My 2022 Gladiator burned down... how?

[jav_eee]

Totalled up to about $1k (Oakley & Persol sunglasses) and the check I got from insurance was $180.

insurance overpaid you for those pieces of plastic lol (and I say that owning the same overpriced pieces of plastic)

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[FloridaMan655321]

HOWEVER I have seen a handful of gladiators on the side of the road on fire like this. Its always in the same location....

Same location? What do you mean by this? Is Jeeps catching on fire a thing? Do I need to be concerned about parking it in my garage?.......

 

[ShadowsPapa]

HOWEVER I have seen a handful of gladiators on the side of the road on fire like this. Its always in the same location....

i could make another comment about how big the handful is....... but........ you've personally seen them, and it's always in the exact same location because you got close enough to make sure it was?
This isn't facts, not quantitative, not scientific, and you can't tell unless you get close enough to know the source. The fire itself could concentrate in an area due to other things, but the source - you won't know that from pictures or driving by one.

I've dug through NHTSA complaints and don't see any fire related ones unless I missed something.
I find no recalls, no investigations, no reports of fires being common.
I think it appears that way because any time a Jeep does catch fire - it' posted on a Jeep forum or fakebook page so it looks common.
It's not a common thing except in the minds of Jeep people because it keeps being brought up.
But check out other brands, Kia, Hyundai, they are well known for simply catching fire. It's a big thing with them.

 

[FloridaMan655321]

I wonder if GAP insurance is available even with a cash purchase to cover depreciation for situations like this?

Probably not cheap though.

Well one thing you can do is tell your insurance company that your vehicle is worth X, and that is kind of a 'gap' insurance. It's similar to when you have a classic truck. I have a 73 f100, and I told them what I wanted to insure it for.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Same location? What do you mean by this? Is Jeeps catching on fire a thing? Do I need to be concerned about parking it in my garage?.......

No.

 

[cranbiz]

Same location? What do you mean by this? Is Jeeps catching on fire a thing? Do I need to be concerned about parking it in my garage?.......

I'm not concerned at all. I know all my aftermarket wiring is correctly sized, correctly fused and correctly protected from chafing.

 

[Phatmexxx]

Rodents may have chewed on wires. I had rodents chew my fuel line twice in 6 months. My local Jeep dealer said it is becoming very common. I am lucky not to have a similar results.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I'm not concerned at all. I know all my aftermarket wiring is correctly sized, correctly fused and correctly protected from chafing.

Seeing some of your posts - I have no doubt.

Rodents may have chewed on wires. I had rodents chew my fuel line twice in 6 months. My local Jeep dealer said it is becoming very common. I am lucky not to have a similar results.

A few years ago I had to replace almost half the undercarriage wiring on the camper I had then. Some was just nicked, some was chewed through and gone. In one area I had to make up about 3 feet of new harness.
Mice got inside, of course - nothing worked at all. They nested in the dryer sheets and had paths right past the moth balls.
I started using my critter buckets in the area and caught quite a few and slowed things down.

Then 3 years ago, they started on the engine bay wiring of the WJ I had. Luckily, noting hurt beyond the outer sheaths and cosmetics. I used peppermint oil on cotton balls in that case and it seemed to help - there was no further damage.

A few years ago, my wife complained of a noise in the dash when she ran the heater.
I was with her in the Grand Cherokee when she was backing it into the garage and all of a sudden the fan got quiet and a mouse plopped out at her right foot on the gas pedal. (one unhappy woman for sure)

I spent a few hundred dollars on shorted parts and quite a bit of wire damage on our heat pump outside unit. They caused a short that did some damage. One year I had my revenge as I found one fried mouse with it's mouth at one of the capacitor wires and it's feet on the metal structure of the unit - don't chew on high voltage wires unless you are wearing insulated boots and gloves. That's the lesson learned there. The HVAC tech got a laugh out of it - my wife not so much when she wrote the check for repairs.

Mouse damage can cause fires.
Improperly installed electric devices can cause fires (including under-sized wiring, over-sized fuses or no fuses or improperly fused).
Improperly installed non-electric accessories can cause fires if a wire ends up getting damaged, pinched, drilled, screwed into, whatever, during the install.

 

[Viper501]

If I am understanding this, the OP bought a fully accessorized JT from the dealer.
If the dealer arranged the insurance and failed to disclose to the insurer that the vehicle had a substantial amount of upfit, I think the OP has a solid case of negligence against the dealer.
As many have said, get a lawyer and get all the facts properly laid out.

