A 2019 Chevy Traverse owner recently got a nasty surprise after the taillight on their crossover unexpectedly caught on fire. The incident was captured on video and posted to social media, showing the taillight engulfed in flames as the bewildered owner watches. Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident.
The video was captured in Florida, and shows the Chevy Traverse parked in a lot as the taillight goes up in smoke. According to the post, the owner was simply coming home from work when they smelled something burning. The owner’s first thought was that the Traverse had a flat tire, but after pulling over, they discovered a sizable fire around the driver’s side taillight.
In the video, we see the fire cracking and sputtering in the wind as the owner watches in bewilderment.
“What do I do?” the owner desperately asks as they watch the fire. “Oh my god!”
The owner says that a passerby helped out by smothering the fire before the fire department showed up. Luckily, no one was injured.
In the social post, the owner says that their local dealership can’t explain what caused the fire. However, by the look of it, an electrical issue seems to be the most likely candidate. The Traverse owner tagged Chevrolet and General Motors, asking for assistance.
“Hey @chevrolet can you explain this?” the post reads.
“@generalmotors I would really appreciate it if I could get my paint fixed please.”
In a follow-up comment, the owner says that GM told them that “it was simply an accident and they are not responsible.” The owner goes on to say that they opted for the extended warranty, which covered the replacement taillight assembly. The scorched paint, however, was not covered by the warranty.
“Low on blinked fluid and it over heats,” quips one commenter.
Check out the video right here:
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Comments
I assume it was owner negligence or a freak unlucky occurrence. No way that a tail light could blow up like that.
“owner negligence”??
Are you implying that the owner failed to do his scheduled maintenance on the tail light assembly? Where is that mentioned in the owner’s manual?
He probably did something to the tailight or did not take care of it properly.
He says the extended warranty covered the taillight assy…..so an aftermarket cause seems unlikely.
might of put cheap Ebay LED bulbs in and well, this is what happens.
There’s likely more to this story. You’re 100% right in that other than bulb replacement and repairing any damage to wiring and light housings there isn’t any other owner responsibility. It could be that a dual filament bulb was installed incorrectly or more likely a non-approved LED lightbulb from Amazon or similar.
In many cases, consequential damages may or may not be covered. I’d like to know more about ‘the rest of the story’…
G.M doesn’t stand good for anything. Stop using inferior parts. For the high prices you want for all your
vehicles you should use the best part as well. G.M. Is not loyal to there customers anymore, why should
we be loyal to them. You buy a New vehicle and you have problems even before your first oil change.
maybe miner but still problems. And forget about your electronics that’s a whole new issue.
Customer beware should be labeled on all there New vehicles.
Nice grammar.
miner, minor
their, there, they’re
peek, peak, pique
Typical keyboard warrior. Does not know what caused the issue but is blaming the manufacture. You must be one of those people with a 15 year old car with 150k miles and the engine is leaking oil but you blaming the manufacture for it.
Or maybe you are the one who has the issue? STOP BLAMING THE MANUFACTURER.
Or maybe you are the one who caused the problem? STOP BLAMING THE MANUFACTURER.
I’ve purchased several new GM vehicles, driven them to 100K+ miles and never had a single issue.
Florida … Nuff said!
Did the owner fit some aftermarket junk LED conversions?
Most likely modified. I keep mine factory, topping it off with blinker fluid just before inspection.
Looking at the Owner’s Manual, it appears that it has factory LED rear taillights as there is no information on how to change a taillight bulb.
Bulb Replacement
For the proper type of replacement
bulbs, or any bulb changing
procedure not listed in this section,
contact your dealer.
LED Lighting
This vehicle has several LED lamps.
For replacement of any LED lighting
assembly, contact your dealer.
Who the heck modifies a Traverse taillight?
You’d be surprised, people modify everything these days!
Typical GM not standing behind their products.
Now Toyota actually does and if this happened on a Toyota product you would see an apology and a free replacement/paint repair.
No wonder Toyota’s stock is at record highs unlike GM and their have the lowest supply of vehicles on dealer lots and the highest resale value in the industry.
Typical parroting of a myth. Toyota has a long history of blaming owners for manufacturing defects and design flaws.
