NHTSA complaint #11469607

Owner complaint summary

This is in reference to a 2020 Mercedes GLC350e Plug-In Hybrid. Sole owner purchased January 2020 with under 4 Thousand miles on the odometer, 3 years extended warranty. Took car only to MB Henderson dealership for service/maintenance performance on the vehicle and nowhere else. Dealership has records. The GLC350e received no recall of any kind. On November 11, 2021, the car coolant alert displayed and instructed to shut engine down, key off of ignition and stop everything -- car was not safe to drive. In contacting MB Henderson, NV dealership, they concurred with the display and asked that the vehicle be towed to their facility for further inspection -- No MB Dealership had the capacity to tow the vehicle to their service facilities. So I called using my own AAA Towing and the dealership received the 2020 GLC350e at their facility. They had it overnight and the next day. After checking everything found they can't reproduce the Coolant warning alert display and said the car was safe to drive. Fast forward to March 8th, 2020 this display resurfaced while driving on Interstate 15 southbound to Los Angeles. Called dealership, and their recommendation was again repeated -- Shut off engine, tow it to the nearest dealership. The locatioin was between Bakers and Barstow, and the nearest MB dealership was in Riverside, CA. This is a desolated area and unsafe to stay or leave the car where it is. With what I learned from the November 12, 2021 service performed by the dealership, they couldn't find anything wrong with the car. I felt it important to get off the freeway and proceed to Barstow and call the Riverside Dealership when I get there. This I did and before reaching Barstow, the car engine started to smoke and the hood bulged up. In seconds the bulge was increasing in size, a sliver of flame appeared. This scared me, so I got out of the car in a hurry, and dialed 911 and the insurance company. The flame got more intense and it was totaled.