I WAS DRIVING MY CAR ON CITY STREETS WHEN A WARNING MESSAGE APPEARED ON MY DASHBOARD INDICATING THAT I SHOULD CHECK MY ENGINE COOLANT LEVEL. I DROVE ON FOR A SHORT TIME (A FEW MINUTES) AND THEN PARKED BRIEFLY, SHUTTING OFF THE ENGINE (AGAIN FOR A FEW MINUTES) TO CONSIDER THE SITUATION AND TO CALL THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT OF MY DEALERSHIP (WHICH WAS CLOSED SINCE IT WAS LATE IN THE DAY). AS I WAS CLOSE TO HOME, I DECIDED TO DRIVE THE CAR THERE. ABOUT FIVE MINUTES LATER, THE WARNING MESSAGE CHANGED TO AN INDICATION THAT THE ENGINE TEMPERATURE WAS TOO HIGH. I IMMEDIATELY PULLED OVER AND ARRANGED TO TOW THE CAR TO THE DEALERSHIP. THERE THE PROBLEM WAS DIAGNOSED AS A FAILURE OF A COOLANT PIPE THAT LED TO COOLANT LOSS, WHICH REQUIRES AN ESTIMATED $7,500 IN REPAIR WORK. I HAVE SINCE LEARNED THAT THIS IS A RECOGNIZED PROBLEM WITH THE MODEL, MAKE, AND YEAR OF MY CAR. AN NHTSA REPORT HAS BEEN FILED ABOUT THIS, WITH AN ACTION NUMBER OF PE13009 (OPENED ON APRIL 26, 2013). WHILE I WAS NOT DRIVING AT HIGH SPEED AND THERE WAS NO CRASH, FIRE, INJURY, OR FATALITY ASSOCIATED WITH THIS EVENT, THIS ISSUE POSES SIGNIFICANT SAFETY RISKS GIVEN HOW QUICKLY THE VEHICLE'S ENGINE TEMPERATURE EXCEEDED SAFE OPERATING LIMITS. UNDER HIGHER VELOCITY CONDITIONS THE SITUATION COULD HAVE POSED SIGNIFICANT RISKS TO MY AND OTHERS' SAFETY. I HAVE BROUGHT THIS TO YOUR ATTENTION GIVEN THAT IT IS A RECOGNIZED AND ONGOING ISSUE WITH THIS MAKE, MODEL, AND YEAR CAR AND THAT IT APPEARS TO BE CAUSED BY A FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN FLAW. *TR
- NHTSA ID
- 10632889
- Incident
- Sep 6, 2014
- Mileage
- 100,044 mi