Look no further than the V6 oil sludging that Toyota fought tooth and nail not to fix. “You didn’t change the oil every 3,000 miles; we don’t CARE what the owners manual or the factory service chart says!”
Was this a re-badged Chevy Blazer? 🤣
Yet, here you are hanging out on a GM website. Hmmm …
toyota fan boy. Why you even here if you have no interest in buying GM? With Toyota you can’t build your vehicle you want and go to a dealer and have them build “Exactly” what you want. The dealer can only search around and get close to your build. At least with GM you can at least get built and order exactly what you want.
Yet there are new Tundra owners having the shell out double the money of a GM 5.3/6.2 for a twin turbo engine replacement and LC300 owners with seized main bearings……
Toyota is not the company it was.
…and Toyota has the most vehicle junker locations.
Exactly right!
I had a 2005 Chevy Colorado that the frame completely rusted away within 10 years. Not only would Chevy not replace the frame, it was a discontinued item. After endless hours of searching junk yards I found out that it was standard for that truck. Mine only had 105k miles on it. Junk yards had 05 Colorados with less than 100k like showroom condition except the frame was shot.
On the other hand, a friend had a 2005 Toyota with the exact same problem, Toyota replaced his frame.
I am sorry to say this, but did you EVER think about undercoating you frame of your Colorado? It is YOUR responsibility to take care of your frame, NOT the manufacturers. Where did you get the information it was a discontinued item? YOU should have taken care of it properly- there are plenty of those Colorados running with intact frames.
As for Toyota, your friend is lucky. Toyota did NOT honor frame replacements of other Tacomas and Tundras and EVEN 4runners. Not to mention they were slapped with a class action lawsuit, which they tried to fight and lost terribly.
If the Colorado’s frame was that prone to corrosion it’s on the manufacturer. Contrary to what you said I had two co-workers that had ToyotaTacoma trucks and one told me there was a frame issue and that Toyota was requested he come to the dealer for a frame inspection. He also told me that if the frame was found to be corroded in any way in key areas that they would buy the truck back at 150% of market value plus sales tax. I thought it was an exaggeration but they found his truck’s frame to be rusted. They gave him a week with his truck to empty it out and review and sign the buyback contract, they took his truck, gave him a 30 day loaner car and paid him within a week. The other guy got the same treatment. Also Nissan did something similar with their Pathfinder SUV…
If that’s what happened with that guy’s Colorado, GM should do something for him. I’ve got a 1970 Chevy pickup and let me tell you that its frame has minor surface corrosion and it’s almost 55 years old. I know these hydroformed box frames made from thinner steel are stiffer and stronger when new them my old truck but box frames trap a lot of moisture, salt and dirt.
Yes we should inspect our vehicles for safety but a 10 year old frame failure is unacceptable and dangerous.
I would say they were lucky. Plenty of cases where Toyota did deny help. Again, whatever the case, the frame SHOULD have been undercoated. GM does not have the obligation to fix the frames which were not protected adequately, and neither does Toyota (as proven by their lawsuit which was what actually forced them to do it).
Well, that implies that we take him at his word. A frame my not last in the Northeast after 10 winters. The owner’s manual states that if used in areas of heavy road salt, you should have the underside of your car washed as often as possible but definitely seasonally. That’s on the owner. Everyone always has a friend of a friend of a sister’s boyfriend’s next door neighbor’s uncle who got a free Camry and a handy from Kiichiro Toyoda himself for just having the trunk light burn out in their Tercel 40 years ago. If this guy’s frame rotted out after just 10 years, there must be some really, really heavy salt use.
Well 10 years is outside the rust-through warranty so they did their job.
Aftermarket Blinker Fluid…..
Dang Reds with their push to Japanese brands.
I would suspect a LED bulb having a bad day. No way a filament bulb did that.
Most likely aliens from a nearby UFO, considering that it was in Florida. My bets are that the SUV owner even lives in a mobile home, aka tornado/UFO magnet.
That’s for sure the condensation problem that all manufacturers are having when using led lights.
That’s what happens when you constantly ride your brakes. Those newfangled LED bulbs just can’t handle the heat.
LED bulbs emit very little, if any, heat…it’s part of what makes them more efficient.
