Zafira models at risk of going on fire..

Atlantic Dawn

Vauxhall Zafiras at risk of going on fire from issue in glovebox, those built from 2005 to 2014. I presume this will also be Opel Zafiras...

http://news.sky.com/story/1573967/car-owners-warned-about-vauxhalls-catching-fire

Stallingrad

A lot of happy Zafira owners today.

R.O.R

Refreshing change to Insignia's going on fire.....

Looks to be the old model Zafira only, which was still sold side by side with the Zafira Tourer until fairly recently.

Atlantic Dawn

And one going ablaze this morning in Cork...



http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/motors/news/2015/1029/738317-possoble-recall-of/

kirving

I wonder what they mean by improper repairs or non-oem parts? Pollen filter maybe?

Dilbert75

Kevin Irving wrote: »

I wonder what they mean by improper repairs or non-oem parts? Pollen filter maybe?

Perhaps. I'd have thought any new pollen filter would be better than none - trying to pull air through a blocked filter would definitely take more motor power.

Hachiko

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Vauxhall Zafiras at risk of going on fire from issue in glovebox, those built from 2005 to 2014. I presume this will also be Opel Zafiras...

http://news.sky.com/story/1573967/car-owners-warned-about-vauxhalls-catching-fire

not a bad thing, Zafira drivers are some of the worst i have seen.

run_Forrest_run

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

And one going ablaze this morning in Cork...



http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/motors/news/2015/1029/738317-possoble-recall-of/

you beat me to it, I hope the owner contacts Open in light of the BBC Watchdog report. Judging from the pic it looks like the left [bonnet] side is where it's coming from which matches the Watchdog incidents reported.

JohnBoy26

Kevin Irving wrote: »

I wonder what they mean by improper repairs or non-oem parts? Pollen filter maybe?

Would a non OEM Pollen filter really cause the car to go up like that though?

Atlantic Dawn

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

you beat me to it, I hope the owner contacts Open in light of the BBC Watchdog report. Judging from the pic it looks like the left [bonnet] side is where it's coming from which matches the Watchdog incidents reported.

Would have been a lot different of an outcome if the car had made it on to the ferry and then went on fire.

JohnBoy26

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Would have been a lot different of an outcome if the car had made it on to the ferry and then went on fire.

Indeed :eek:

gctest50

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Would a non OEM Pollen filter really cause the car to go up like that though?

no thermal shutdown on the fan/motor/resistor setup maybe ?

Another Zafira driver, Damien Walmsley, wrote: “Took the heater resistor on the right out of a Zafira today. The blower was seized,” alongside a photo of the burned-out object.

cost cutting gone a little too far

gctest50

seems only to be the ones with 1,2,3,4 type of fan speed

if it works on 4 and not on 1,2,3 its probably the resistory yoke burned out

resistor probably burned out cos the fan motor is overworked / dying

the whole circus is protected by a 40amp fuse : http://i.imgur.com/5JPE7ct.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2kaOYgq.jpg

http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/zafiracustomeradvice.html

If you think your car is affected and any of the following statements apply, please contact your Vauxhall Retailer to book an appointment for your vehicle to be inspected:


You have concerns about using your car
You notice unusual characteristics with your heating and ventilation system (for example, a squeaking noise from the dashboard)

Your fan does not work in positions 1, 2 or 3

Your car has had previous maintenance work on its heating and ventilation system.

Special Circumstances

Cue panic up and down the country as owners of other cars that fan only works on 4 start freaking out about a fiery death.

Yes, Im talking about Josephine Average in her Ford.

kirving

Yeah, the Ford seem to have a well known issue with the fan only working on 4. (ie: bypassing the resistor). I know three separate people with 200X Focus' and Mondeos where it happened. In fact, the switch quickly began to melt in my dad's Focus when it would only work on setting 4 - I don't know how to explain that.

It still shouldn't happen, there's certainly a potential for fire if the switch is melting. maybe a similar thing on the Zafira? How that relates to Opel's explanation of non-genuine parts? A new, non standard resistor block possibly?

Kenny Logins

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Would have been a lot different of an outcome if the car had made it on to the ferry and then went on fire.

Christ. Don't know why, but that never occurred to me! :eek:

Toyotafanboi

The non OEM repair bit is crucial.

The problem as we know is that the resistor fails and leaves the fan only working on position "4".

The resistor pack from Opel costs a stone cold fortune, or at least it did, around €100 iirc.

There is a well known bodge non OEM repair where you can order a small inline resistor (ebay, maplins €0.50 job), the size of which escapes me. You can then use a junior hacksaw to cut a piece out of the OEM resistor pack and crimp on the spurious resistor, thus saving yourself €99.50.

I've done it a few times before :pac: I even posted it up on here, can't find it now though.

jelutong

Vursprung der Pyrotechnic.

gctest50

this type of yoke is what you need - ( have to check if the motor likes it or not though )

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-DC-Motor-Speed-Control-PWM-Controller-with-Overload-Protection-12V-30A-/281397110963?hash=item41849328b3:g:r~EAAOSwjVVVhUQG

it'd be like the zafiras with the better climate control then - no 1,2,3,4 anymore , just 0

---

>MAX

.

Toyotafanboi

Yeah, so you get the old resistor out,



Hacksaw (etc) that old thermal fuse thing out of the top

Buy one of these ( http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/93c-thermal-fuse-ra14q?ranMID=40341&ranEAID=TnL5HPStwNw&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-gVxyrV3ecrjqDGLEeTwdlQ& ).

