It's hard to accept the failure of a product that is tremendously expensive and then just shrug it off. GM builds vehicles that are designed and built to NOT spontaneously combust, that's their business. They sell warranties for profit. The fact that I was alone is extremely fortunate. This was a family vehicle when I wasn't at work. We had two child seats in the back and my kids were in there about 10 hours earlier.

 

1 hour ago, Silverado4x4 said:

Any aftermarket accessories installed or was it bone stock? Just curious why you had 10k worth of equipment in the bed. Not saying your at fault by any means. 

 

Zero modifications. 

 

I'm a travelling instructor that teaches programs mainly in fall protection and chainsaw use. So I had a number of newer chainsaws and multiple totes full of climbing equipment, which is all fairly pricey stuff. The $10k is actually a conservative estimate and I'm still building my list. 

[jwhjr]

2 hours ago, Silverado4x4 said:

Any aftermarket accessories installed or was it bone stock? Just curious why you had 10k worth of equipment in the bed. Not saying your at fault by any means. 

 

My other question is why does it say LTZ on the tailgate but it had standard rims and a 4x4 decal on the bed which is only installed on the custom and WT trims?

Lol yeah that's what I took out of the situation too.  Wow

[Kyle Paton]

When this truck was still intact, I was basically a GM spokesperson. I boasted to everyone that would listen to me about the fuel economy, which is truly incredible in a full size pickup. I liked how it drove, I liked the functionality. I took it everywhere and actually used it as a truck. I kept it clean, I took care of it. I got lots of compliments on it. 

 

I've tried to reach GM to get answers and just bounce questions off of someone - anyone - who will listen. Every single phone number and email address leads to a third party. People don't call me back when they say they will, promised follow-up emails don't arrive. The dealer didn't even offer up anything I could go on. The customer support is simply non existent. 

 

I'm bothered that the product let me down, but what bothers me more is the aftermath. It feels like GM has intentionally structured their organization so that they're unreachable and they get to maintain an arms length approach with things like this. It's absolutely infuriating. 

 

 

Surely this can't be the GM experience?

[Kyle Paton]

23 minutes ago, jwhjr said:

Lol yeah that's what I took out of the situation too.  Wow

 

2 hours ago, Silverado4x4 said:

Any aftermarket accessories installed or was it bone stock? Just curious why you had 10k worth of equipment in the bed. Not saying your at fault by any means. 

 

My other question is why does it say LTZ on the tailgate but it had standard rims and a 4x4 decal on the bed which is only installed on the custom and WT trims?

 

I'm in Canada so maybe they decal them with 4x4 differently? Also, it's still winter here so I had my snow set on.

 

 

 

[richard wysong]

Where they ignored your requests to investigate the intermittent CEL you may have a viable claim against the dealer and possibly GM. Talk to a lawyer