C8LOVR I Live in a mobile home ,in a very nice clean park in MA. Think Before You Sound Stupid!!
Burst into flames? How much current from the battery was required to do that? Has GM forgot what fuses are good for?
Brings back memories of that PHEV hybrid Fisker Karma – beautiful car, but they left the radiator electric fan (to cool the engine) unfused – at least until several of them went up in flames due to the fire – prone fans.
Seems like inexcusable engineering to me. How much Gasoline did the LED taillights save over the cost of the otherwise perfectly safe incandescent lights, but now he has otherwise needless costly repainting of the car?
If they had Long Life energy ‘inefficient’ incandescent taillights, they might use a dollar’s worth of extra gasoline over the life of the vehicle. I’m sorry but I don’t get the point of it, that of a rush to change everything that works to LEDs.
You don’t know the cause of the fire. Can you point to any other fires from a GM tail light? No, you can’t. So, your comment was pure conjecture.
BTW; LEDs are brighter. That’s a plus on the safety side. And LEDs last longer. It’s not about trying to save a “dollars worth of fuel over the life of the vehicle”.
Sorry John I don’t buy it . If u said gasoline leaked into the taillight then it is a manufacturers problem.
Taillights either LED or incandescent should be fused so as to be intrinsically safe electrically.
Since many GM vehicles can’t keep their 12 volt batteries charged, it seems that many bases have not been covered.
Or maybe it is bad maintenance.
As was stated elsewhere, there is no scheduled maintenance for the LED tail light. The extended warranty covered the replacement so it is highly doubtful that an unauthorized modification was missed.
Would you buy an electric car from a company that can’t even make a simple tail light that doesn’t burst into flames??
Yes, we did. We love our Bolt EUV. Not sure this is GM’s fault.
CB now that is a point….. Perhaps they have the “A” Team from LG in Korea design the electricals of the BOLT.
The “B” team ( “F-” Team?) is probably to blame for:
1). UNFUSED violently exploding tail lights and melted bumpers.
2). Poorly designed radios that immediately go to FULL VOLUME and forget all the memory presents when the next thing happens (point #3 here). Of course, the radios would have no problem if the owner managed to push start his car every time rather than use the Starter Motor……
OH !!!! I forgot…. You can’t find many of these vehicles with manual transmissions any more and the automatics don’t have push-startable rear pumps in them anymore like the old 2-speed POWERGLIDEs used to.
3). Weak or totally Dead Silverado or Colorado batteries that only took the “CRACK” engineering team THREE YEARS to figure out that “Maybe we should shut off the engine control computer when the driver leaves the vehicle (!!!) “, to eliminate the drain on the battery.
“On Crack” is more like it.
Would water coming in from a cracked lense cause this?
My brother’s wife had a 2006 RAV4 with an extreme oil use problem that they said was normal an d wouldn’t fix either.
Too bad about that LED failure ! Maybe since it’s posted here the scorched paint will get fixed also!
There is a Service Bulletin #17-NA-347 Dated March, 2018. There is a know issue with the Rear Tail Lamp Wiring Harness Assembly. We have a 2018 Traverse that the light went out on it 2 years after we had it…It leads to shorting out and could lead to bigger issues if the short does not trip the fuse.
The TSB refers to the wire possible not being crimped and coming out of the socket, says nothing about a short…which would blow a fuse, not start a fire. Also it’s for 2018 models, the vehicle in the video is a 2019.
Follow up to my previous post…the whole side marker light assembly is indeed led, and the whole thing needs to be replaced…there is no way to change the led without modifying the assembly. Look this up on the Traverse Forum and you will see the Service Bulletin for this issue.
The bulletin makes no mention of changing out the assembly. It refers to a possible faulty wire harness that may need to be replaced.
LEDs generally run cooler, and they are not known for bursting into flames. In fact, when cities up north replaced traffic lights with LEDs, their main problem was with traffic lights icing over in the winter time – the LED bulbs were too cold to melt it. To see flames pouring out of the Traverse’s light assembly is just bizarre. I’m guessing it’s a wiring problem or aftermarket installation gone wrong as others have suggested here.
Nobody has mentioned this yet but LED’s themselves can easily overcurrent beyond their allowable safe value when supplied with a source that does not have a current limiting facility.
