Back in 2013 my parents helped me buy a new Vauxhall Zafira, what we thought was a nice safe family car. It turns out we were wrong, we had actually purchased what could be a deathtrap, the B model. Potentially deadly fires have started spontaneously in Vauxhall Zafira B cars since 2009 but for some reason it took you till 2014/15 to realise there was a problem.
Zafria fire 15/07/2015
I’m not sure why it wasn’t looked in to sooner? You openly admitted to the Commons’ transport committee last week that you first recorded a case of a Zafira suspected of catching fire over the issue in February 2009. Yet you continued to do nothing, continued to make the cars and sell them to families. The fact it is a family car does make it worse, it means there are likely to be children in the car, more than one child which is why people buy larger family cars. All children in the car may be young enough to not be able to get out of their car seats by themselves in the case of an emergency. I don’t know even if my eldest at 8 would be able to get out of the boot quickly and safely in a panic. How are you mean to remove yourself and children from the car in seconds, a minute? How long exactly does it take for the cars to go up in flames?
It’s even more scary that it appears you don’t actually know what it is that’s causing them. After the first recall we were told our cars were now safe to drive, but they weren’t were they? After fires happened in the recalled cars you are now doing another one. So will it be safe after this one? I bought a car with air conditioning so I could use it, not have the fan set to 0 or 4 with no air con on. Is it even safe like that?
My car is still being paid off through finance through yourselves and is worth much less now than it should be thanks to all of this. Will you be providing financial compensation to all your customers, the ones directly affected by the fires and the ones who now have a worthless, unsafe car? I know I wouldn’t buy one now. This means thousands of families are in the same situation we are, unable to sell and buy a new, safe car to put our families in.
My real question is this, would YOU, Peter Hope, drive one with your family in it?
I bet your answer is a no and in that case why are you letting the 234,938 cars you sold to families drive on the road? It’s only a matter of time before something awful happens.
The aftermath of the fire
Where they had been sitting.
We are driving the car to Devon at the weekend and I will be travelling the whole way with my fingers crossed that nothing happens.
Images were kindly provided to me by the owner of the above car.
Oh my goodness, how scary is this!! I had heard vague rumours about this car but had no idea they burst into flames. And that they don’t even know what’s causing it is so much worse. I hope they figure it out very very quickly. They should swap them out with models that they know aren’t doing this!
Oh my! That is terrifying and so worrying!
I hope you have a safe trip at the weekend x
I will be driving to Liverpool and its 3 hours away. I’m terrified with my two kids but what are we to do ?
I drive one too 🙁 So frustrating isn’t it.
OMG, I can’t believe this car could be on the road. Big companies would do anything to make money… #PicknMix
Oh my life! We had a hire Zafira at the end of 2008. This is ridiculous and to have been ignored for so long? And the fact that they cant get to the bottom of it? You should all be getting refunds! #PickNMix
This is terrifying, I had no idea this has been happening. Surely you should be compensated in some way so you can change your car?
#PicknMix
I really liked the Zafira until they started catching fire! They should definitely be offering a refund or a new car though! #picknmix
Oh my goodness this is so scary! It just shouldn’t be happening 🙁 x #picknmix
I had mine for a few years until at around the same times as this hit the news, it went a bit wrong and we had to sell it to one of those companies who will buy any car. The news story actually devalued what they would pay as well annoyingly! I still have a Vauxhall but it’s an Astra Estate and I love it 🙂
Stevie xx
Oh god this is so scary!! Somethings needs to be done about this, it is clearly not safe for you or anyone else to be driving around in these cars. Shame on vauxhall for continuing to sell them after realising there was a problem. I hope your trip to Devon goes well and this issue gets sorted soon xx #pocknmix
Just popping back via #picknmix out of interest did they acknowledge your tweet??
We also have a Vauxhall Zafira and we are pretty paranoid about anything like a weird noise or smell when we get inside it these days which really shouldn’t be the case! These photos are shocking! #PicknMix
This is awful. The company should not be allowed to get away with this and should be held accountable and made to recall all of the cars. Great letter you wrote, hope something comes as a result. Hope you enjoy Devon. Safe travels #picknmix
I heard about this last year but I didn’t realise that it was still going on and hadn’t been sorted yet! I cant believe that the problem hasn’t been rectified yet and I sure as hell would not drive a zafira if I had one! I don’t blame you for being anxious about it! I hope it gets sorted soon
#PicnMix
I don’t swear on blogs but that’s exactly the first thing I wanted to write. How is this allowed to keep happening? Surely they should all be recalled and dumped? I hope the drive to Debon went as well As it could I would be stressed out by it! Thanks for hosting #PickNMix