2008 CHEVROLET AVEO — Complaint #1620977
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING:INTERIOR/UNDER DASH filed November 15, 2019
NHTSA complaint #1620977 (ODI reference 11280257) concerns a 2008 CHEVROLET AVEO and was filed on November 15, 2019. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 14, 2019. The vehicle had 124,000 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 electrical system:wiring:interior/under dash, 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: 0, 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 AVEO cohort independently describe similar electrical system:wiring:interior/under dash 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 2008 CHEVROLET AVEO shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2008 CHEVROLET AVEO. WHILE DRIVING 20 MPH, SMOKE ENTERED THE CABIN OF THE VEHICLE FROM UNDER THE STEERING PANEL. THE CONTACT WAS ABLE TO SAFELY EXIT THE VEHICLE. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS CALLED AND WAS ABLE TO EXTINGUISH THE FIRE. A FIRE REPORT WAS FILED. THERE WERE NO INJURIES SUSTAINED. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO A SALVAGE YARD. PRIOR TO THE FIRE, THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC DUE TO AN ABNORMAL CHEMICAL ODOR IN THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT WAS INFORMED TO LUBRICATE THE WIRES IN THE INSTRUMENT PANEL, REMOVE THE FUSES FROM THE FUSE PANEL, AND DO THE SAME WITH THE PROPER DI-ELECTRIC GREASE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE CAUGHT FIRE BEFORE PERFORMING THE LUBRICATION. THE VEHICLE WAS INCLUDED IN NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V261000 (EXTERIOR LIGHTING). THE DEALER AND MANUFACTURER WERE NOT CONTACTED. THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 124,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1620977 |
| ODI Number | 11280257 |
| Date Filed | November 15, 2019 |
| Failure Date | November 14, 2019 |
| VIN | KL1TD66678B |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.