Another ‘issue’ for the dealership is the quality of said upfits. If they were potentially negligent in the wiring of any accessories, or anything else not from the factory, they would need to be named as a party to any lawsuit(s) to keep Jeep from having an ‘out’.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Seems to me that in vehicle fires, the source can be difficult to prove.
I had a car catch fire - my first wife was driving our car to the bank. While inside, an alert and observant teller saw smoke coming from under the hood of our car. It was parked right out front of their large windows.
They grabbed an extinguisher and put the fire out.
She was able to get it started and got it home.
I had my own shop so submitted bids from a couple other shops, and my own, to do the repairs. I was cheaper of course LOL.
I could never determine what caused the fire. In fact, since that time (the 1980s) I have seen people claim "those cars had a few fires" - but no one could ever point to a cause.
There were melted vacuum lines, wires, fuel line had gotten hot, fire concentrated around carburetor and intake area but there were also wires for the idle solenoid, stepper motor for idle air control, high current wires for the ceramic intake heater and other wires.
So what was the cause? When they are all melted and hoses are burned - what was the source? To this day, 40 years later, all people can say is that they have heard of fires under the hood of those cars, but no one can say why. I never figured it out. I did my best at making it nice and neat and safe again, everything back to factory specs (I had the full TSM for the car), and it never had another problem. There were no recalls or official complaints.
In a building it's a bit easier, IMO - you can find trails, unburned areas, or point to things and prove or disprove them as ignition sources, flame trails, whatever.

Once a vehicle is that far gone, I wish them luck.

It's easy before the fire - you can see the results of poor connections, dirty connections, high voltage drop across a connection (and a fuse won't necessarily help this). I didn't have to dig at all in my stash of wiring harness issue pictures from stuff I've worked to fix over the years.

This one "looks" ok. You can't always tell by looking at the connection. If in doubt, loosen, clean, tighten.

 

[Blade1668]

Shouldnt I be paid for at least the $71k I paid to the dealership? And shouldnt ALLSTATE pay out and then subrogate with Jeep? this is all new to me. I feel as though the fire was caused by one of the batteries according to the firechief, the vehicle also tried starting while the firemen were putting out the 10 ft flames. they had the fire contained and out and they could not leave due to the fact they could not get one of the batteries to stop glowing. shouldnt I get All of my invested money, why should a victim take any loss. lots of what if's involved here. what if I had parked it in my garage, nobody would have seen the blaze until the truck exploded due to just filling the gas tank. What if I would have been in the vehicle? just frustrated.

I got a quote from "Allrape" insurance about a month ago, just to check on current rates and if it was worth changing companies. For them to give me partial coverage on add-on stuff my monthly insurance costs would have quadrupled and then some. That still would not cover everything. GAP Insurance coverage normally is for just the vehicle, almost every insurance claim you normally take it in the shorts. It's ether in rates or if something happens. I did use USAA for decades, but since the area I live in has many S###y USAA insured members here that rates quadrupled for me as someone who has clean driving record. ( I changed insurance companies a few years back.) Only claims has been my LJ was got stripped of everything inside cabin area. End result I got jack s### reimbursement, at the time I had 4 vehicle's insured with with full coverage on it with GAP coverage. The gap was where I ended up taking it. That was over 5k then almost 20 years ago. The second time I didn't even waste my time filling a report.... I'm just glad the Ass-Clowns didn't stick a rag in my gas can and light it.
Sorry for your loss and I hope you get just compensation. As noted by others there has been more than one JT and or JL / JLU to burn in simular manner. ??

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Another ‘issue’ for the dealership is the quality of said upfits. If they were potentially negligent in the wiring of any accessories, or anything else not from the factory, they would need to be named as a party to any lawsuit(s) to keep Jeep from having an ‘out’.

....or any party making any modifications to the factory wiring while adding any accessories.

This is why I like quick disconnects on things. If I ever have any electrical issues under warranty, I simply unplug my stuff and leave all factory wiring undamaged/untouched.
Even the snow plow wiring into the turn signals and headlights is a simple matter of unplugging my pigtails and putting the factory wiring back together before it goes to the dealer.
there's just so much that can go wrong when installing anything. We've seen people drill to mount a light or mirror and hit a wire running up a pillar, we've seen wires pinched, nicked, those stupid taps and as already beat into the ground - the fact that too many times accessories get connected into factory wires or switches without any thought about the size or capacity of the wires being added.