As far as “Conjecturing”, which someone accused me of, the current limiting resistor and/or constant current transistor assembly could have , while failing, allow greatly increased current through and this would easily explain the relatively large fire. To reiterate, and this IS NOT CONJECTURE, proper fusing would have prevented the fire entirely.
I work at a dealer and one time the customers dash caught on fire and was smoking on a 06 suburban. They had the car towed in and was raising hell saying it’s gm fault and he was going to sue if we did not fix it. Long story short, he had dropped a penny into the cigarette lighter outlet so it blew the 15 amp fuse. He used up all the 15amps from the fuse block so he put in a 20 amp. Circuit stayed shorted and caught fire. At the end of it all he ended up having to replace the entire dash, all damaged electronics, ac case and harness because he was doing his own DIY work. So let’s not rule out the customer out a outside shop using the incorrect fuse size.
Not in this case Otto..
Dealer and GM paid for the extended warranty work.. Only thing they wouldn’t cover was touch up paint.
The fact that they covered it meant that per them – there was no customer responsibility.
Every GM car I have ever had including the 3 I have now have had 20 amp fusing for the accessory jack(s)…
The Lyriq has 2 accessory jacks, one switched and one unswitched… Both are 20 amp fusing with the owner’s manual saying please limit the load on each to 15 amperes. (for a maximum of 30 ampere drain, totally).
Not sure how a penny would get into an accessory jack, but a penny could cause arcing damage prior to the fuse blowing, that’s true.
Teslas had 15 amp fuses and said maximum load should be 10 amps.
Understandable, but dealers will at time do repairs under customer enthusiasm meaning when it shouldn’t be covered they will do it just to make the customer happy. Not sure if this is the case but it does happens pretty often.
Most likely the tail lamp had prior issues and was blowing the fuse. Some street mechanic probably put in a larger fuse hence the fire. That or aftermarket equipment.
As mentioned repeatedly, the extended warranty on this car covered it. A larger than normal fuse would certainly have been spotted since companies ALWAYS try to find ways out of honoring their warranties, even to the point of CHECKING to make sure the fuse is the correct size.
Aftermarket equipment would void the warranty, and is ANOTHER thing that would ALWAYS be checked before honoring it.
I know, I know, the guy, seeing the mistake, went out, got a good fuse of the correct size, and melted its link so it looked perfectly innocent….. Uh, that’s doubtful.
The reality is that GM does not use fuses adequately sized to prevent LED troubles in ANY of its vehicles…. In my car the smallest fusing is 5 amperes, that’s 5,000 milliamperes.
If the maximum operable running current for this led is 100 milliamperes, a fault causing 50 times the normal safe operating current would not blow it.
“What do I do?! What do I do?!” Answer: Don’t make any left turns. That only makes it worse.
LMAO implying owner caused the problem when it comes from factory with led brake light. Sounds like a GM rep blaming the customer. Typical POS!
And owner negligence placing the blame of the manufacturer….
Owner could not possibly have been negligent since there is no regularly scheduled maintenance required of the left tail light in this vehicle.
Again, THEY COVERED THIS UNDER THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. Since they paid for it the owner, in the dealer’s and corporation’s opinion, WAS NOT NEGLIGENT.
No other opinion matters.
Since I was old enough to drive15 yrs old I have owned all gm products and all have been problematic,my 2000 s10 purchased new had a head gasket replaced just after warranty,heater core also went south,just purchased a 2009 mustang 95,000 miles all original,ac and all options work perfect fully loaded mustang can’t say that about GM and there cheap parts,go in to a Chevy dealer and all bays are full of warranty work especially the new c8 Vette lots of problems and try working on your c8 yourself to solve the problem
Maybe it was the way YOU drove and maintained all your GM cars and trucks- NOT the manufacturers. It really irritates me when some people do not want to accept that THEY caused the issue and not the manufacturer.
As for the corvettes, NOT every single one is in the bay full for warranty work, unlike the case with Ford today.
Probably water in the taillight that happened to my daughter. A tail light was not available for 10 months. No one from GM could get or find a light. Every time she went somewhere we worried she was gonna get hit cause the light was out. It was LED so the whole assembly had to be replaced. That’s what happens when they hire upper management that only worries about the almighty dollar instead of being car people.
