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2004 CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER — Complaint #1166456

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NHTSA Complaint about VISIBILITY:REAR WINDOW WIPER/WASHER:SWITCH/WIRING filed March 17, 2015

NHTSA complaint #1166456 (ODI reference 10694902) concerns a 2004 CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER and was filed on March 17, 2015. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 11, 2015. The vehicle had 180,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Pennsylvania based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as visibility:rear window wiper/washer:switch/wiring, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: yes, injuries: 2, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER cohort independently describe similar visibility:rear window wiper/washer:switch/wiring failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2004 CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2004 CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER
Component
VISIBILITY:REAR WINDOW WIPER/WASHER:SWITCH/WIRING
Fire
Yes
Injuries
2
State
Pennsylvania
Mileage
180,000 mi

Complaint Description

TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2004 CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER. WHILE AT AN AUTOMATED CAR WASH, THE DRIVER SIDE WINDOW SWITCH SHORT CIRCUITED WITHOUT WARNING. AS A RESULT, FLAMES APPEARED AND ENGULFED THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED. A FIRE REPORT AND A POLICE REPORT WERE FILED. BOTH THE CONTACT AND THE PASSENGER SUFFERED SMOKE INHALATION THAT REQUIRED MEDICAL ATTENTION. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE CONTACT WAS MADE AWARE OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 13V248000 (ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, VISIBILITY); HOWEVER, THE VIN WAS NOT INCLUDED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 180,000.

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 1166456
ODI Number 10694902
Date Filed March 17, 2015
Failure Date March 11, 2015
VIN 1GNET16SX46

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.