Anything we do here is speculation. Only a hands-on look by a real professional fire investigator would be worth 2 cents. The rest is nothing.
And in the case of a pro, like many things, I'd want another "opinion" with supporting evidence. Even fire investigators can be incorrect, and vehicle fires are harder.
So all this thread is - is a lot of mud being tossed at the wall to see what sticks, and/or discuss possible reasons for vehicle fires.
No one knows or can say anything beyond that - not even those that say "fire was in the same place" because unless they are a trained tech or investigator, it's meaningless, especially if there wasn't a hands-on look under the hood and the rest of the truck. Observing where a fire was concentrated doesn't necessarily indicate where it started.
Once fuel and other combustibles are involved - including rubber, plastic, oil, brake fluid and more, that's where it's going to land. A fire can also follow fumes. The safety training I set up years ago as safety officer for OWL, Inc. the fire department had a fire in one location and demonstrated that only the fumes along the ground can make it jump to another. Scary stuff for anyone storing gasoline in containers that let fumes out. You don't have to touch the liquid to light it - you can do so from a distance.

 

[Artsifrtsi]

Do I need to be concerned about parking it in my garage?.......

What is this "parking in Garage" crap?

 

[Hootbro]

I got a quote from "Allrape" insurance about a month ago, just to check on current rates and if it was worth changing companies. For them to give me partial coverage on add-on stuff my monthly insurance costs would have quadrupled and then some. That still would not cover everything. GAP Insurance coverage normally is for just the vehicle, almost every insurance claim you normally take it in the shorts. It's ether in rates or if something happens. I did use USAA for decades, but since the area I live in has many S###y USAA insured members here that rates quadrupled for me as someone who has clean driving record. ( I changed insurance companies a few years back.) Only claims has been my LJ was got stripped of everything inside cabin area. End result I got jack s### reimbursement, at the time I had 4 vehicle's insured with with full coverage on it with GAP coverage. The gap was where I ended up taking it. That was over 5k then almost 20 years ago. The second time I didn't even waste my time filling a report.... I'm just glad the Ass-Clowns didn't stick a rag in my gas can and light it.
Sorry for your loss and I hope you get just compensation. As noted by others there has been more than one JT and or JL / JLU to burn in simular manner. ??

I do not know what it is, but it seems all the tier 1 insurance carriers hate their existing customer over time.

Today I just got my insurance renewal statement from Liberty Mutual who I have been with the last 3 years and they jacked my rates up pretty good and I have 800+ credit and clean driving record. Went shopping online and quoted with Progressive which who I left 3 years ago to go to Liberty Mutual and they quoted me same coverage and I would be save close to $1100 a year going back to them. Needless to say I have transferred back. I am sure in 2-3 years I will have to fire them and look for another insurance carrier.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I feel as though the fire was caused by one of the batteries according to the firechief, the vehicle also tried starting while the firemen were putting out the 10 ft flames. they had the fire contained and out and they could not leave due to the fact they could not get one of the batteries to stop glowing.

And looking back, I have a problem with this. These batteries are wet inside. these aren't lithium batteries with any combustible materials other than the case.
Glowing battery? That's fishy, sorry.
Batteries don't glow, and batteries don't burst into flames without something causing them to get hot - like a SHORT/GROUND or over-charging causing them to get hot, leading to thermal runaway. But in those cases, they melt and are really no longer a battery - there may be an explosion, even fire, but not just sitting there unless something causes a super-fast discharge making it hot. A sitting vehicle isn't going to run into AGM battery thermal runaway, and it won't continue to glow if it does. It will melt, or explode. After that, it's not a battery and there's really nothing to glow. Especially minutes later!
These aren't EVs.

Sorry, this is very fishy - They can be easily put out. NFPA says car batteries (normal L/A or AGM batteries) are low risk. I've got a report on them. The only risks are from explosion, with NO fire, or thermal runaway - caused by overcharging meaning it could only happen driving and only if things went terribly south.
They will get hot enough to be a problem IF shorted, etc.

I've got the reports - batteries aren't going to glow, and they are extremely easy to put out if the case does burn (most don't burn according to one study I have) ->

Based on the results of the incidents involving lead-acid batteries, a number of findings were obtained. Based on the limited literature, fire test data, and incident reports available, lead acid batteries have low risks as energy sources. This is based on the small number of incidents reported, indicating that the probability of incidents occurring is low, as well as the fact that that the majority of incidents investigated having had fairly minor consequences. In addition, the results of the fire testing support this statement, as no fires were observed in the tests.

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