Noblesville Woman Says Heated Seats Caused Cadillac Fire

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. – What was supposed to be a normal trip home from her sister's Greenfield home turned into a terrifying situation before a Noblesville woman had the chance to leave Sunday after her 2015 Cadillac CTS caught fire while warming up. WXIN says Lauren Rummell told them she was getting ready to leave the home with her 14-month-old son around 6:45 p.m. when she carried her son outside and saw smoke spilling out of her parked car. The news outlet says it was just seconds before the smoke had turned into visible flames coming from the car's main cabin.

Rummell told WXIN she had remote-started the car less than five minutes before she noticed what was happening, and a report filed by the Greenfield Fire Department determined the fire started in the front two seats of the car. According to WXIN, the report says the cause of the fire was due to electrical malfunction or failure, as Rummell said firefighters told her the heated seats appeared to be the cause.

Photos taken after the fire show the whole inside of the car burned and in line with the report, the front driver’s seat sustaining the heaviest damage.

According to WXIN, Rummell said the most frightening part was thinking that if the fire started a few minutes later, she would have been driving the car with her 14-month-old in the back seat.

“They hadn’t been turning on when I (remote) started my car,” Rummell said to WXIN. “And they think maybe it’s because there was a short and it decided to come on this time, and it went (up) in flames.”

The woman contacted General Motors and Ed Martin Chevrolet and Caddillac, the dealership where she bought the car, and told WXIN the dealership and car maker each gave her a case number, which has since been merged into a single case being handled by General Motors.

“We have been contacted by the customer, who reported a fire in her 2015 Cadillac CTS,” GM spokesperson Tom Wilkinson said in an emailed statement to WXIN. “We are looking into the incident and will provide the customer with updates.”

Rummell told WXIN she's not someone who tries to seek out to get anything, but that she doesn't want this to happen to anybody else.

Noblesville woman says heated seats caused car fire; GM investigating https://t.co/ousE9Lp9qC pic.twitter.com/2IGRJH7mU3
— FOX59 News (@FOX59) February 1, 2018

More details: fox59.com

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