Fired Up: Fairfield, Conn. Couple's Car Catches Fire One Day After Vehicle Repair

A Fairfield couple picked up their car from a repair shop less than 24 hours before it caught fire on the highway.

Julie Carey of Fairfield had been driving. Her husband Tim was in the passenger seat.

“We’re running away and literally within 10 to 15 seconds, the car was engulfed in flames,” explained Tim, who said he could feel the heat rising through his sandals.

The couple had left a friend’s gathering on a blistering hot July day and were heading home on Interstate 95 North when passengers of another car rolled down their windows.

“They are screaming, I mean screaming, ‘Your car is on fire, your car is on fire,’” Julie said.

Julie said she pulled over to the side of the highway as fast as she could, near exit 17 in Westport.

Her husband and many others called 911 and firefighters came to douse the flames. The car was destroyed.

The next couple of weeks, “Julie was stressed. She had a tough time sleeping,” her husband said.

“You think about the what-ifs, what could have happened. Had there been somebody in the back, would we have all gotten out in time?” Julie said.

The Careys are thankful they escaped unscathed and that they didn’t have their grandkids in the car.

Sure, insurance covered their claim for their destroyed car, but not the contents in it. Then there was a headache of finding a new ride.

“I had to go out and buy a new car, which was not in our financial plan. So now we’re retired and on a fixed income,” Julie said.

But what fired them up the most - Firestone Complete Auto Care in Fairfield still billed them for the repairs and the Careys wanted their money back.

A month and change later, the Careys reached out to NBC CT Responds to help them resolve the financial fire with the repair shop.

We caught up with the Careys off the exit, not too far from where their car caught fire.

“In good conscience, how can you charge me for something that a) didn’t work b) you burned up my car?” Tim said.

So, let’s back this story up a second.

Julie dropped her car off at the end of June when it just wasn’t accelerating. According to paperwork they shared with us, technicians believed a fuel injector was to blame.

But the Careys say the fix was taking a lot of time, almost two weeks. They were told wrong parts were part of the problem.

So just a few days before the fire, Tim said he suggested to Firestone that he’d bring his car somewhere else.

“I said, 'Look if you can’t fix it, I’ll come and take the car and drive it to Mazda and let it get fixed.' And the gentleman there said, ‘No, I can’t give you the car because if you drive it, it may catch on fire.’ And I went , ‘Oh okay, then you need to fix it.’”

The Careys say they got a call the car was fixed and to pick it up Saturday. The next day, the car goes up in flames.

The Carey’s opened a complaint with Firestone, but reached out to NBC CT Responds weeks later when it appeared to be going nowhere.

“We thought, we’re going to give this a try because somebody has got to help us get a voice here,” said Tim.

Once we reached out, suddenly there was some movement.

Firestone’s parent company, Bridgestone Retail Operations, came to a resolution with the Careys and they sent us this statement.

“We aim to be the most trusted provider of tire and automotive care in every neighborhood we serve. We are glad to know that no one was injured in the vehicle fire. While our investigation into this matter is ongoing, the incident that occurred is highly unusual. We are committed to providing high quality automotive care and we have worked with this customer to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution.”

Since our interview with the Careys, they can’t say too much because they had to sign a non-disparagement agreement in order to get their money back, but they tell us a resolution wouldn’t have happened without NBC CT Responds.

“What are you going to do with a car today? Nobody really knows how these things work. You put your faith into the place that’s doing it,” Tim said, before the agreement with Firestone.

Two takeaways the Careys want to share: if your check engine light turns on, take it seriously.

Secondly, remember what you have in your car isn’t covered by car insurance. It’s covered by homeowner’s insurance.

In the Carey’s case, they say the high cost of their deductible and the impact on their policy wasn’t worth making a claim.