Or maybe THEY HAVE TO ADD IT because of regulations? Did she do maintenance properly? I have never heard of a tailight bursting into flames in Qatar for a Traverse.
Whatever it is, I can understand your issue, but please have some patience when the tailight is being fixed.
Yes! 100% with you on this. I also had issues.
Did you take care of your car properly? Don’t lie.
“Probably water in the taillight that happened to my daughter. ”
The tail light on your daughter’s Traverse caught fire because it had water in it?
Try to follow the topic. Thanks!
Could this be water in the taillight causing a short? I know several GM models have had issues with water leaking into the taillights going back many years.
Hmmmm……I highly doubt water in the lens would cause this. Water would short it out, blow the fuse and then that’s it. No fuse, no electricity. It’s Florida, maybe her bath salts were hidden in the lens?
Seriously! What’s all the hubbub? It appears it’s a one-time occurrence that no one here knows what caused it. Why is everyone getting so worked up? All this speculatuion over a one-time tail light fire is a waste of time.
Failure of the hand turn signal test.
General Motors are made so cheap,its all about making money,they give a rats ass about customers. I see the people backing GM probably work for them. But if you look around they are all getting to be like this. Look back to the 70s and tell me how many recalls there were then compared to now. New cars are junk!
Another one who bashes GM, and at the same time hasn’t a clue on what actually caused the fire. They’re a dime a dozen on this site. That begs the question … What are they even doing hanging out on a GM site? Just bored?
People just like to complain about everything. Nowadays everyone gets butt hurt about anything
Well you are the one who is being cheap.
Typical boomer comment
How about you go back to driving your 70’s boats then. Technology has come a long way. Let me guess, your going to say carburetor is way better than fuel injection? Ac compressors the size of a battery is better also?
Your absolutly right. That’s why everyone is driving cars from the 70s now. Wait nevermind
All I needed to see was- Post bankruptcy Chevy and everything made sense 😂
They improved a lot post bankruptcy.
Good thing it wasn’t a Ford. The whole vehicle would have gone up in flames.
Or people are to stupid to see the writing on the wall. Manufacturers are building junk cars nowadays. They also refuse to back up repairs and want you to lawyer up before they do anything for you. Look at the new challengers,Manufacturers are adding 100,000 to cars just to make a buck. Check out air bag recalls on any Manufacturer out there.
Clean your mind up first.
I told Becky she really needed to start using her blinkers more, but this is too much……such a drama queen.
Seriously? That got a thumbs down? For a joke? Did you not get it? Everyone’s a critique.
If you can’t handle a thumb’s down, then maybe you shouldn’t comment. Anyway, the word is critic.
No, everyone is a critique waiting to happen, it’s a play on words. Yes, I can handle the thumbs down, that was a joke too. I can handle it. I can handle it a LOT.
AWESOME! Looks like turbo boost on a video game.
2013 Volvo XC90. The paper plugs on the inside of rear taillights failed. Water got into the taillights and traveled into the LED control unit. This caused a spark and shut down the entire car’s electrical system. Volvo built in safety system. Driving in a rainstorm on Christmas Eve. We had no idea what happened. Aaa came and towed it to dealer. For Volvos part they fixed everything no charge and gave us a loaner. It’s too hard to explain but the paper sticker that closes off a hole in the back of the taillight assembly wore out. $hit happens.
This just happen to my traverse too!!!
My traverse did not catch fire but does have a water leak, just have not had a chance to replace it yet. It flickers on and off.
Mine done the same thing, same light also. No aftermarket parts. Defiantly no shade tree mechanic, have you looked up what has to be done to change that light. You have to take apart the entire corner of the car and its not a bulb. You have to change the entire assembly. The turn signal stopped working that morning and when I got home that evening smoke was poring out of the light and bumper area. Melted the light housing and part of the side bumper. scary!!
Obviously a poor design (by the F- team – see my recent comment on page 1 here).
Other company that never heard of a fuse was the first FISKER. Beautiful car, but no fusing for the engine cooling fan – it would regularly set garages on fire.
The A-Team from LG designed the BOLTs electricals, so no problem with the non-battery stuff.