Then get one of these,

isolate two individual connectors and strip off the plastic casing so you just have the metal screw and casing and use the two of those to attach your new thermal fuse to the poles on the old resistor.

Mint lad. I'd say that's the problem, could be wrong.

Special Circumstances

jelutong wrote: »

Vursprung der Pyrotechnic.

Claudia Schiffer comes to your house and waterboards you until you agree that it's impossible that Opels break down, let alone self combust.

Or maybe thats just a dream I had.

gctest50

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Claudia Schiffer comes to your house and waterboards you until you agree that it's impossible that Opels break down, let alone self combust.

Or maybe thats just a dream I had.

spose

philstar

On bbc watchdog last night, they towed a burnt out zafira to vauxhall HQ and no one would come out to talk to the reporter, really bad PR for them.

btw - Even with a fix will people still be feeling safe driving around in them?? personally speaking i'd want to off load one ASAP

celticbest

BBC Watchdog UK, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4b5jSQ1RL2PT2t1tkNQznC3/vauxhall-zafira

Special Circumstances

philstar wrote: »

On bbc watchdog last night, they towed a burnt out zafira to vauxhall HQ and no one would come out to talk to the reporter, really bad PR for them.

Bad PR alright, all the suits hiding behind the couch "just ignore them, they'll go away" :pac:


Did the BBC egg the office and throw toilet rolls all over the garden when they didn't get sweets?

zurbfoundation

how will this stand for Zafira owners re-insuring the cars if there is no recall? Insurance companies don't need much encouragement to load policies for all kinds of crazy reasons - surely the threat of self-combustion is an easy one to push onto a policy

Toyotafanboi

zurbfoundation wrote: »

surely the threat of self-combustion is an easy one to push onto a policy

that's a low risk compared to a cars 15th birthday.

i can't see any insurance issue for Zafira owners. it'd be too logical from the point of view of the insurers.

Atlantic Dawn

Can the Irish government make a recall mandatory or do they have no power whatsover?

Special Circumstances

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

that's a low risk compared to a cars 15th birthday.

i can't see any insurance issue for Zafira owners. it'd be too logical from the point of view of the insurers.

LOL :pac:

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Can the Irish government make a recall mandatory or do they have no power whatsover?

Double LOLz...
I'm guessing this is a rhetorical question.

Thanks lads, needed a chuckle looking at an empty bank account for the weekend.

colm_mcm

From the facebook page, it seems that water ingress in the glovebox might be a factor too.

tinner777

opel in kerry are checking mine next week. If it mysteriously catches fire before do you reckon i'll get a new car out of it??

Dilbert75

colm_mcm wrote: »

From the facebook page, it seems that water ingress in the glovebox might be a factor too.

Blocked gutters lead to water ingress in lots of cars - I guess the potential is there for other cars if they're not cleaned out regularly.

JohnBoy26

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6712093/Vauxhall-car-fires-more-models-may-be-affected.html

philstar

this scenario - you're in a public car park and you park next to a zafira and it goes up in flames and damages your car...what come back have you got??

Dilbert75

philstar wrote: »

this scenario - you're in a public car park and you park next to a zafira and it goes up in flames and damages your car...what come back have you got??

Exactly this happened in the car park where I work last year. AFAIK the owners of the cars set on fire would claim against the insurance of the car which was the origin of the fire.

colm_mcm

I Think this happened someone on here and they ended up having to claim on their own insurance. She had a megane and reckoned it was worth a fortune



Edit, here it is
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=81503545

Not sure if you can say Opel is negligent, especially if the causes of the fires is a result of improper repairs etc.

Second Toughest in_the Freshers

That'd be covered under 'third party fire'...

colm_mcm

It's "third party, fire...."

As in different things.

dieselbug

"Not sure if you can say Opel is negligent, especially if the causes of the fires is a result of improper repairs etc.[/QUOTE]"



Not that clear I think. Did'nt see it all but BBC Watchdog had an owner with a burned resistor which had been replaced by the main dealer.

Check around the 4 minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91ep8uctXng

colm_mcm

quite a few zafiras with faulty glovebox latches causing bulb holders to burn out.

colm_mcm

Another one went on fire today in the UK.

Hachiko

fffs, this is ridiculous. Is this a joke or something.

colm_mcm

The scary thing is that these cars are out 10 years, there's a few cases a week being reported. Could Vauxhall-Opel have known about this for years

MuppetCheck

Always thought it was kinda a con when the Opel garage told us not to use the heater in herselfs old Opel when that went a bit iffy as it could catch fire. Nice to have it clarified that they were being serious.

Hachiko

I got a Honda Jazz early this year and was sent a letter from Honda saying there is a recall on the drivers side window switch. Fine job I thought, I don't even own the car but I will pass the message on.

Vauxhall are brutal, they are cheap for a reason. They should have flagged up this fault on internal QC audits themselves.

James Delaney

Dilbert75 wrote: »

Exactly this happened in the car park where I work last year. AFAIK the owners of the cars set on fire would claim against the insurance of the car which was the origin of the fire.

With out cctv u may not b able to prove it !

Dilbert75

James Delaney wrote: »

With out cctv u may not b able to prove it !

True, even though it was already smoking as the driver was walking away from parking it. 2 other cars totally burnt out too + 1 more damaged beyond economical repair.

philstar

Hachiko wrote: »

Vauxhall are brutal, they are cheap for a reason.

are they

more or less the same price as most makes across their range

colm_mcm

Another day, another fire

JohnBoy26

Dreadful stuff.

Atlantic Dawn

Has there ever been a more dangerous fault on any car for sale in Ireland?