Hi all!
Please forgive my ignorance regarding cars in general; I'm posting this on behalf of my still-in-shock brother.
Only 2 hours ago, he got into his Renault Clio 16v (manufactured December 2001), inserted his key, fired up the engine and began a three-point turn. There was a flash and smoke began to belch out of the steering column. He stopped, switched off the ignition, removed the key and got out of the car. With the engine off, the smoke became less dense; however, his car was now sitting in the middle of the road with the steering lock on and the lights stuck on full beam. He inserted the key into the ignition once more ONLY to disable the steering lock and move the car by pushing it. This is when things got really bad. The steering column melted and burst into flames. The fire got worse until a neighbour appeared with a fire extinguisher. This stopped the fire but the smoke just kept on coming, getting worse and worse. At this point, the fire brigade appeared and drenched the steering column in water.
On later inspection, the whole left side of the steering column has melted right through, revealing the wiring as a huge, melted mass. All of the levers on the left side of the steering wheel have melted away completely.
This appears to have been a severe electrical fault. This has been verified by the firemen at the scene, who were surprised to see this in such a relatively new car.
There was no prior warning to this happening either - no warning signs (or smells, for that matter) were at all apparent prior to this event.
Has anyone ever encountered this serious problem with their Clio or is it just a one-off? Could it be attributed to a manufacturing defect?
If anyone can offer any help or advice rearding this, both my brother and myself would be very grateful.
Thanks, Col
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